Lawn Mowers

[cberhomengarden]

I don't have any riding mower advice, but I would highly suggest heading over to Garden Web's forums on mowers.
Those guys know their mower stuff.
There's also my favorite lawn care forum http://www.bestlawn.com I think they have a section on mowers.
Hope that helps!

[KathyJB]

UUHHHH, Where's that like button? Most reviews I have read on any mower is that you should never buy at a big box store, and that you should go to a dealer.
Today I went to pick up my son's pickup from the repair shop and then drove to the place I normally take my mowers to be fixed. I was thinking they sold Cub Cadet along with Poulan, but they don't. They sell Poulan and Huskvarna. So I thought what the heck, I'll look at it. The 42inch deck I looked at had a really tight turning radius and looked to be pretty solidly made. (I loved that word crappily Daniel said ) This one had a Briggs and Stratten engine, which used to be a pretty good engine, but I think they sold out and now aren't as reliable (?)
I went home and started looking up the mower I saw in town and have decided to upgrade to the 46 inch with the Kohler motor. My husband has a welding machine that we used to pump water with during the drought and that is one tough motor.
Not real crazy about the orange color, but I figure it will be a plus mowing next to the road, especially with that crazy lady down the road driving like a fool. The number one thing that sold me other than the fact it was a local business was the Made in America sticker.

[kat]

Had a troy built for 3 yrs, nothing but trouble, and no one comes to work on mowers round here would have ti carry it sonewhere everytime it broke, mowing 2 acres with almost no
Obstructions, just 3 trees

Troy built piece of crap,
Guy at shop,friend of friend so honest with me advised cub cadet

But going to let someone else do it this year

[triguy128]

It tends to be a get what you pay for situation. If one brand offers a bigger engine and lager deck for the same price...odds are it's lower quality.

I too would look for a local dealer or equivalent. Our farm & home store sells cub cadet. I would have gone that route, but I bought a Dixon lawn tractor... which is a rebaged Husquavarna. Kohler V twin motor and a 46" deck which is as large as I need for my size lawn. I have a 1/2 acre lot... less the house and driveway, so it's cuts it pretty fast. Overall it seems like good quality and I got a descent deal since I got it used from my in-laws. I've used it for 1/3 of mowing season since we moved in. We'll see how I like it in deeper grass this spring. I pretty much only mulch. But in deeper grass I might try bagging, but keep the mulch blade installed, so it will mulch most of it.

You do need to keep up on regular maintenance, cleaning the deck and leveling the deck. 3 blade mowers cut more evenly, but you have a 3rd blade to maintain.


I also have a 40" wide snow blade on front. I have a 80' long driveway and 30' square area at the bottom.... so I'm not interested in shoveling it. IT has worked very well in the couple of 3" snows we've had. IN deep heavier snow, I'm SOL and probably going to have to get a good workout. The deck was pretty easy to remove.

[eclecticcottage]

Stay away from Craftsman mowers. I can't begin to explain how crappily mine is made.

We have one that came with the Cottage. It has some serious wiring gremlins. Sometimes it won't start...sometimes it won't shut off...I can't say for certain if it was built poorly or poorly cared for.

I LOVE my 60's Wheel Horse Suburban. Looks like a mini Farmall and runs like a top. It lives at the Old House currently.

My grandfather had a Gravely that kicked butt. Had to be 30 + years old before the motor went.

[pqtex]

One thing to keep in mind is that some brands that once had good reputations for building good equipment have been bought out or changed hands a number of times, most of the time to the detriment of the product. Troy-Bilt is one of those companies. I inherited a Troy-bilt Horse garden tiller from my father...that thing is probably 40 years old, maybe more, maybe less. That thing is fantastic and has been heavily used. However, the company went through several buy-outs and what is being built today does not compare to the quality when mine was built. The same is true of many lawnmowers, tractors, appliances, etc.

I'm not sure how current Kubota lawn tractors compare to the quality of the old ones, but my father sure was proud of his when he bought it in 1982! I started to sell it a few months ago, but changed my mind and kept it as a back-up to my husband's Hustler zero radius. Good thing we did because the Hustler has been in for repairs several times. Don't get me wrong...the Hustler has been a good lawnmower and we like it, but I still think it's funny that my 30 year old Kubota is out-gunning it!

daddy kubota.jpg (85.42 KiB) Viewed 477 times

[KathyJB]

Wow. You are correct about companies changing hands and the thing about buying from a local person is that they know it too. My mower is at the Wick's Western Auto in Weimar. I saw it. It even has cruise control which I found rather hilarious.
I really hope it lasts a very long time. Like 20 years at least....., I can dream right? Crimany, I'll be 70 in 20 years, I'll just hire someone to mow the lawn.

The old gray tank is on the fritz. It threw a belt yesterday evening as I was leaving to go feed the calves. I spent most of the morning tracking down parts. If you happen to be in the auto parts business I have a request. If you get a woman calling about a pulley on a diesel pickup, please don't tell her that a certain pulley is stationary. That causes all kinds of problems. Some guy told me that the pulley I was talking about was stationary. So I ponder this and say oh, ok, then it's fine because it's not moving. This really bothered me because if it didn't move and the belt was being drug across it going a zillion miles an hour, it would wear and break, not to mention the smell. So I'm on the phone with a real mechanic who knows me well and says it should move and Wallah, it did, only it didn't sound very healthy plus it had remnants of rubber from the belt on it. I had been trying to turn it the wrong way. Then he told me to check the other pulley just like it and it was ok because hubby had changed that one. On to the Tensioner pulley, hmmm, sounds like the bearings could use some grease.
I looked for a belt, a idler pulley and the Tensioner pulley (that's what they called it). Got the belt, no problem (hope it fits) Got the idler pulley (that's a funny story too but I don't want to bore you) Mind you, I had to travel over two counties in Texas to find all this stuff. The last part, was a doozy to find and if I would have went to the Chevy place the first time I was in Lavaca County, truck capital of Texas, I wouldn't have had to travel back to Colorado county. All in all it took about 4 hours to find the parts going from part house to part house and taking time out to have lunch with my son who was on his way back to college. And then it was too late for my nephew to help me fix the pickup.
What may you ask has this to do with the lawn mower? I need my truck to go get it, duhhh.

[Don M]

The old Wheel Horse mowers were super and I had a used Sears Craftsman that I could easily get parts for but DW convinced me to buy a new mower several years ago. I have a Husqvarna 42" now & it has been terrific; it's 4 years old now & no trouble what so ever. Dad had a Cub & it wasn't anywhere near as good as his old Wheel Horse. A Deere would also be good.

[Eden]

The Kubota is the Cadillac of tractors, I just couldn't part with the $$, ended up buying a 130 JD lawn tractor @Lowes last summer, only need it for the lawn. There are a couple of old tractors that were the grandfather's of the girl renting the barn and she uses them in the meadow and pasture.

[RaeSzafir]

I have a John Deere 425Z (I think) zero turn and my yard is neither level or square. I LOVE it!!! I bought it 5 years ago and it has not given me a single issue. Each spring it goes back to John Deere for a tune up, oil change and blade maintenance. That has been it.

Only thing I didnt take into account when I bought it is that they dont make any attachments for zero turn due to injury potential, so if you have a graden cart etc, you wont be able to use the zero to haul it around the yard.