Craftsman lawn tractor.
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Joe the meek
Active Member
If you're buying one at Sears or any of the box stores, they all suck.
Maybe I should as well. Here is the model I am looking at. My mother gets it tax free. So that is why I was looking at sears.
http://reviews.sears.ca/1367-en_ca/...2-tight-turn-yard-tractor-reviews/reviews.htm
http://reviews.sears.ca/1367-en_ca/...2-tight-turn-yard-tractor-reviews/reviews.htm
Joe the meek
Active Member
There is a huge difference between a commercial grade mower and a residential grade mower. You do get what you pay for. The only thing I've seen at the box stores is the residential grade mower.
The key question is how many acres are you going to be mowing a season and how many hours is that going to equate to each year?
Johnfromokc
Active Member
That mower will be fine for light use in a fairly level yard. No big box store mower can compare to a commercial grade mower, but the commercial mowers cost 2-3 times more.
FYI - I bought a John Deere L130 about 8 years ago for about $2200 and it ran trouble free, mowing about 2 acres every 2 weeks until a couple of weeks ago. The transmission went out. I bought a brand new transmission from Deere for $627 and it's will probably go another 8 years.
I prefer commercial grade equipment, but I bought this one so my kids could mow safely and cheaply. I'll get a commercial ZTR after they graduate college and move out. Either that or sell the house and move to a beach condo with its own grounds crew.
FYI - I bought a John Deere L130 about 8 years ago for about $2200 and it ran trouble free, mowing about 2 acres every 2 weeks until a couple of weeks ago. The transmission went out. I bought a brand new transmission from Deere for $627 and it's will probably go another 8 years.
I prefer commercial grade equipment, but I bought this one so my kids could mow safely and cheaply. I'll get a commercial ZTR after they graduate college and move out. Either that or sell the house and move to a beach condo with its own grounds crew.
Joe the meek
Active Member
I thought you had 15 acres with the house?
For 3 acres, considering the shorter summer you have up there, figure it wouldn't do that bad for 5-10 years.
In all seriousness, go to a professional "grade" lawn care shop that sells some commercial grade mowers and I PROMISE you, you will start noticing the differences.
Johnfromokc
Active Member
Not a Deere man - not loyal to any brand because there are many good ones.
I had a Craftsman lawn tractor back around 1991. Sold it to my brother in law and he still has it and it still runs. It was about $1,800 back then, probably the most heavy duty Craftsman available.
I've had 4 Toro commercial mowers when I owned a lawn care business. Ran them hard every day for 5 years and they were still running when I sold the business.
Here's what I'm looking at for my next home mower:
This one can be had for less than $5,000.
Here's the manufacturers web site:
http://www.badboymowers.com/home.php
ZTR's are a hell of a lot faster than standard lawn tractors. They will cut your mowing time in half - and I am not exagerating.
Beautiful home, BTW. :thumbup
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Joe the meek
Active Member
Damn, starting to sound like Dargo.
John is right about cutting the time in half.
You'd be amazed at the hills they can do as well.
Johnfromokc
Active Member
LOL - Unlike that asshat, I know I'm no expert. That fucker would be on his 5th page by now and would have flamed both of us already.
Joe the meek
Active Member
You forgetting about mentioning about beating someone up along the way LOL
Sorry, off topic.
Back to topic, for the amount to mow, as mentioned, one of those mowers you're looking at should do fine. It is however really fun to drive something really fast and can spin on a dime LOL
Johnfromokc
Active Member
Joe have you checked out those Badboy mowers? They sell the ZT60 at Tractor Supply. I was surprised at how heavy duty their "residential" grade mower is. Most residential ZTR's look pretty flimsy - but these are pretty impressive, especially for $4,800. A low-end commercial is over $7,000 for a top name brand.
Something else to consider is the leaves in the fall.
The tractor you are looking at is a yard tractor with a light weight transmission. What that means is you can't use any garden attachments like a 3-point tiller, plow, etc. A garden tractor of the same size will be identical except with a heavy duty transmission for more power and reliability.
Trust me on this, after a season of mowing you will want more out of your tractor and you don't want to find out that you can't do it with this model.
Come fall you will want a really good mulching deck for the leaves or a collection bin of some sort.
My property is very similar to yours and I mulch my leaves. With the set up I have, I can mow over leaves one foot deep and they just disappear.
If you get a chance, take a look at the Husqvarna LGT24K54 it has a more reliable engine and a 54" cut which will reduce your mow time by 25%... and it's fast for a tractor. I can cut my lawn in less than 30 minutes, 45 if I make a second pass.
Again, what you can do with the tractor later will make a HUGE difference and you don't want to under power your equipment from the start.
The tractor you are looking at is a yard tractor with a light weight transmission. What that means is you can't use any garden attachments like a 3-point tiller, plow, etc. A garden tractor of the same size will be identical except with a heavy duty transmission for more power and reliability.
Trust me on this, after a season of mowing you will want more out of your tractor and you don't want to find out that you can't do it with this model.
Come fall you will want a really good mulching deck for the leaves or a collection bin of some sort.
My property is very similar to yours and I mulch my leaves. With the set up I have, I can mow over leaves one foot deep and they just disappear.
If you get a chance, take a look at the Husqvarna LGT24K54 it has a more reliable engine and a 54" cut which will reduce your mow time by 25%... and it's fast for a tractor. I can cut my lawn in less than 30 minutes, 45 if I make a second pass.
Again, what you can do with the tractor later will make a HUGE difference and you don't want to under power your equipment from the start.
Joe the meek
Active Member
I'm still saving for my 50hp tractor LMAO
Actually, my wife is kind of telling me I will get a tractor AND not a mower the next purchase.
This one can be had for less than $5,000.
Here's the manufacturers web site:
http://www.badboymowers.com/home.php
ZTR's are a hell of a lot faster than standard lawn tractors. They will cut your mowing time in half - and I am not exagerating.
Beautiful home, BTW. :thumbup
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I soooo wanted to get a ZTR when I bought my house. But it wouldn't be good for my property. Sure it's much faster than a standard tractor, but I ended up getting a tractor with a 54" deck that goes almost 6mph which is faster than most tractors. But my problem is the amount of trees and woods on my property. I NEED to be able to pull a wagon for property clean-up. I NEED to have attachments that you can't with a ZTR.
Like I said, I would love to own a ZTR, but I didn't want to buy a ZTR and a garden tractor, so I got what I thought was a good combination.
Alien Allen
Froggy the Prick
If you can afford it go with the better unit as mentioned.
I had a Deere and it mowed like crap on corners. I don't have as big a yard but was really pissed at how poorly it cut.
As to the zero turn I would test one out first to see how you like it. Some people don't drive well using joysticks
I had a Deere and it mowed like crap on corners. I don't have as big a yard but was really pissed at how poorly it cut.
As to the zero turn I would test one out first to see how you like it. Some people don't drive well using joysticks
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