Which lawn tractor to buy?

[etpm]

I believe most Deere mowers are made in Horicon Wisconsin and have not seen anything about moving that assembly plant to Mexico but anything is possible. Deere and MTD are about the only two companies making lawn tractors anymore. They both make some cheap junk and better quality machines.

I would not purchase a rider that does not have a tie rod connecting the two front tires. Seems like almost all the lower cost models do not have this and after a couple hundred hours the front tires do track straight.

On Deere I believe you need to step up to X3** series to get away from this feature.

Not sure what models on Cub Cadet which is MTD.

Thank You, I knew I could get some good advice here.
Eric

 

[etpm]

The JD X 500 electro clutch just failed about a month back on me. The solenoid action works but all of the clutch material is gone 900+ hours. When it failed it was instantaneous.

I could have got a cheaper knock off replacement but it was stuck on the shaft pretty badly... which required drilling and tapping puller holes and a few hours of labor, so I bit on the JD factory part $260 (had it the next AM) hoping it will be higher quality and go another 900 hours.

I had to replace the clutch on my L130 and I went with aftermarket because of the reviews. It was not only much less money it is beefier than the OEM clutch.
Thanks,
Eric

 

[etpm]

Thanks for all the replies folks, they really do help. It looks like either another Deere or a Husky. I'm gonna check out the Husky mowers now and see how they compare. Even though it looks like the Deere models are now being made in the USA I'm still dubious, because of their business practices and the impending move to Mexico. I wonder if Husky is any better business wise?
Eric

 

[sd455dan]

I had to replace the clutch on my L130 and I went with aftermarket because of the reviews. It was not only much less money it is beefier than the OEM clutch.
Thanks,
Eric

Well, I did need the mower and sprung for the extra shipping and they did have it the next morning.

I have been trying to upgrade/ fix up the X500 when I can, new seat, new front tires, deck belt, factory Deere blades, air and oil filters, repaint body worked hood, buffed out ceramic sealed paint when I removed the seat to replace it etc.
Probably could have saved over a 100 bucks. I don't mind supporting our local dealer once in a while, although I am not impressed with corporate's actions lately. I do think the X series mowers are well built and very serviceable with great parts supply which is what caused me to find the JD in the first place. MTD stopped supporting some of their mower deck parts and unless I lathe/ mill manufacture spindles and drive sprockets my old hydrostat rider is only good for pulling things.

 

[kozal01]

If I was forced to go back to a tractor style mower from my ZTR I would look for a good used Simplicity or a new non box store Husqvarna. Simplicity was known for making some of the best lawn tractors, cut quality is top notch and they were built well. Husqvarna offers a lawn tractor with the good Kawasaki FR series engines and fabricated mower decks. I had a JD 110 lawn tractor for years and it was ok but I wouldn't touch a new JD with a ten foot pole.

 

[etpm]

I had a JD 110 lawn tractor for years and it was ok but I wouldn't touch a new JD with a ten foot pole.

What do you have against the John Deere lawn tractors? Any specific reasons? I'm gonna plunk down around 4 grand for a lawn tractor and I value the experience of the folks here and their advice to help me choose.
Thanks,
Eric

 

[Mtsoxfan]

I never owned a Cub Cadet tractor, and they still sell them. My CC zero turn with steering wheel runs great, and is pretty heavy duty in construction. I imagine the tractors would be as well.
I had gone with a JD L??? 12 years ago, and other than normal maintenance, it took a beating, and kept going strong. OK, mower deck bracket broke it's weld last year, easy fix.

 

[kozal01]

What do you have against the John Deere lawn tractors? Any specific reasons? I'm gonna plunk down around 4 grand for a lawn tractor and I value the experience of the folks here and their advice to help me choose.
Thanks,
Eric

Unless you're getting into the X series I do not think they are well made, even my 2005 model year JD was a flimsy cheaply built machine with weak transmissions and cheap stamped decks, the new ones are worse yet in my opinion. Also I was never impressed with the cut quality of mine, mowed slow and cut quality left a lot to be desired. Honestly, unless you plan to run a plow or a snowblower in the winter or you have steep hills to mow I would look hard at a ZTR. These are just my opinions of course. Budget, dealer support, comfort, features etc should all be considered though.

 

[SteveS42240]

I have been using Cub Cadet mowers for 35 years and have gotten lots of good use out of them. Yes, they do require maintenance, but so will any decent tractor. My biggest repair is spindle bearings, so I keep several bearings on hand and keep one spindle assembly built in case I need to change one out before I mow. The 50 Zero Turn I am using now was given to me by a friend because he couldn't keep it running. I did some wiring in his garage as a "swap" for him and I have been running it for 4 years now. All I did to it to get it running was a couple of tubes, a tune up, and spindle bearings in 2 shafts. It's been a good mower, so I gave my 5 year old 1052 Cub Cadet to my stepson when he bought a house a couple of years ago.

 

[etpm]

Unless you're getting into the X series I do not think they are well made, even my 2005 model year JD was a flimsy cheaply built machine with weak transmissions and cheap stamped decks, the new ones are worse yet in my opinion. Also I was never impressed with the cut quality of mine, mowed slow and cut quality left a lot to be desired. Honestly, unless you plan to run a plow or a snowblower in the winter or you have steep hills to mow I would look hard at a ZTR. These are just my opinions of course. Budget, dealer support, comfort, features etc should all be considered though.

Thanks for your detailed reply. This is just the kind of thing I was looking for. Because of the uneveness of our terrain and because of the other use of the lawn tractor for towing a small trailer around I think we need a conventional lawn tractor. But I will look again at ZTRs.
Eric

 

[sd455dan]

Unless you're getting into the X series I do not think they are well made, even my 2005 model year JD was a flimsy cheaply built machine with weak transmissions and cheap stamped decks, the new ones are worse yet in my opinion. Also I was never impressed with the cut quality of mine, mowed slow and cut quality left a lot to be desired. Honestly, unless you plan to run a plow or a snowblower in the winter or you have steep hills to mow I would look hard at a ZTR. These are just my opinions of course. Budget, dealer support, comfort, features etc should all be considered though.

Agreed, The X series have heavier better quality frames.

The lower end Lawn tractor lines Hydro transaxles are not rated for as many hours use, and being sealed have a smaller amount of cooling capacity also likely no filtration.

They generally are not rated for any ground engagement uses.

Not uncommon for some of the lower end hydros to start slipping in under 300 hours.

https://www.greentractortalk.com/threads/best-and-worst-hydrostatic-tuff-torq.214088/

The Dreaded Tuff-Torq K46 Hydrostatic ******

OK guys, I just finished reading a "Lazarus" post (one resurrected from the dead) from 2013 regarding lawn tractor replacement due to bad transmission. A short search will yield numerous complaints about this "defective" item that's probably used in 60% of riding mowers across all brands. Seems...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[kozal01]

Thanks for your detailed reply. This is just the kind of thing I was looking for. Because of the uneveness of our terrain and because of the other use of the lawn tractor for towing a small trailer around I think we need a conventional lawn tractor. But I will look again at ZTRs.
Eric

No problem. I did keep my JD around for a summer after getting my ZTR but I found that my ZTR towed better than my JD did, has more pulling power and is easier to maneuver around obstacles. I pull a yard trailer, sweeper, de-thatcher and aerator and it does it very well, hell I even had the poor thing pulling out brush before I bought my Kioti. How uneven is your yard? I have two decently sloped hills between my front and back yard that I can do no problem with my ZTR. Not trying to sway your decision away from a lawn tractor if that is what you want, BUT if mowing is going to be its main task, its hard to beat a zero turn. Either way, good luck with your decision!

 

[Paystar]

All I can say is up until 2013 all I ever used to mow and snow blow was cheap lawn tractors.
A 1982 MTD 825 Classic and 2 Craftsman and they lasted years and years.

I don't buy into the needing expensive commercial grade lawn tractors. Buy cheap ones and change the oil and air filter often.
All of mine were even bought used and I changed one spindle on the mower deck on the one Craftsman and belts. That's it.
And I mowed every weekend it it took 8 hours to mow full lawn and snow blowing my driveway and turnaround used 4 gallons of gas. So they were used way above their intended design.

 

[aesanders]

Kubota still makes some nice looking lawn tractors. Don’t know anything about them, but probably worth a look see. My last lawn tractor before I went zero turn was a Simplicity Conquest. Was a nice machine, but my Gravely zero turn blows it away in every way.

 

[Tractorable]

Shop the transaxle. Avoid the non-serviceable K46.

I have a 2016 JD X590 with the K72 and it’s been excellent. I paid $7500 back then but with inflation it’s close to $10k now.

 

[jyoutz]

Thanks for your detailed reply. This is just the kind of thing I was looking for. Because of the uneveness of our terrain and because of the other use of the lawn tractor for towing a small trailer around I think we need a conventional lawn tractor. But I will look again at ZTRs.
Eric

If you have uneven terrain, look at the new Stihl or Ferris zero turn mowers. They have 4 wheel shock/ coil spring suspension. It really makes for a smooth ride on rough ground. This is the model I have and I’m very impressed:

https://www.stihlusa.com/products/lawn-mowers/zero-turn-mowers/rz152/?aqid=217af283c7bde4917059cbb570ee9492

 

[LightningCamaroGuy]

If I was forced to go back to a tractor style mower from my ZTR I would look for a good used Simplicity or a new non box store Husqvarna. Simplicity was known for making some of the best lawn tractors, cut quality is top notch and they were built well. Husqvarna offers a lawn tractor with the good Kawasaki FR series engines and fabricated mower decks. I had a JD 110 lawn tractor for years and it was ok but I wouldn't touch a new JD with a ten foot pole.

Ding, ding, ding. This! Absolutely! I tell this to people all the time when they say, "I own a Husqvarna, and it's a POS, so therefore Husqvarna makes chitty lawnmowers." Or, "my JD is a POS, so therefore all JD mowers are POS." Some guy was telling me that Husqvarna mowers are POS, and to get Craftsman. I'm thinking, "hey dumb arse, they're the exact same mowers with different paint, decals, and hoods. I know this because I was a tool maker at Husqvarna Outdoor Products in Orangeburg, SC for several years. Over the years they've had several different names. (Roper, Frigidaire, AYP, Electrolux, etc) Pre-China Virus they were the largest manufacturer of mowers in the U.S., if not the world, even though I've heard that post China Virus they went through some pretty large restructuring, but back in the day we had probably 30 different brands we made mowers for like Craftsman, Dixon, Ariens, Weed Eater, Poulan, Poulan Pro, McCulloch (brands I thought just made chainsaws) Murray, etc, etc. I can tell you that Husqvarna absolutely makes a crappy mower, but they also make extremely good mowers. Same with JD. Those mowers that Lowes and HD sell may look the same, but they're not the same as what's sold at a Deere dealership, or a lawnmower dealership that specializes selling highend outdoor products. Do you feel that a Rancher or Farm Boss is going to be as good as a Husqvarna or Stihl professional saw? Walmart has some nice looking TV's, and they maybe good enough for you, but do you think it's going to be on the level as a $6K-$10K TV at Best Buy just because they're both Samsungs? Are you going to shop Lowes or HD for welders to start a welding business, or are you going to buy your welders from a welding supply business that you want to form a relationship with? You can buy a decent home welder at somewhere like Northern, and even Harbor Freight welders work pretty decent for a hobbyist, but are you going to go there to buy a $60K industrial diesel engine driven welder, like a Miller Big Blue or Lincoln Air Vantage, especially when service may be needed for warranty work, and you need to buy gas, and rods, wire, parts, etc? So why would you go to a large retail store that sells a lot of things, but specializes in nothing for a great mower? Yes the Ariens APEX that you can buy at Lowes is a good mower, but Lowes can't perform warranty work on it, and that same mower can be found at dealerships that can perform that for you, even if it costs a couple hundred more the lawnmower dealership is the better overall route.

Basically Husqvarna makes mowers rated for as low as 800 hour, but they also make mowers rated up to 3,500+ hours. Same with other companies. If you go look at, and sit on the display mowers at Lowes/HD, and then at the dealerships, the dealerships mowers just feel better, tighter, beefier, heavier, etc. There is a difference on what large retailers order, and what outdoor product dealerships order from the manufacturers. Maybe 1 or 2 of the large retailer's more expensive models are more entry level, industrial grade mowers, (Ariens APEX for example) but you've got to know what you're looking at.

There are quite a few good brands. Also generally speaking the better zero turns are better build, more commercial grade than your tractor mowers, but most manufacturers make cheap entry level ZTR's as well. (Husqvarna RZ for example) I really like Exmark ZTR's. I also like the older Husqvarna MZ's and they're a great value, and have been around for about 2 decades so they're well made, but without a lot of the modern fluff that will likely become a reliability issue at some point. But all your highend brands will have good machines. I think Toro gives you a lot of bang for your buck, even if they're not the most commercial brand, plus they bought Exmark in 1997. Obviously the commercial JD is very good, as is Cub Cadet. Kubota wasn't making wave in the mower business when I was machining for the engineers at Husqvarna so we didn't study them that I can remember, but they've come up it seems. I looked at them last summer, and thought they were very nice. Ferris is very good, and Stihl has bought them, or bought into them, or something as they've got the same chassis/suspension from what I was told. Ariens/Gravely are good, but I always felt cramped on them. I still wish they made Dixon mowers. I always like the Dixon mowers we built. At their core they were the same as a Husqvarna mower, but that's like saying at it's core an Escalade is a Tahoe. Yes, but it's an extremely well fitted Tahoe. Those MZ/PZ based Dixon ZTR's had some awesome seats.

Lastly I prefer Kohler or Kawasaki engines Both are excellent. Briggs & Stratton Vanguard is highly touted by some people, but I don't know as much about them. I'm sure they're GTG though, but Kohler and Kawasaki seem more popular in this millennium. Exmark actually makes their own engines now, so does Toro use Exmark engines, since they own Exmark?

 

[YLee Kioti]

@LightningCamaroGuy: "Yes the Ariens APEX that you can buy at Lowes is a good mower, but Lowes can't perform warranty work on it, and that same mower can be found at dealerships that can perform that for you, even if it cost a couple hundred more the lawnmower dealership is the better overall route."
Some good points made.
My 17 y.o. Husqvarna was aging and was in the market for a small push mower that I could trim around and near the house and fence before cranking up the ZT.
Settled for the Ariens 21" push mower. The back drive wheel would not disengage. Neither Ariens nor a auth. dealer were any help. So, I take it to my Gravely ZT/local tractor dealer in Shiner.
They took care of the issue. Told them no stress, it's a push mower and you have bigger jobs.
And that relationship can't be built at a big box store. I bought this mower from a dealer in San Antonio cause push mowers come in tens per pallet and my local guy ain't gonna sell ten of them.
On the PTO clutch:
Recently learned, and maybe it's just me, (of course it is) about dis-engaging the PTO.
Set engine speed to idle for about 10-15 seconds, and then disengage PTO.
It reduces stress of the PTO clutch having to stop the blade from full to no speed under 10 seconds or so.

Good stuff here. Hope your getting the info to make that buy.

Now if you ask us to spend YOUR money , boy we can really help then...!

 

[JONNY BOYYY]

Hi All,
I have a Deere L130 lawn tractor that is at the end of its useful life. Last summer I was going to replace it with the equivalent Deere product. I called the 2 closest Deere dealerships, talked with a couple salesmen, and never heard back. I even emailed the dealerships. No replies. I guess I wasn't gonna be spending enough money.
Now, a year later, I REALLY need a new lawn tractor. And even though I wanted a John Deere a year ago I think I no longer do. With all the folks being fired and production being moved to Mexico I wonder if I buy a Deere product today if it will be supported 10 years from now. And I'm peeved that production is being moved to Mexico, with dramatically lower labor costs, without Deere lowering prices.
So, I'm looking for opinions on other brands. One thing I really like on my current machine is the electric clutch for the mower deck. I really dislike the belt clutches that just tension the belt with a lever. It has been my experience that the electric clutch systems have longer belt life, cheaper belts, because they are shorter, and have fewer problems. So I want a machine with the electric clutch.
Any help choosing would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You,
Eric

go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy the deere of your choice with the deere factory warranty and the 4 year extended warranty if you want it...and i guarantee either store will show you around

 

[JONNY BOYYY]

@LightningCamaroGuy: "Yes the Ariens APEX that you can buy at Lowes is a good mower, but Lowes can't perform warranty work on it, and that same mower can be found at dealerships that can perform that for you, even if it cost a couple hundred more the lawnmower dealership is the better overall route."
Some good points made.
My 17 y.o. Husqvarna was aging and was in the market for a small push mower that I could trim around and near the house and fence before cranking up the ZT.
Settled for the Ariens 21" push mower. The back drive wheel would not disengage. Neither Ariens nor a auth. dealer were any help. So, I take it to my Gravely ZT/local tractor dealer in Shiner.
They took care of the issue. Told them no stress, it's a push mower and you have bigger jobs.
And that relationship can't be built at a big box store. I bought this mower from a dealer in San Antonio cause push mowers come in tens per pallet and my local guy ain't gonna sell ten of them.
On the PTO clutch:
Recently learned, and maybe it's just me, (of course it is) about dis-engaging the PTO.
Set engine speed to idle for about 10-15 seconds, and then disengage PTO.
It reduces stress of the PTO clutch having to stop the blade from full to no speed under 10 seconds or so.

Good stuff here. Hope your getting the info to make that buy.

Now if you ask us to spend YOUR money , boy we can really help then...!

Lowes and Home Depot have a factory warranty repair shop in every decent city for warranty work