Lawn garden tractors

[VR Code R6P]

Get a older JD 680 Z Trak mower. It has 60" deck that you can raise 90 degrees to clean under and change blades.

[2012-1822]

I have(had) a Deere. The LA105 I think. I've used it a total of 10 or 12 hours since 2008. It's been broken most of the time. It was covered under warranty until this last bit. The dealership said it needed a new deck and a head gasket and that would be $1300.

So it went like this, I told my mom I'd go get it and list it on craig's list for like $200 because I wasn't going to pay about 2/3 the price of a new one to fix that one(plus if I got it home I could do the head gasket myself, it only cost $4.88). But my mom wanted to fix it. So I let her have it and she paid to fix it.

I won't buy another Deere product. Sucks, I kind of like the idea of having a Deere. Oh well.

Plus, when I bought mine the Cub Cadets had four wheels on the deck and the Deeres only had two. That may have changed, but that Deere has no problem scalping grass.

[KEEP RT]

I've got an acre and 40 trees a shop and a gazebo Lots of curves. Had a new 20 hp craftsman 46" deck. had it 11 years. It took me 2.5 hrs to mow then another .5 with a push mower to trim!!!! I bought what all the landscapers use..... a Toro Z turn commercial the blades are 1/4" thick! the deck is 18 gauge cold rolled steel. Best part is it takes me 45 minutes!!!!! No trim mower!!! Last mower i'll ever need. BUY Commercial grade.


Best part More time to spend in the Camaro......Priceless.

[SM0KE]

Originally Posted by 11BEE

Now, I do have an affinity for things Swedish as I am married to a native Swede.

[motorhead]

I have a John Deere x360 that works great. I also have a two stage snow blower that I love. I hardly ever use my four wheeler to plow any more because the blower works so much better. The 360 is the largest in the 3 series. It has power steering and hydraulic lift. Depending on how your ground is you may want a tractor with a rear diff lock. Then you would have to jump up to the 5 series. These aren't the same John Deeres that you buy at Lowes and Home Depot. Those are junk disposals that won't last as long as your pappy's Deere.

[motorhead]

Originally Posted by snymat68

+1 for gravely

Love Gravely too. Used to be the best tractor money could buy. I didn't know they still made them. I owned an Ariens that was owned by gravely many years ago. It was a great tractor. I just needed something bigger and Ariens stopped makes tractors. Zero turns don't work for my situation.

[batman53201]

i just bought an older ariens, which was made by gravely. bought it for snow removal, came with a nice 2 stage blower. i swear that thing throws snow 100 feet

[f5journal]

Originally Posted by flyinglow57

Leaning towards a husqvarna yt46Ls.

I bought one of those after studying pretty hard. I mow 2 acres. It is not as good as the Deeres from the dealer, but it is an exceptional value if you are looking to keep the cost around $2K

[The Blue Angel]

What about:

http://www.dixiechopper.com/

[shaffe]

Originally Posted by flyinglow57

Just bought 1.5 acres and maybe buying another .5 next to it


What garden tractors you people have,recommend,want. How reliable also. Was looking at the $1500 ones. But see they may not last. Now looking towards john deere 300 series.

I need a plow since ill have 300+ feet of driveway.

you need a plow, which means you might need other attachments so a zero turn mower is out of teh question for you.

Trust me. My dad has an acre and two driveways of about 200 feet each. DO NOT SKIMP OUT ON A 1500 tractor. a 1500 dollar tractor is not a garden tractor, do not buy one from the box store. GO TO A DEALER!!!

Almost everyone will recommend John Deere, and if you go that route with a quality Deere you will be happy. Deere makes a great garden tractor.

I would go with a Simplicity. From my own experience, they make the best garden tractors, they offer superior quality and much much better mower decks and a much nicer cut. The decks are deeper, and have full width rear rollers, this will provide you with a much better looking stripe pattern. Simplicity quality is fantastic as well. Also simplicity has metal hoods vs John Deere plastic.

but they are a little pricey, even when compared to comparable John Deere models, but I think simplicity makes a better product. A friend of mine owns his own landscaping business, everything he has is John Deere and he does quality work. He stopped me one day while I was cutting the grass at my parents and asked me how we get our yard to be so perfectly striped. It's bc the mower deck on the simplicity is deeper, and has full width rollers.

It may sound like I am bashing Deere, I am not. They make great products, I just think in the models that compare directly Simplicity makes better products(plus orange looks better than green! haha) but Deere has some really cool features on some of their models.

For your size yard, and what you need, trust me don't cheap out on a box store tractor. You are going to want a 54" deck minimum for that size, plus with that long of a driveway, you may want a snow blower attachment instead of a plow. Here are the 2 simplicity models I would recommend, my dad and I own both of these two and they are the best tractors I have ever used.

http://www.simplicitymfg.com/us/en/tractors/prestige

http://www.simplicitymfg.com/us/en/tractors/legacy-xl

Or the John Deere, 540 series or 700 series. those are what you should be looking for. Yes they are very expensive, but they will last.

[MLL67RSSS]

There are zero turns that have snow blower and other attachments but way over the $1500 range. Friend has a small lawn maintenance firm and his Deere wasn't cutting it, too many breakdowns. OK for a homeowner but not tough enough for commercial. After lots of research he bought a lightly used Walker mower. It is pretty awesome as mowers go, flip up deck and body make maintenance much easier.

http://www.walkermowers.com/

[MikeSVX]

My parents keep scoring really good deals on used 0-Turn mowers. They even managed to pick up one with a snow blower attachment at auction. They have 8 acres of wooded land and their driveway is about 1500ft (no thats not a miss type). They use 2 mowers with 36in decks. They do the used because they don't want to pay $5000+. The most they've paid for one is $1000. They have bought about 5 that I can think of and most were around $500. My dad usually buys them and rebuilds the motors in the winter. They use them for about 2 years and then sell them, usually for a small profit.

[B2E2RUN]

I bought a Simplicity. I had a JD. Thing caught fire 2 days after last use, burnt our shed down. I did a google search about it and quit reading after 2 pages of similar stories.

[shaffe]

OP did you ever come to a decision