First Riding mower - Help me out.

donnyj08

donnyj08

Joined
Aug 12, 2012
Messages
3,582
Location
Southern IN / North central, KY
Hey all,

My wife and I just built a new home on 3/4 Acre of land that’s basically all flat except slight grade away from the foundation.

previous home was on less than 1/4 of an Acre so I pushed mowed it with an AWD Husqvarna self propelled mower with a 6.5hp Briggs on it.

Im looking at purchasing a rider for $2,000 or so. My options on new units in this price range are;

1. Cub Cadet XT1 18.5hp Single with 42” deck - $1,699

2. Cub Cadet XT1 22HP Twin with 46” deck - $1,999

3. John Deere S100 17.5hp single 42” deck - $1,799

4. John Deere S120 22hp twin 42” deck - $1,999

5. Husqvarna YTH2246V 22hp twin 46” deck - 1,899

Im leaning toward one of the Cubs, but would love some experiences/advice as I don’t have any riding mower experience really other than old snappers I used to use as a kid.
 
Either the Cub or John Deere. You stand a better chance of getting parts for the Deere down the road. And Deere is genuinely made in USA.
 
My parents have, and my sister had John Deere twins, and they all swear by them. My sister sold her acreage, so she push mows her new yard, but if she needed another rider, she'd be at the Deere dealership. They've been bullet proof for my family.
 
Take a look at the smallest ariens ztr. New they are about 2500. Mine is about 8 years old and has been easy to live with. It’s small and easy to store. 3/4 acre is a breeze. It’s only weakness, for me, has been the deck. My lawn and a couple others I have helped to mow have hidden large roots.... and after hitting them a few times at speed I’ve had to replace the deck.... but everything in this price range will have the same strength I suspect.
 
I'd get a twin with the larger deck. But, get the owners manual and repair parts diagrams (if different document) and see which provide the info you will need to find parts in the future. I wouldn't shy away from MTD if the parts are out there, or Murray who made my Scott's mower, now over 20 years old and still going strong. Biggest expense was rear tires when the originals wore out.

Zero turn really isn't beneficial unless you have a high # of obstacles, I mean at this price point, you'd have to get something used enough that you're still paying more for maintenance. That could make sense, depending on the situation but meh, if you listen to people who have used one for 20 years that advise to buy one, will you get another 20 or will it be higher TCO in the long run?

My point is I feel like 3/4th acre isn't the breaking even point, that you'd need a larger area to make a a higher quality yet used zero turn a break even point in the long run, but if it's about mowing experience instead of budget then of course, a commerical grade zero turn beats a homeowner grade riding mower... but, this is a homeowner, and it's not a big enough lot to warrant commercial grade, so just seems like spending someone else's money on more than they need.
 
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I would go for options 1 or 3. There's no need for a 46 inch mower for just a 3/4 acre lot or the larger engine. With reasonable care, any of these would easily give you atleast 15 years of service. Use the money saved on landscaping items for your new home. Don't fall for the "Toolman, Tim Taylor" stereotype and having the biggest, baddist lawn machine in the neighborhood.
 
You said $2000 or so.
Double your budget and get something durable and something you can keep for many years.
Those mowers listed are throw aways and go the zero turn route unless you plan on having a garden etc.
If you can't do maintenance yourself it costs the same for a full seasonal tune-up on a $2000 mower as a $12000 commercial mower.
Not that you are buying that.
If you need suggestions pm me.

In the end you will be way ahead.
 
Zee09 said:
You said $2000 or so.
Double your budget and get something durable and something you can keep for many years.
Those mowers listed are throw aways and go the zero turn route unless you plan on having a garden etc.
If you can't do maintenance yourself it costs the same for a full seasonal tune-up on a $2000 mower as a $12000 commercial mower.
Not that you are buying that.
If you need suggestions pm me.

In the end you will be way ahead.
Click to expand...
I'll second that. I bought an X320 with a snow plow attachment 8 years ago. I snapped a little plastic to fit a 3600 oil filter, 18x8 front tire and 24x10.5 Carlsile ATII in the back. One acre lot 280x200'. 22hp kawasaki 15w40 works fine. I did the 1st oil change at 3 hours.
 
We have a Husqvarna 20HP Briggs with hydro stat that is tractor type. We have owned it over 10 years. Still does great. I did not buy it from a big box store. This was from a family run farm supply store. They sell lots of mowers. The salesman was very knowledgeable and he said we have this model in Koehler and Briggs but I will tell you that nobody has return a Briggs for service and I can't say that about the Koehler. All it has required in those years is an oil change after 50-70 hrs and 2 new batteries and a blade drive belt. If it quit tomorrow it owes me nothing. We have many trees in our yard and it cut 2 hours off our mowing with its quick turning and instant hydostat response. We have 1.3 acres with about 25 trees where we mow.
 
Get the JOHN DEERE S120 42" when on sale for ~ $1,800. I have the JD 42 inch with the B&S 20 hp engine. Never a problem at ~ 280 hours of mow time. Ed
 
If you're set on buying something new for $2K, like said above, I'd avoid the Cub Cadet / MTD machines in that price range.

In this price range I prefer anything built by the Husqvarna group, which would include some craftsman machines, Ariens and more.

The Husqvarna group twin blade 42" deck is an excellent choice. It's been around forever, cuts excellent and holds up well.

There's no need for a V-twin engine in this size machine. You're just going to suck more fuel.

Main thing with which ever machine you decide on is, keep the deck set while mowing so that the gauge wheels only touch the ground on high/uneven spots. If you keep the deck mashed to the ground, things are going to break. The other important thing is to keep the machine clean and dry top to bottom when not in use. Don't spray it with the garden hose after each use, give the deck a scrape with a stick and blow the whole thing off with your leaf blower.
 
My only comment is do not buy from a big box store. I bought a Husqvarna from Home Depot or Lowes (can't remember) in a moment of weakness and it came with a plastic rear diff that is garbage - General Transmissions RS800P transaxl. I brought it to my local Husqvarna dealer who sells tons of mowers they said they refuse to sell this particular model because of the cheap plastic rear-end which they only sell at big box stores - they have the exact same model with a different rear end and a one letter difference in model number. The entire rear needed to be replaced because I use it on a very gentle hill and it overheated. HusqvarnaI refused to warranty it because there's a belt inside that overheated and melted the plastic and that's considered a "consumable" and since that was the proximate cause of the plastic overheating, it was not covered. Dealer said they were starting see tons of these come in with the same problem. I asked if he would give me anything for it to put towards a new ride-on and he said it's worth zero to him because he would never sell it to anyone he liked. Learned my lesson at big box store versions of some equipment.
 
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