The "I'm Obsessive With Lawn Tractors" Thread

[ck80]

Need the experts to chime in. Dad just moved about a half hour north of us. The new place is 0.5 acre. He's going to need a riding mower. Does this look like a decent deal?

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When dealing with 'lawn' tractors, and not knowing how they were used and abused, let alone maintained, I find a nice simple gear drive better than hydrostatic.

I'm a bit biased, but, the 2010s Troy Bilt Pony is a sort of favorite. It's cheap. It's tinny and noisy. You may eventually develop slop where you turn the steering wheel and there's a dead zone off center with no resistance and no wheel turn, like bad tie tod ends in a truck, but it doesnt matter. It wont die. You feel vibrations, and, there's basically no implement you're going to run, a bagging collector is a luxury item and just about the only thing you can do to it aside from a mulching blade.

But it also just works. I put more abuse on those, have one for me I bought new in 2012, dirt cheap, on closeout. Bought more used and we simply can't kill them. They don't have hour meters, but, based on use there's one we have which cannot have less than 450 hours on it, over 6 years, without a single oil change - started as a joke to see how long itll go, but, it wont die. Plus whatever someone else didn't do to it.

Just run ethanol free/marine gas in whatever he gets, that's the one biggie that helps. As beat to junk as so many of these things are, if someone uses that as a selling point without being asked it's a big bonus.

And, remember, so many of these things at the end of the day are ALL rebadged MTD units.

 

[Marketmerlin]

Thought I'd share my little garden tractor. I had never seen one before and had to have it lol. 15hp diesel with hydraulic 3 point hitch, 3 speed pto out back, constant pto on the front, left and right brakes like a real tractor, power steering, locking differential and 3 speed transmission with high and low range. I plan to run a hydraulic pump off the front pto for a front loader.

 

[Streetbu]

Need the experts to chime in. Dad just moved about a half hour north of us. The new place is 0.5 acre. He's going to need a riding mower. Does this look like a decent deal?

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Those are decent units. Made by American Yard Products, aka, AYP. They are easy to get parts for. Don't let the rear end fool you. It's the same rear end that comes in a John Deere X300 too. Don't beat it up, but they are ok. If you remember it's a riding lawn mower, and NOT a tractor, you'll be fine. $500 is a decent price, I'd feel better at $450. Beginning of the season around here that's $650 all day.

 

[Texas82GP]

A bit on the high side, I'd feel better around $375-400, but I would steer you away from that particular model. Hydrostatic transaxle is a Tuff Torq K46 and very, very light duty. Like, no hills, don't try to pull a cart light duty.

When dealing with 'lawn' tractors, and not knowing how they were used and abused, let alone maintained, I find a nice simple gear drive better than hydrostatic.

I'm a bit biased, but, the 2010s Troy Bilt Pony is a sort of favorite. It's cheap. It's tinny and noisy. You may eventually develop slop where you turn the steering wheel and there's a dead zone off center with no resistance and no wheel turn, like bad tie tod ends in a truck, but it doesnt matter. It wont die. You feel vibrations, and, there's basically no implement you're going to run, a bagging collector is a luxury item and just about the only thing you can do to it aside from a mulching blade.

But it also just works. I put more abuse on those, have one for me I bought new in 2012, dirt cheap, on closeout. Bought more used and we simply can't kill them. They don't have hour meters, but, based on use there's one we have which cannot have less than 450 hours on it, over 6 years, without a single oil change - started as a joke to see how long itll go, but, it wont die. Plus whatever someone else didn't do to it.

Just run ethanol free/marine gas in whatever he gets, that's the one biggie that helps. As beat to junk as so many of these things are, if someone uses that as a selling point without being asked it's a big bonus.

And, remember, so many of these things at the end of the day are ALL rebadged MTD units.

Those are decent units. Made by American Yard Products, aka, AYP. They are easy to get parts for. Don't let the rear end fool you. It's the same rear end that comes in a John Deere X300 too. Don't beat it up, but they are ok. If you remember it's a riding lawn mower, and NOT a tractor, you'll be fine. $500 is a decent price, I'd feel better at $450. Beginning of the season around here that's $650 all day.

Thanks for the feedback guys. We've never had use for a riding lawnmower so we're fairly ignorant about them. That mower caught my eye because of the price and because it had the Craftsman name on it. Dad is 73. He's a diehard Sears/Craftsman guy. I realize in this case it is just the Craftsman name slapped on someone else's mower (like all Craftsman mowers) but Dad would like it because it was a Craftsman unit.

His new place is 0.5 acre so mowing it with a 22" self propelled walk behind mower is less than ideal. The place is pretty flat (slight slopes, roadside swales) and I don't see him doing anything with it beyond mowing. I'll keep looking. I think used is the way to go. The prices on the new units are fairly outrageous.

 

[joesregalproject]

The prices on the new units are fairly outrageous.

Totally agree. I see the cheap generic brand tractors at Home Depot and Lowe's are in the $2000 range and the more premium brand like Cub Cadet and JD are approaching $2500 with no features to justify that pricing.

If Dad doesn't insist on Craftsman, the Cub Cadet 2000 series tractors are built like tanks and can be found in the $400-500 range in both hydro and geared versions.

If Craftsman is a must, I'd go for one of the older Electrolux/AYP units as opposed to the newer Husqvarna or MTD models. Craftsman switched suppliers for their tractors quite a few times so some models were much better than others.

 

[pagrunt]

Totally agree. I see the cheap generic brand tractors at Home Depot and Lowe's are in the $2000 range and the more premium brand like Cub Cadet and JD are approaching $2500 with no features to justify that pricing.

If Dad doesn't insist on Craftsman, the Cub Cadet 2000 series tractors are built like tanks and can be found in the $400-500 range in both hydro and geared versions.

If Craftsman is a must, I'd go for one of the older Electrolux/AYP units as opposed to the newer Husqvarna or MTD models. Craftsman switched suppliers for their tractors quite a few times so some models were much better than others.

I saw the current prices & can't beleive the price difference from when I bought my Troy Built Pony in '11 & the current version. Talk about super inflation.

 

[ck80]

Also read the more recent brand reviews. The cub cadets of late have had much more bad press, my personal thoughts are they shipped out units regardless of QC because replacement parts before sending them out weren't available, and, keeping the line running and money coming in was top priority.

Why that guess? Any units going in for warranty work were piling up at the local dealers. Guys with late model stuff I'd see and hear at the parts counters were turned away for no parts. Heard them telling people calling the same thing - no parts. And you read review complaints, mowers kept going down with bad parts and waiting, no parts available to fix timely.

 

[69hurstolds]

Also read the more recent brand reviews. The cub cadets of late have had much more bad press, my personal thoughts are they shipped out units regardless of QC because replacement parts before sending them out weren't available, and, keeping the line running and money coming in was top priority.

Why that guess? Any units going in for warranty work were piling up at the local dealers. Guys with late model stuff I'd see and hear at the parts counters were turned away for no parts. Heard them telling people calling the same thing - no parts. And you read review complaints, mowers kept going down with bad parts and waiting, no parts available to fix timely.

I don't see how they could be out of parts. Cub Cadet is almost like a G-body once you get past the badging and stylized body parts. A lot of parts are the same for many variants of the same mower. Chinesium must be having a hard time getting here through normal processes it seems. Now, if they strapped it across the back of illegal aliens coming across the southern border they could get it here much quicker. I will agree, though, I'm not going to buy another Cub. Quality was iffy 15 years ago.

We've had the Cub since 2007, and after figuring out the belt throwing issue due to crappy pulley alignment, plus a stripped steering shaft gear (sacrificial alignment washer wore out- cheap but super PITA to fix) it's been a very good mower overall. Changing a drive belt was a major PITA, but do-able. Like anything else, you have to do periodic maintenance on them. Although, I've about had it with the thing as many parts are starting to wear down more than I would like, and some of those parts have been obsoleted for a good while now. Might be its last season if I can milk it for that long. Probably go with the John Deere X350 next season. Got too much yard for an electric POS. Not sure yet.

I'm surprised I was able to fix my broken Cub the same day. I was driving along cutting the grass last week with my old crusty Cub, made a left turn and kept trying to go straight. WTF? Look down and one tire turned left but the other wasn't. Saw the tie rod hanging down. Broke a spherical tie rod end. The ball popped right out of the socket and it wasn't going back. Can't effectively lube them, all you can do is change them. Whip out the parts book for the mower, and they're p/n 723-0448 or 723-0448A (the prefix 723 changed to 923 later on). Luckily, the local Tractor Supply had some new ones in stock. They fit, they function, and I was steering the mower again within an hour and a half of the initial break.

 

[Streetbu]

I don't see how they could be out of parts. Cub Cadet is almost like a G-body once you get past the badging and stylized body parts. A lot of parts are the same for many variants of the same mower. Chinesium must be having a hard time getting here through normal processes it seems. Now, if they strapped it across the back of illegal aliens coming across the southern border they could get it here much quicker. I will agree, though, I'm not going to buy another Cub. Quality was iffy 15 years ago.

We've had the Cub since 2007, and after figuring out the belt throwing issue due to crappy pulley alignment, plus a stripped steering shaft gear (sacrificial alignment washer wore out- cheap but super PITA to fix) it's been a very good mower overall. Changing a drive belt was a major PITA, but do-able. Like anything else, you have to do periodic maintenance on them. Although, I've about had it with the thing as many parts are starting to wear down more than I would like, and some of those parts have been obsoleted for a good while now. Might be its last season if I can milk it for that long. Probably go with the John Deere X350 next season. Got too much yard for an electric POS. Not sure yet.

I'm surprised I was able to fix my broken Cub the same day. I was driving along cutting the grass last week with my old crusty Cub, made a left turn and kept trying to go straight. WTF? Look down and one tire turned left but the other wasn't. Saw the tie rod hanging down. Broke a spherical tie rod end. The ball popped right out of the socket and it wasn't going back. Can't effectively lube them, all you can do is change them. Whip out the parts book for the mower, and they're p/n 723-0448 or 723-0448A (the prefix 723 changed to 923 later on). Luckily, the local Tractor Supply had some new ones in stock. They fit, they function, and I was steering the mower again within an hour and a half of the initial break.

View attachment 224984

You realize that Cub is just a yellow MTD mower correct?

 

[69hurstolds]

You realize that Cub is just a yellow MTD mower correct?

Yes. Like I said before, strip off the label and the stylized Cub body parts, and you pretty much got a generic lawn mower, a lot like G-bodies. So unless there's a giant brand-wide parts issue from China, I can't see how it's hard to get parts for such a ubiquitous mower.

GM did it with our G-bodies as well. MOST generic parts interchange, but GM decided to pi$$ off people by changing a part or two here and there just enough to say it was different.