Buying a new riding mower

drkelly

drkelly

Dipstick who put two vehicles on jack stands
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Location
Oak Ridge/Stokesdale, NC
My old Craftsman riding tractor mower is running a little funny and has a weird vibration when the blades are engaged. Despite that, I am still mowing with it though. I bought it used in the fall of 2005, so figure it is time to replace it rather than spend money on it. My first thought was to just replace it with another Craftsman, but I am considering a higher end tractor. I am not interested in a zero turn mower. I have some hills to mow and also somewhat regularly pull a heavily loaded yard cart behind my current mower. I have read that zero turns are not good for either of those scenarios. Looking for opinions on riding tractor mowers in the 42"-48" cutting width range.

Thanks,
Danny


This is the Craftsman mower I was first considering replacing mine with:
Sears.com

I also like this Simplicity model:
Broadmoor™ Lawn Tractor
 
x2 for Husky. I bought the 48" one last year because it had a better deck than the smaller models and a better transaxle. It has like 56 hours on it so far.

I wouldn't mind if ours had the rear locker and/or the 54" deck, but either one would have added $1k to the price.

Alternatively, you can spend about the same on a bright green one. The nice thing about that is you can sell the bright green one for more money down the road because it's bright green.

Husqvarna makes most all of the Craftsman riding mowers, but the Craftsman versions cost a lot more. The upside is that Sears will put them "on sale" for like $800 off. So then they only cost a few hundred bucks more.
 
I have a 24hp. 48" Husqvarna it cuts great and seems to be well built. I opted for the stronger deck that has the reinforcement bolted around it just because I am hard on equipment. The only problems I have are the reverse pedal needs to stick up a little further and tire traction sucks.
I pulled a chevy truck into the shop with it last week so forward power is pretty good.
 
Huskys are all made in SC by Husky.
 
Oh, and don't get wrapped up in the mower speed thing. None of them seem to cut worth a shit going much faster than regular old "mowing speed", which is to say a normal walking speed. If you want to cut grass like the commercial guys with their ZTRs, you have to buy a commercial ZTR. I read somewhere that the CPSC regulates blade tip speed on consumer mowers, so unless you can find some underdrive pulleys for your mower, it's not going to cut any faster than anything else.
 
I like the Huskies myself, almost bought one till I found a GREAT deal on a lil homeowner zero turn. I was looking at the articulating model and went to test one out. It's a little unusual looking, but drove and mowed like a ztr without all the ztr handling problems. Worth a look ....





I'll probably buy one once this lil ztr dies
 
I bought a JD LA145 back in 07 I think. It has 250 hours on it and the only trouble I have had is when I used crappy gas and got water in the carb. Already been thru 1 set of front tires, 2nd set is about half worn.
 
I'm pretty sure my current Craftsman is a Husqvarna as was mentioned. I had to replace one of the spindles last year and discovered that.

Thanks for all the replies so far.
 
i had a 1968 snapper that i got beat to hell for free... it had a brigs engine on it that was replaced with another brigs sometime in the 90's before i got it.

i mowed with it for 9 years and decided that i wanted a bagger for the leaves.. since i couldn't hook a bagger up to that model i bought another snapper... they are a bit more expensive, but they last....

my neighbors call me Gump when i cut the lawn...
 
it will let you know when it needs gas!


amemecrunch.com_meme_8KBWL_ain_t_got_no_gas_in_it_image.jpg
 
I have one of these (or at least it's similar), got it 3 years ago or so. It does the job, no complaints, starts every time even after sitting all winter with old ethanol gas in the tank (big no no, I know.) My parents have had a 46 or 48in Husky for about 10 years now, same thing. I wouldn't hesitate to buy either again.

Duane
 
I've got a mid 2000's model snapper and I love it wouldn't buy anything else I also get called gump it's got a small deck and struggles to pull my plugger loaded. But the snapper is like a Jeep it's more of a lifestyle it's not fast or strong but somehow it's still perfect
 

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^Good looking snapper!
 
Buy a real mower. Not a throw away POS from the big box. Sold my husvarna and bought a 20 year old toro that will mow circles around the husky. It does not bog down, clog up with grass, and I don't have to mow 2-3 times when the grass is wet.

John deere 345 has power steering, liquid cooled, heavy deck, goes more than 4 mph. 7-8 grand new.

John Deere 345 *Low Hours*

This is the bigger version of mine, about 6 grand new.


toro wheel horse mower
 
I have someone come mow my yard now don't have to buy a mower, do maintenance, sharpen blades, buy gas or take time to mow. Best money I've ever spent mowing my yard has been so I don't have to do it.
 
Stuntman Autoworks said:
I have someone come mow my yard now don't have to buy a mower, do maintenance, sharpen blades, buy gas or take time to mow. Best money I've ever spent mowing my yard has been so I don't have to do it.
Click to expand...

I wish that worked at my place, I would be able to buy a brand new mower every year with how much I save vs paying somebody in my yard.
 
I did alot of training at Husqvarna for all their engineers, they said.." don't buy from Lowes, they are a much cheaper mower made just for lowes. Buy from a dealer with a orange fabricated deck. Those are designed to last 600hrs vs the lowes 300hrs" the Kohler engine they say is better then the Briggs. Btw..I love mine!!!
 
rockmafia said:
Buy a real mower. Not a throw away POS from the big box. Sold my husvarna and bought a 20 year old toro that will mow circles around the husky. It does not bog down, clog up with grass, and I don't have to mow 2-3 times when the grass is wet.

John deere 345 has power steering, liquid cooled, heavy deck, goes more than 4 mph. 7-8 grand new.

John Deere 345 *Low Hours*

This is the bigger version of mine, about 6 grand new.


toro wheel horse mower
Click to expand...

Wow, that JD is nice!
 
rockmafia said:
Buy a real mower. Not a throw away POS from the big box. Sold my husvarna and bought a 20 year old toro that will mow circles around the husky. It does not bog down, clog up with grass, and I don't have to mow 2-3 times when the grass is wet.
Click to expand...

What is a "real" mower? Honest question, I am about to drop the coin, but only want to do it once. I already know that I wouldn't buy from a big box, but want to know what the cut off is for a real machine.

Is is power plant? Cutting deck construction? Assembly plant?
 
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