Garden tractor life span

[hiddentacocatneddih]

What kind of life span do you guys expect from a box store lawn mower tractor ?

I got a husquvarna yth22v46 that I bought used with 80 hours in 2019. Now it has almost 600 hours.

The mower it self is still pretty solid. Bumper smashed off. Hood is ragged from slamming into stuff but drives perfect.

Engine is healthy, oil changes regularly. Runs like a champ

Deck, I have ripped off both casters on my fence rows. The one side is ripped to shreds from processing branches and clipping stumps. Really need a new deck. Has had 1 spindle replaced and 3 or 4 sets of blades.

Do these things make 1000 hours regularly? I have a troubuilt with 400 hours that died a horrible death and a craftman that was junk with 200 ish hours. Solid motor on it but the rest was junk

 

[4570Man]

600 hours is already above the average lifespan of the cheaper lawnmowers.

 

[2manyrocks]

600 hours is already above the average lifespan of the cheaper lawnmowers.

What would you estimate to be the average lifespan of the cheaper lawnmowers assuming regular maintenance and not being abused?

 

[Have tractor did travel]

All 4 cycle
Air cooled gas - 2,000 hours
water cooled gas - 4,000 hours
Water cooled diesel - 10,000 hour
Deck and frame up to owner.

 

[Peter 315]

I have a mid 80's craftsman lawn tractor that runs great don't know how many hours on it. 38 inch deck 14hp 2 cylinder briggs.

 

[mo1]

What kind of life span do you guys expect from a box store lawn mower tractor ?

I got a husquvarna yth22v46 that I bought used with 80 hours in 2019. Now it has almost 600 hours.

The mower it self is still pretty solid. Bumper smashed off. Hood is ragged from slamming into stuff but drives perfect.

Engine is healthy, oil changes regularly. Runs like a champ

Deck, I have ripped off both casters on my fence rows. The one side is ripped to shreds from processing branches and clipping stumps. Really need a new deck. Has had 1 spindle replaced and 3 or 4 sets of blades.

Do these things make 1000 hours regularly? I have a troubuilt with 400 hours that died a horrible death and a craftman that was junk with 200 ish hours. Solid motor on it but the rest was junk

Depends on the unit, how it is used, how it is maintained, and what you say end of life is. Other than an antique Deere 110 that occasionally gets run to make a lap around the driveway, I haven't personally run a riding lawn mower in a couple of decades. The ones we had growing up were bought from the local Sears store as box stores really weren't a thing yet. The cheaper ones would go roughly 750-1000 hours before they had enough fixed-many-times-but-won't-stay-fixed structural issues they were no longer fixable and the nicer ones would go about 1500 or so. We saw many fewer problems with the Kohler engines than the Briggs engines. We mowed about five acres with those, which was about 300-350 hours per year of mowing. We went through several of those mowers growing up.

They are/were all gear drive machines though, so your mileage may vary between that and a cheap sealed hydrostatic unit. Based on the lifespan of box store weedwhackers, pushmowers, and blowers today, I expect that we got a whole lot more hours out of those Sears riding lawnmowers than you'd get out of anything gotten at a box store today. If we got 750-1000 hours out of a cheap Sears mower and 1500 or so out of a nicer one several decades ago, 200-400 hours for a box store unit today sounds about right.

 

[2manyrocks]

Would you say about the same life expectancy for the box store ZTRs with gas engines?

 

[alexpops]

Might be a tad longer, but not much. Those wind up being built to a price point for cheap "move it" pricing compared to the standard machines sold at dealers.

 

[arto98607]

!976 John Deere 300 with plenty of hours just keeps going and going.
Regular maintenance, new connecting rod, starter and rectifier about 25 years ago, and new carburetor about three years ago.

 

[Hoobie]

I have a John Deere LX188 thirty three years old. Kawasaki engine. Close to 2500 hours on it. I have run into things, over things, backed into things. Dropped things like lumber on it from top floor of barn. I have backed into it with the truck and drove trailer hitch through the cowling. Cowling and seat are duck taped up. The thing looks terrible and I offer comedy for the neighbours.
But I have mechanically maintained it faithfully. No major repairs ever. Original deck. And it runs just great. Neighbours all have had several cheap brands in that same time period.