Buying Advice Sick and tired of low quality riding lawnmowers

[searcyfarms]

found this on a 2010 posting - The Hydro-Gear is also a decent transmission, they are generally a bit quieter under load, which means nothing other than the noise from a tuff-torq sometimes makes you feel as though your pushing to hard and the Hydro-Gear remains quiet yet its still working and burdening at the same level. At levels above the the light duties such as the K46, the tuff-torqs at the same ratings seem to hold up a bit better. The Hydro-Gears having more pump/motor issues than tuff-torq yet they have less issues with the gears and differential than tuff-torq. So they are essentially competitive with nearly equal reliability, tuff-torq just edging out the Hydro-Gears in heavy work conditions as they have less headroom (peak intermittent torque ratings). However, if i were purchasing a tractor, one with the tt and the other a hg, i would prefer the tt but having the hg would not be a show stopper in any way.

 

[searcyfarms]

Wow lots of so called experts here way off the wall. First off a K58 will outlast life of the rest of tractor in most cases. Anybody who thinks different please post the facts. A Hydro gear G730 is rated for 230 ft-lb continuous torque. Slightly more than K58’s 217 lbs- of course the Tuff Torq tranny is considered superior to Hydro gear. Nobody considers any Husqvarna best in class- they are considered ‘economy” mowers

The JD snow blowers ( both 44 and 47) are considered by most “best in class” and are the industry leaders.

Your dealers gave you very wise advice- given your needs and budget they both recommended X380 – I tend to agree if you had more hills, I’d say go with X5xx series. Listen to your dealers – they know far more than most of the B/S posted in this thread

 

[searcyfarms]

ive read about 6 to 7 posts from 2010 to 2017 and it seems the tuff torq have a better following than the hydro gear units

 

[searcyfarms]

the biggest thing that kills the hydro are heat and burnt oil - if you are not dragging trailers around up hills or driving over sticks/debris/tall grass in a field and clogging up or breaking the rotary fan that sits above the hydro for cooling you should be ok. Another thing that is a bad idea is to put on some chevrons/directional ag tires on one of these smaller units and push things as you are just adding pressure/torque which adds heat and less slippage ( unless you want something new and cant get your wife to sign off ) - stick with the turf tires, if you need something for a bigger job, get the right tool dont try to cut down a tree with a pocket knife.

An OLD SCHOOL garden tractor is FAR different than a lawn tractor/mower of todays standards/technology and ability to design something to have a limited lifespan vs lifetime mower. they truly do not make them like they used to thats a given, its for a reason not necessarily for the right one but its our reality.

 

[ETD66SS]

ive read about 6 to 7 posts from 2010 to 2017 and it seems the tuff torq have a better following than the hydro gear units

Yeah I've done some reading too. While the locking differential might be a cool option, I'm wondering if it is better to NOT have that feature on this tractor, I don't want my Dad to have that turned on all the time and wipe out the unit etc.

the biggest thing that kills the hydro are heat and burnt oil - if you are not dragging trailers around up hills or driving over sticks/debris/tall grass in a field and clogging up or breaking the rotary fan that sits above the hydro for cooling you should be ok. Another thing that is a bad idea is to put on some chevrons/directional ag tires on one of these smaller units and push things as you are just adding pressure/torque which adds heat and less slippage ( unless you want something new and cant get your wife to sign off ) - stick with the turf tires, if you need something for a bigger job, get the right tool dont try to cut down a tree with a pocket knife.

An OLD SCHOOL garden tractor is FAR different than a lawn tractor/mower of todays standards/technology and ability to design something to have a limited lifespan vs lifetime mower. they truly do not make them like they used to thats a given, its for a reason not necessarily for the right one but its our reality.

His land has 0% grade. He tows a trailer/roller/sprayer but never pushes a blade or snow blower etc.

 

[searcyfarms]

if he has gotten along ok w/out a locking differential in the past i wouldnt bother with more confusion or buttons - from what you have shared i dont think COOL is what would suit you in this situation

 

[crazyal]

On my Kohler Courage engine the decompression was done by a plastic tab inside the moor. When it spun fast enough it would move out of the way. The plastic breaks very easy making very hard to start. The only way it'll start now is if I turn it to the point of compression, stop and let the pressure bleed off, then try to start it. Once it gets back to the compression stroke it has enough momentum to keep turning. It's a single cylinder though, I would guess is this trick wouldn't work on a twin cylinder engine.

My X500 might be too hard for him to learn. The deck is raised and lowered by pushing a pedal not a lever. If he never needed to raise it then it wouldn't be an issue. That might be too hard for him to learn. It has a locking diff but it's just a red button you push with your left foot. It also has a button (that can be defeated) that you have to push that will allow it to mow in reverse. My father had dementia and the key seamed to be not changing anything. Even the button to engage the PTO could be an issue if it's a different shape or location. I think I would try to keep what he has running (even if it means buying a new motor down the road).

 

[ETD66SS]

On my Kohler Courage engine the decompression was done by a plastic tab inside the moor. When it spun fast enough it would move out of the way. The plastic breaks very easy making very hard to start. The only way it'll start now is if I turn it to the point of compression, stop and let the pressure bleed off, then try to start it. Once it gets back to the compression stroke it has enough momentum to keep turning. It's a single cylinder though, I would guess is this trick wouldn't work on a twin cylinder engine.

My X500 might be too hard for him to learn. The deck is raised and lowered by pushing a pedal not a lever. If he never needed to raise it then it wouldn't be an issue. That might be too hard for him to learn. It has a locking diff but it's just a red button you push with your left foot. It also has a button (that can be defeated) that you have to push that will allow it to mow in reverse. My father had dementia and the key seamed to be not changing anything. Even the button to engage the PTO could be an issue if it's a different shape or location. I think I would try to keep what he has running (even if it means buying a new motor down the road).

The dementia points are valid concerns yes. I do worry about controls being different and him never learning what does what...

 

[tomplum]

I understand about the new style starter. But before I spend money on that, I'm wondering why this current starter can spin (and start) a cold engine just fine but not a hot engine. Does this point to some other issue at hand?

You can watch the starter shaft spin in the drive. The starter drive is friction driven.

 

[rScotty]

I've never had a riding mower and doubt I ever will....but this thread has made me curious about their quality. If there are low quality riding lawnmowers there must also be high quality ones.
What models are the higher quality ones? And why not simply get one of those?
rScotty