help me select my first garden tractor please

[DAP]

Daniel, I'm surprised at the number of votes for the Craftsman. Take a look at Bird's list of probable differences. It's not even complete, but the point is, there's a reason for the large gap in dollars.

With a budget of 2300, and a desire to have a versatile well built machine that you can use for a good many years, I would find a used heavy duty JD mower or garden tractor.

I know you could find a used GT or LX series JD for that kinda money somewhere. WIth a few more hours, you might also find a 300 or 400 series JD garden machine or even a Kubota sized accordingly. By used I mean under 300 hours. New fluids, belts, blades (seat maybe!) would make a good used prospect run like new - and I would expect this machine to be good for several thousand hours or a coupla decades, whichever comes first.

My 2 centavos.

 

[Joeinindy]

Just putting in my 2 cents, I have a 5 year old GT 23hp Crartsman with the 50" deck that is used just to mow the lawn, I have a L3410 for the real work. For the price, support for service and the ease of getting parts you will have a tough time beating the Gt5000 you are looking at. My last mower was a 18hp Craftsman and that puppy went though hell and back, I had it for apx 10 years and finally the motor through a rod. If price were no object you could get a better built mower and much higher quality add-ons such as the snow blower but in your price range I would go for the sears.

 

[SteveM]

I agree with the used notion. If forced to buy new, the Craftsman GT is a relative bargain - but a lot of the cost cutting can be found. Really light deck hardware, poorly designed deck lift mechanism, and overall crude workmanship. But cheap as well. If you can tolerate a slightly used tractor, take a few weeks and search local classifieds, agdealer dot com or ironweb dot com. For $2500 you can get any number of big Cub Cadet garden tractors from the early 90s with hydro drive, shaft drive, and tons of metal. This would be my suggestion big time.

 

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Bird, so in theory, is the more expensive lawn tractor more durable and longer lasting given the same amount of usage and care? )</font>

In theory, most definitely, and probably in reality, too. However, you can sometimes get particularly good or bad machines in anything. And then how much more durable or how much longer will it last?

As to which one is the most cost effective; I don't know. If you buy a $5,000 machine that lasts 20 years vs. a $2,500 machine that lasts 10 years, which was best? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif To me, part of the equation might be which one was most comfortable; i.e., which one did I like operating the best. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Another part of the equation for some folks is the braggin' rights. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif How does it compare with what the neighbors have? /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[DanielNY]

I am definitely interested in only buying a new machine (I just have bad exerience with buying used, don't ask lol). The JD dealer is only a few minutes away from the Home Depot dealer, and these JD's are made right here in Syracuse where the store is, so I am hoping they aren't lower in quality than the regular JD.

Considering the JD has the same pricing as when you would buy it online from JD, I am hoping it's the same solid machine. I do love the Craftsman too however, but I keep hearing that the JD seems to have a more even cut, so it's rather confusing to decide which machines is going home with me.

The GT5000 has a Kohler Pro engine, while the GD has 'just' a Kohler engine, are these the same engines (one is Pro and one isn't)? What about the gas tank, the Craftsman has a 5 gallon tank, the JD has a 2.1 gallon tank. Is the JD more fuel efficient? Keep the arguments coming guys, this really is very helpful! Thanks!

 

[ByronBob]

Dan
I live near Rochester so I know what you go through. By your comments I'd say you live near Syracuse or Oswego. The Craftsman is a great tractor as mine is 7 years old with a Kohler. My problem with this whole thing is your driveway and the snowblower. The blower works well for 6-8 inches of snow but if you live in the belt then it won't do. It won't handle 14-20 inches of snow which you can easily get. You'll kill the tractor eventually over time.
What do your neighbors use? Again my comments are driven around where do you live? We get lots of snow here but I'm not necessarily in the "belt" either.
My situation is different than yours but I looked at the Toro 48 inch dual wheel 13hp walk behind for my driveway but in the end I bit the bullet and upgraded to a Kubota and just got on the payment plan. In my situation I'm happy I did

 

[DanielNY]

I live 30 minutes north of Syracuse, so I am right in the middle of the snowbelt (earlier this year we got 7' of snow in 24 hours). I currently use a 2stage Yardmachine snowblower, with a much smaller scoop than the snowblower attachnment, I was hoping that the increased HP and wider scoop would be able to handle the big amounts of snow. That's a big disappointment if I can't use it for HD snow clearing.

 

[Inspector507]

Looks to me, the Command Pro has Electronic Fuel Injection.
But I'm sure someone else has better knowledge than I do.

 

[PBinWA]

I think I can give some insight. I bought a GT5000 just over a year ago and bought all the implements:

Snow blade, Box Blade, Rear Tiller, and mold board plow.

I have a not very hilly 5 acre property that was largely scotch broom and blackberries. I used my GT 5000 to clear that property pretty well but it took a lot of time. I just bought a Mahindra 2615 (compact tractor) so I wouldn't have to mow as often and there are some projects that a Garden Tractor just can't do very well.

I added the rear wheel weights, filled the front tires with anti-freeze windshield washer fluid, and put on rear Ag tires to the GT 5000 and that was probably the best move for me. It slowed the tractor down a bit but using the tiller and other ground engaging implements is also a lot less of a wild ride.

The next best upgrade was to get the electric lift motor for the sleeve hitch. I had to get the Sears repair guy to help me figure out what to order since it isn't something you can get through the store or web.

Sears/Craftsman service is pretty good. I bought the 3 year extended warranty and it appears to be worth it so far. I really (really) abused the tractor last year and getting new parts for free has been a god-send.

The rear-mounted tiller is too heavy for this tractor. If you try to use it on hard ground or on a hill side it can be a little scary at times as the tiller can push and bounce the tractor around a bit. Forget about getting the tiller without having the electric lift motor - it's too heavy to hoist up and down with the manual lift arm.

The mold board plow is great for digging up the ground a bit before tilling (but not as good as the FEL on the Mahindra /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif ).

The snow blade worked well on the light snow in the winter. It needs momentum but I think most blades do in the snow.

As a "mower" the GT5000 works great. It does a pretty good job cutting and the 50 inch decks works great without the deflector shield on it! (Probably not the safest config though).

If you do buy a GT 5000 and want some implements - let me know. It sounds like you are a little far away for shipping.

If you are planning on mowing more than 1-3 acres, I would suggest getting a bigger tractor though.

Let me know if you have more questions.

 

[DanielNY]

thanks for the responses. I have 1 acre of lawn to mow, most of it all perfectly level, so I would assume the mower could handle this. My main concern is the 2stage snow thrower. See these pictures why: http://www.marstracker.com/gallery/personal/P1293057.JPG and http://www.marstracker.com/gallery/personal/P1293045.JPG .

I would assume that whatever my little 2stage self propelling blower can handle can be done with this snowthrower attachment?