Husqvarna TS354XD - First Garden Tractor

[Portland]

Hey guys,

I’m new to the boards, this is my first thread. I’ve been lurking for a while learning from you all and finally decided to make an account.

My wife and I just bought 5 acres in SW Washington and we need a garden tractor. 3 of the 5 aces are wooded with some grassy walking trails with the other 2 acres being mostly flat grass. I have been doing my research on garden tractors and landed on Husqvarna. One of my local dealers had a new-old stock 2018 TS354XD with the Kawasaki FR series engine. I purchased it yesterday and will be picking it up next weekend. I’m looking for something with a wide deck, strong transmission, and the ability to tow a little weight as I have quite a bit of firewood to process. I’m also looking for durability. I’m the kind of person that likes to put in a little more cash up front and buy something that will last a while rather than take the cheaper option and have to replace it in a couple years.

It is my understanding that Husqvarna no longer offers the Kawasaki engine in its riding mowers or garden tractors. Rumor has it that Husqvarna is moving to Yamaha engines in 2020 alongside its Kohler option. I’ve also been reading multiple threads about the cult following for Kawasaki engines in garden tractors. I have a few questions for you guys.

1) Is there any true advantage or disadvantage to having the Kawasaki engine over the Kohler 7000 series? They have both at my local dealer and I can still swap for a Kohler if I want to. I have never owned anything with a Kohler engine but I hear they’ve come a long way. I’d like to hear from any of you that have owner either engine.

2) This is my first garden tractor, any tips, tricks, or best practices you guys can share with me?

Thanks in advance!

Paul

 

[nybirdman]

I like Kawasaki motors;I have an 1998 ATV purchased new(water cooled) with 4000+miles with no real problems;I have a 25 HP Kohler JD mower with 580 hours(2004 model) that has been excellent.I like them both but would go with the Kawasaki if I had a choice.

 

[slus]

I would have picked the Kawasaki if I had the choice. Had to do a lot of research and talk with the service guy at the dealer before I could be convinced to take the Kohler 7000 mower due to poor experiences with Kohler engines in the past. I'm not inclined to take sales guys at their word, but this guy basically told me that he like the Kawasaki's better, and he wished he could still get them with Kawasaki's, but the Kohler 7000 was a fine engine. He said the Kawasaki factories couldn't keep up with demand, so the only mowers he was able to get with those engines were higher end ZTRs and everything else was going Kohler. The service guy said the Kohler 7000 was based off a Kohler Command commercial engine that had been proven reliable for many years, and he had no reason to doubt the 7000 would be the same. Hopefully it's true, won't matter to you though since you found one with the Kawasaki!

 

[Portland]

I would have picked the Kawasaki if I had the choice. Had to do a lot of research and talk with the service guy at the dealer before I could be convinced to take the Kohler 7000 mower due to poor experiences with Kohler engines in the past. I'm not inclined to take sales guys at their word, but this guy basically told me that he like the Kawasaki's better, and he wished he could still get them with Kawasaki's, but the Kohler 7000 was a fine engine. He said the Kawasaki factories couldn't keep up with demand, so the only mowers he was able to get with those engines were higher end ZTRs and everything else was going Kohler. The service guy said the Kohler 7000 was based off a Kohler Command commercial engine that had been proven reliable for many years, and he had no reason to doubt the 7000 would be the same. Hopefully it's true, won't matter to you though since you found one with the Kawasaki!

Thank you slus,

I appreciate your and nybirdman's input. I called around a few dealers before I purchased to inquire about pricing and two of those dealers said the exact same thing you did about supply/demand as being the reason Husqvarna no longer offers Kawasaki's in their riding mowers. I guess I lucked out finding one. I'm sure both are great mowers, at this point we're probably splitting hairs but I figured it was worth asking. Do you have any experience with the baggers? I may try to negotiate a 9 bushel bagger if its worth having. There are such mixed reviews on the Husqvarna baggers. People either love them or hate them, very little in between.

 

[slus]

Thank you slus,

I appreciate your and nybirdman's input. I called around a few dealers before I purchased to inquire about pricing and two of those dealers said the exact same thing you did about supply/demand as being the reason Husqvarna no longer offers Kawasaki's in their riding mowers. I guess I lucked out finding one. I'm sure both are great mowers, at this point we're probably splitting hairs but I figured it was worth asking. Do you have any experience with the baggers? I may try to negotiate a 9 bushel bagger if its worth having. There are such mixed reviews on the Husqvarna baggers. People either love them or hate them, very little in between.

I don稚 have any direct experience with the bagger. A friend of mine has a very similar mower, and he has a wife that can稚 stand lawn clippings sticking to shoes and migrating to the decks and sidewalks, so he bags and it does fine. It痴 a non issue for me, if the lawn is dry the mower shoots those clippings a LONG way out compared to my old JD mower. I mow a few counter clockwise passes around the house and decks to fling the clippings away from everything and after that I don稚 worry about it.

 

[TractorGuy]

On the Kawasaki vs Kohler subject I would take the Kawasaki.

In my opinion you should have gone with a compact utility tractor instead of a garden tractor.

 

[widefat]

Thank you slus,

I appreciate your and nybirdman's input. I called around a few dealers before I purchased to inquire about pricing and two of those dealers said the exact same thing you did about supply/demand as being the reason Husqvarna no longer offers Kawasaki's in their riding mowers. I guess I lucked out finding one. I'm sure both are great mowers, at this point we're probably splitting hairs but I figured it was worth asking. Do you have any experience with the baggers? I may try to negotiate a 9 bushel bagger if its worth having. There are such mixed reviews on the Husqvarna baggers. People either love them or hate them, very little in between.

I have a GT52XLS with the Kawasaki engine. RE the question of a bagger - I opted for a mulch kit instead. It does a good job of chopping up the clippings and dropping them back into the turf. And, the mulch kit closes up the deck so you can now get "blade close" on both sides of the tractor. The bagger will make the right side access even worse.

 

[Portland]

I picked this bad boy up yesterday. Such a solid driving lawn tractor. Those oversized tires are incredible. I think I did alright with the negotiations. I got the Husqvarna for about $500 off retail (plus no sales tax) and I got them to throw in a couple filters and quarts of oil. With some of the savings I picked up a Stihl MS251 at 30% discount. I could have done worse.

 

[YLee Kioti]

quite the negotiator well done.:drink:

 

[dieselscout80]

How is the "Electric locking rear differential" activated?

 

[Portland]

How is the "Electric locking rear differential" activated?

I’m not at home to take a picture of mine so I took a screenshot of Rock Crawler’s awesome YouTube video of the TS354XD. Basically there is a switch next to the instrument panel that activates and deactivates the locking feature on the differential.




If anyone’s interested in Rock Crawler’s video. Be did a great job with this walk around.

The dirty truth and lies about garden tractors today. - YouTube

 

[dieselscout80]

Thanks

 

[Portland]

Mowed the lawn at our new house for the first time yesterday. The TS354XD handled the job like a champ. It is a really well built machine.

Weird thing happened though, I left the mower on the trickle charger over the weekend to get a good solid charge on the battery (keys in the ignition, but turned to ‘off’) and now I have 53 hours on the display. The mower has a total of 2 actual hours on it but I guess if you leave the key in the ignition it still meters time? Anyone else have this happen? Any way to fix that?

 

[stevem5215]

Yes, some of the cheaper lawn machines do that. It happened to me as well on my Simplicity ZT-2500. The wife left the key on and killed the battery just after we had bought it. Put on 88hrs really quick that way.

Steve

 

[Portland]

Yes, some of the cheaper lawn machines do that. It happened to me as well on my Simplicity ZT-2500. The wife left the key on and killed the battery just after we had bought it. Put on 88hrs really quick that way.

Steve

I found a thread on another forum that said to basically disconnect the connector for the hour gauge and track your time manually until you’re close to what the hour gauge says then reconnect it. That’s not a bad idea. The other option is to buy a whole new hour gauge. Not sure the latter is necessary. I’m sure by the end of this mowing season I’ll easily have 50 hours logged as I will be using my lower ~2 hours a week.

 

[radios1]

buying it with a FEL and backhoe is cheaper than adding them on later, though.. does this have a ROPS?. I didn't see that either..

 

[jpilk99]

I know I'm late to the party, but, first of all - congrats/welcome. I'm a huge fan of Husqvarna equipment and have an LGT24K54 (Kawasaki engine). Never owner a Kohler so can't comment, but, the engine in this machine is fantastic. Reliable, strong... Just great.

I think the most important things you can do are:

Regular maintenance - oil, filter, cleaning the mower deck frequently so grass flies out... Other than that, just pay attention to it - listen to it, don't just run it, put it away, run it, put it away... It should last you a good long time if looked after.

Jay

 

[FLS1216]

Looks like my 2017 GT48DXLS except with a much nicer looking seat. Well done!

 

[Portland]

Thanks guys! I’ve logged about 8 hours on it thus far and I’m loving it. At first I didn’t know if I’d ever use the locking differential but I definitely do use it. I got stuck in a wet part of the property over the weekend. Once I engaged that locking differential it jumped right out of the mud. Love this garden tractor. Paired with a Polar 1500 dump cart it’s also a great tool to move stuff around the property.

 

[Gem99ultra]

Thanks guys! I’ve logged about 8 hours on it thus far and I’m loving it. At first I didn’t know if I’d ever use the locking differential but I definitely do use it. I got stuck in a wet part of the property over the weekend. Once I engaged that locking differential it jumped right out of the mud. Love this garden tractor. Paired with a Polar 1500 dump cart it’s also a great tool to move stuff around the property.

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I'm SO envious! I have a similar garden tractor, the Husqvarna GTH26V52LS, without the locking differential. And I too got stuck a couple of times last week. The difference is, my single drive mower would NOT pull out of the mud. It just sat there looking stupid with one wheel in the mud spinning.

The difference in the two mowers is that you were able to just flick on your locking differential and drive out. I, on the other hand, had to walk back to the house (quarter of a mile) and get my Honda Pioneer to come drag the mower out of the mud. Dang it - makes me want to go shopping!