Looking for a lawnmower/garden tractor in the just-better-than-box-store range

[TractorGuy]

Something that does not use the plastic and pressed powdered metal K46 transaxle .
If the rear wheels fasten on with 4 or 5 bolts, the transaxle is HD.

you'd think so, but Cub Cadet tractors using the K46 transaxle have bolt on wheels!..

So does the Husqvarna "Garden Tractor". I recently swapped a K46 from a Husky lawn tractor with slide on hubs to a GT2654 garden tractor. The bolt type wheel flanges slide on right where the other hubs slide off. Only other parts I had to use from the garden tractor was two spacers where the transaxle bolted on for the taller wheels and the neutral release rod which was a little longer. The garden tractor was in great shape but the trans had given up the ghost. No luck with an oil change. The lawn tractor I took the trans from to swap into it was beat to chit. All the wheel bushings were worn out, deck was trashed, and the engine was blown up. The trans went in the garden tractor and worked like brand new so you can never tell. I picked the garden tractor up for free and bought the junk lawn tractor for $20. Told my daughter it was a mini brush hog and she took it straight out to the weed patch in the field. Mows right through the tall stuff with ease. May not last but I can live with the $20 loss and the little time I have in it.

 

[coobie]

Well, decided to bite the bullet and take the advice of many on here. Yesterday I took delivery of a John Deere x580. Did get the 54" deck after measuring and realized only one small area was too narrow; I'll saddleback that part. The power steering is fabulous. I was surprised that it only has HDAPs on the rear and turf tires on the front; expected 4 of the same.

Bummer was after mowing for 0 .1 hours, the neighbor took a peek under the hood and I discovered the dealer delivery guy had loosened the oil fill when showing me where the dipstick is; there was oil everywhere. "Great" dealer support consisted of an offer to let me come in and pick up a quart of oil. Glad I didn't go further and risk something really bad happening.

Thanks for all of the help!

Great choice.My 2011 JD X740 diesel has been a great lawn tractor.Enjoy yours.

 

[Tractorable]

Yea great choice on the x580....K72 is where it’s at! We love our x590 and at 116hrs it’s been trouble free. Love the fuel injected motor, power steering, hydraulic deck lift, and rear diff lock!