Lawn Mowers

[shartley]

BlackVCG

[jah871]

my dad has his own landscaping business and he has quite a few machines. he has 2 riders and 2 walk behinds. if you dont really need a plow attachment i would recomend a walk behind. you can get an attachment that connects to the back so you can stand on it and not have to walk. i would go with either a exmark or a bobcat. they are both very nice and i have used both. you can get the deck in a 48in 60in and im pretty sure a 72in deck. look around in the newpaper classifieds for a cheaper one, because lawncare companys are always selling them.

if you want to spend a little more look for a used MTD rider. they have the hydraulic arms that you use o turn. my dad has an exmark and bobcat, but our neighbor has an MTD and is a great machne for a homeowner. you can probably pick one up for around 1500-2500 depending how old it is and the condition. these machines mow the grass around 10mph so you will get done very quickly.

[Paintballer86]

I Have a Kubota tractor, and I love that thing. I think that it is a little oversized for the job, (6' wide mowing deck, and we have 3 acres of land) but it is fun to use. It cost my family a little over $12,000.00 but you can get scaled dowm riding mowers for much cheeper. They also have all those fancy-dancy tractor attcahments, so no worry about the snow. If you would like to see a picture, I will post one, just PM me. Check them out, they are definetley worth a look.

http://www.kubota.com/residentcom.cfm

Hope that helps!

WOO HOO! 600 posts!!

[Miscue]

Haha... yeap, DirtFarmerVCG is the guy to ask this stuff. :)

[Zumina]

Bah, accept no substitute! John Deer; as nothing runs like one

[the JoKeR]

I agree with the above post, Kubota is supposed to be a pretty darn good brand, if you can afford it.

A few decades ago, we had an old Craftsman rider which lasted quite well. Finally, the snow blower, plow attachment, wide mowing deck, etc., just did it in. A few years back I got a Craftsman walkbehind which lasted one season trouble-free. The second season it needed work, same as the third. I've never had a mower that required that much work, and I now have a yard 1/5 the size I used to deal with. I dumped it and got a Yard Machines brand from Home Depot mainly because of the Briggs & Stratton engine which I've heard is all but bulletproof. So far, one season under it's belt and it seems to run better than the Craftsman mower ever did.
I've heard it from a number of people: Buy all the tools you can at Sears, but if it needs gas, get it somewhere else.

[-J�ker-]

we had a honda mower for about 14 years till the engine blew lasy year now we have a john dear

[Paintballer86]

Here ya go. this is my Kubota Riding lawn mower. all I need now is a Sound system and I am set!

Edit* Yes, it is parked in my garage

[jah871]

haha thats great miscue.

[BlackVCG]

Well first of all I'll state that I jumped the gun saying not to consider Craftsman at all. It depends on the home owner and what they need. In certain cases they can acheive what is required and are very economical in price compared to other brands. The first things to consider are, how you'll be using the tractor, how much you plan on using it in terms of hours per week and the overall life expectancy you need.

First of all, I've used Craftsman, Kubota, John Deere, Honda, MTD and Murray tractors. Since you're considering Craftsman I'll give you my general thoughts on them.

In my experience with Craftsman riding mowers, they have a GREAT engine and the rest of the tractor is sub-par. In terms of maintanence, Craftsman tractors offer very little you can do to keep it maintained. The transmission oil can't be changed, there are no grease fittings on the blade spindles and the lower-end engines don't have an oil filter. My next complaint about the Craftsman tractors is that their decks are poorly engineered. They're very picky with cutting large volumes of grass and wet grass. Their decks don't have enough air flow to keep up with these task and generally clog up. On the Craftsman I've used over the years, keeping the blades sharp, and cleaning the deck after every use still results in the deck clogging up after each time I'd cut the lawn (about 2 hours worth of mowing). I've never seen this problem on any other deck but the Craftsman. Keep in mind the lawn I was using this tractor on is an average lawn that is watered and cut each week.

The Craftsman tractors have both Briggs & Stratton and Kohler motors. You stated that they have "new" motors. I'm curious if this is a newly designed motor or what you mean by "new". If I had to choose between one or the other, I would definitely go with the Kohler motor. They are used on the more expensive tractors, but they have a better reputation and in general are built better than the Briggs.

If you haven't already, you should look into the Scotts tractors that Home Depot carries. They're manufactured by John Deere and offer Briggs & Stratton and Kohler motors. The only problem is that they don't offer a snow blower or they didn't the last time I checked. Since you seem intent on getting a tractor and equipping it with a snow blower, the Scotts is kinda out of the question.

The next brand to look at is John Deere. Although expensive, you are getting a high quality machine that you can get excellent service as long as you own the tractor. My Dad for awhile owned a John Deere 111 riding mower produced in the 70's. He was able to go to the local John Deere dealership and find ANY part he needed for that tractor. They truly back up their equipment when it comes to service and support. Also, your John Deere dealership is going to have parts on hand when you need them whereas with Craftsman if it's not a common maintanence item, you'll have to order the part.

Kubota is on the same level as John Deere in terms of pricing and available options. I personally prefer Kubota over JD because of just minor details, but both make excellent products. Kubota offers a diesel motor in their TG series tractor, which I believe is the way to go if you're looking at putting lots of work on the tractor. Diesel motors last longer, are more fuel efficient and provide more low range torque, which is what's needed in a tractor.

Basically, the reason why I don't like Craftsman mowers is because of the build quality and that they're made so that you can't maintain them like they should be. It's also more or less nit-picky details that make me dislike the Craftsman mowers. For example, taking off the deck to sharpen the blades takes too long in comparison to a John Deere deck. The JD deck is engineered so that it can be taken of in about a minute.

What it all comes down to is what you need. If you plan on using the mower frequently and cutting lots of grass each week, I would look into something more along the lines of a John Deere. Although the setup will cost you about three times as much as a Craftsman setup, it will pay itself off in the long run.

I'll give a brief overview of what to look into.

John Deere:

LX Series, LT Series and GT Series tractors. You're looking at from around $2000 up to $4500 for tractors in these categories.

Kubota:

T Series and TG Series. Same pricing as JD tractors.

Scotts:

Similar pricing as Craftsman. Manufactured by John Deere.

In terms of Engines, you'll find Kohler, Briggs & Stratton, Kawasaki and Kubota motors in the aforementioned tractors. In rank of quality and dependability I'd say it goes from Kubota, Kawasaki, Kohler and then B & S.

I'd give a look into the other tractors and figure out if you can justify the cost of getting something better. I will say that Craftsman is fine if you don't plan on using it all that often. What seperates the Craftsman from all the other tractors is that they're geared more towards the average home owner that isn't concerned with much other than a tractor that will complete the task. Granted that may be all you need, but I'm sure if you take a look at the other brands, you'll see the difference. :)

[Butterfingers]

Black,

What are your thoughts on honda liquid cooled varieties.

My old man's 10 year old craftsman is about to die. And I agree its grass cutting performance is not that great. It would win a belt throwing contest though :) Lookin for a new riding mower within the next year.

We have had lots of luck with thier cars, do thier products work as well on grass as they do on the pavement.

[BlackVCG]

The Honda liquid cooled motor they use in their lawn tractors is simply put amazing. It's a twin cylinder OHC motor that honestly runs like a car motor. It's that smooth. In general they're good mowers. Their decks have all sealed bearings for the blade spindles and idler pulley, so you can't grease them. They don't make heavy duty garden tractors like what Kubota and JD have, but their lawn tractors are pretty good. I don't believe that their new model lawn tractors have the liquid cooled motor though. I've worked with a Honda lawn tractor (can't remember the model number) that has a liquid cooled motor, so I'm assuming you're looking at the same one or one similar to that.

[Butterfingers]

Thanks for the info,

Were basicly looking for somthing that works well and is reliable. We only have to maintain a few acres once every week.

The only thing is Hondas are expensive. Just making sure that it is worth the price.

[shartley]

[cphilip]

Gentlemen...nothing stronger built out there than the Snapper mowers. Not only the latest B&S or Kohler you want but heavy thick steel decks and tranny's that will last forever. Do not forget the best small tractors and lawn mowers in the business... Snapper.

I think MTD makes Sears lawn tractors for them under Sears specs by the way. And your right Black the decks are flimsy. The motor will out last the deck. However the Snapper decks will outlast the motor twice. Look at one and see what I am talking about.

I prefer B&S IC engines over Kohler's by a litle bit. B&S engines will run even when things are off a bit. Kohlers will refuse to run if things are off. By "Off" I mean fuel quality and plug and air intake condition. Both pretty good engines though. I just noticed the Kholers seem to be a bit more sensitive to conditions and need more perfect maintenance is all. B&S engines are just a bit more forgiving in that area.

My Vote is:
For small lawn tractors and mowers - Snapper
Bigger Lawn and garden tractors - JD, Kubota or Ford
For Tillers - Troy-Bilt