your thoughts on the Best mower

so, Im sure we've all used one at one point in time. So whats the verdict, who makes the best mower?

personally, I like John Deer. Because, for the most part, they are American made

 

Husqvarna

 

yeah forgot about good ole Husky mowers. quality at an affordable price

 

i voted others........i like craftsman, troy bilt and husqvarna mowers!!

 

i opted for the toro they make a great zero-turn mower

 

anything but troy built

 

X2

Old craftsman it took 2+ hours to mow entire yard, new toro zero turn 1 1/2 tops

 

craftsman and snapper is all we ever had and love both of em.

 

so the general consensus is that zero turn are better than regular riding mowers?

 

I bought a JD X304 last year, about 30 hours on it so far. Too few to really give much of an opinion. But, so far I am very pleased. The four wheel steering is not as good as zero turn but far better than a regular lawn tractor. Plus the 4 wheel steer has a smaller foot print than a zero turn so it takes up less space in my garage.

I voted JD...MTD ??!! I think that stands for Made To self-Destruct. Junk from what I have seen (no votes so far).

I think you get what you pay for. If you get any known brand in the $3000 range plus...you will most likely have a machine that will give you great service.

 

I currently mow with a John Deere tractor of 1977 vintage. It's been in the family since new. It's a 210 model. The main seal started leaking 2 or 3 years ago. I started looking into rebuilding the Kohler 10hp at a cost of around $1,000+ dollars. I then found a whole 212 tractor with a rebuilt motor for $400.00 and opted to swap motors.

My accessories include a rear mounted tiller, a snow blade, a snow blower and a bagger.

Other than the leaking mains, some odds and ends and regular maintenance it's been an awesome tractor. I've personally owned this tractor for 13 years.

As for a smaller push type, I have 3 Lawn Boys that I've had for 10+ years and had one coil pack go out on me. Two of them are 2 cycle and one is a 4 cycle. All 3 are rear baggers.

As for the mowers themselves, I don't love them but they keep running and mowing grass.

Marc M

 

Did you know MTD makes the following brands:
Troy Bilt
White
Yard Man
Cub Cadet
Bolens
Yard Machines
Vanmar
And maybe Snapper but Im not for sure. There also might be more.
And Tecumseh is now out of business. So don't buy anything with a Tecumseh engine on it.

 

We've had good luck with john deere in the past- anything with a Kawasaki motor will run forever. The mover will fall apart around the engine! I ran a John Deere LX188 mower with the 18hp liquid cooled Kawi in it over 1100 hrs on a 26 acre estate over a couple years and never had a lick of trouble except for the occasional belts and a electronic blade clutch going out at about 1000hrs. It got oil and filter changes every 50 hrs and was washed and greased thouroughly weekly through its entire life.

It seems to me that the new john deere mowers are getting a little cheaper in the quality department. We personally own an old John deere STX38 rider with a 12.5hp Kohler thats like 15 yrs old and have never had a problem with it(except belts) after mowing our yard with it for years. It gets probably an hour a week use in mowing season over that many years. We also have a newer Kubota riding mower with a 15hp Kohler on it for our yard now and love it so far. We've only put about 60 hrs on it though.

I've used some Husqvarna riders and for the most part thought they were junk. Their commercial Zero Turns are in another world though. They rock with the Kawi motors on them and their heavay duty decks and drivetrain. Cant beat mowing a perfect cut at 10mph with the comfort of a suspension seat under you! They make really quick work out of acres of mowing.

 

Most all the guys around here with mowers on trailers are hauling Scags. Their cheapest ZT looks like $5k+ retail ~ ouch. I believe it's all hydraulic and not belt though. I'm in the $aving stages for one of these I think. I see Dixie has a diesel one.

 

I had a Snapper self propelled that was 26 years old. And the gas tank rusted. I couldn't find a replacement tank. So when I was in the market for a new mower. I bought the same snapper mower. I've had it about 2 years now. Snapper still builds great mowers.

 

Honda

 

Gravely

 

Scag, Gravely, Walker, Toro, Kubota. All Zero turn, all over $5k and all will last a homeowner a lifetime. This coming from a golf course superintendent and we own mostly john deere.....tells you what I think of the green stuff.