Looking for purchase advice

[rootytoot]

Hi, my old Murray riding mower, which was never very impressive to start with, developed a fatal failure where one of the mower blade axles attaches to the deck. Although I could conceivably weld it back in place with some additional bracketry, I'm not keen on it.

So, I'm in the market for a new or used riding lawn mower. It gets used on a small farm, so the use is fairly heavy duty (meaning, I don't cut the grass in the orchard when it reaches 2.5 inches tall, it sometimes gets 6 or 7 inches tall and then we think "Uh-oh, time to mow the orchard!"). We also tend to use it to cut along temporary electric fence lines before running the string trimmer, and those fence lines are often on the hilly part of the property in tall grass. So, all in all, it needs to be robust and relatively bulletproof. I don't ever catch the clippings, and nor do I really care about quality of cut. Not looking for features like mulching or cruise control or a beer can holder

I would be using it to cut about an acre of ground total. Sometimes I've used the Murray to drag a sprayer across a pretty bumpy pasture, spraying for weeds.

I don't mind doing maintenance on equipment: greasing up the big tractor zerks once a year is a ritual I like to do in the fall. Ease of belt replacement would be a plus, as well as good parts availability.

There are probably a number of brands that would be fine (John Deere?) and a number of brands to stay away from (Murray, for sure!). Even if all you can chime in on is stay away from these, or consider these brands/models I'd be curious to hear opinions.

Thanks,

Kurt

 

[2720wes]

A used JD GT series would do everything you listed and much better than the Murray. I mow steep hills, use to mow tall thick grass/weeds before the tractor and rotary cutter came along. Pull heavy loads without a problem.

An early 90's-mid 2000's GT will run you between $1000-$2500 on average. Strong machines

If new a JD x320 or higher. I believe the GT has a stronger tranny than the 320

 

[Bobby R]

Aw, don't go knocking my Murray now! I've had it for going on 15 years and still runs and operates like new, (once I replace the bearings in one side of the mower deck spindle). I can't complain about it. It's been a really great mower and it too has seen it's share of the tall, thick grass and weeds.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

The JD 318 was a great mower. There are still a lot of them out there in good shape. Your Murray is likely made by MTD. I think every major label has an entry level mower made by MTD. These are usually the ones you see at the box stores like Home Depot, Walmart, and the farm stores. With the kind of rough terrain and heavy work you describe you're going to want something more than the entry level.

There are a lot of good brands. You'll hear good and bad about them all. One thing I can say for John Deere is that parts availability is better than any other make I've had. I've made a hobby out of buying and selling old mowers. I've had 20 or so in the last three years. Craftsman isn't any better than anyone else. Husqvarna are good. John Deere and Cub Cadet are too. Toro can be good if you get a mid 90's model. It seems they were bought by someone else right at the turn of the century and the quality suffered a bit.

The best advice I can give you is to buy a used mower with big rear tires. It seems the better built garden tractors have larger rear tires. You'll get a lot more mower for your dollar out of a used unit than a new one.

 

[rootytoot]

Thanks, iplayfarmer. I'll do some looking around. I've got a Deere dealer nearby.

Kurt

 

[grouseridge]

Had the JD 165 hydro and it lasted about 15yrs till I had to cut bermuda sod and then bought the Kubota G2160 and it has no problem cutting the sod.
If you don't by a diesel, make sure it has the Kawasaki engine and it should last a long time.