mower recomendations

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I need a good riding mower either front engine or rear engine for a acre or just under that, would like a mulcher type also.
What mowers are best for this and are worth the money.
 
Just bought a front engine Craftsman RLS 3500 42" deck, 20 HP B&S OHV motor, with a 3 bag catcher. Got one heluva deal on it for $980 brand new plus the catcher which was $379. Got 12 mos SAC on the sears card as well.
My dad's had one for 5 years now and it's not given him any trouble at all. If the honda engine would have been available, i would have got that, but the briggs has an oil filter where the honda did not. And briggs is suppose to be a good motor.
Plenty of power; the motor doesnt' even labor while cutting, and it has great suction. The motor is a little noisy though, but the Amsoil ASE seemed to quiet it down a bit.
It takes the same oil filter as the 4.7L tundra motor which is 4" long, or you could use the B&S 2" long filter if you wanted.

OH BTW, my yard is 12000 sq feet and it takes me about 45 minutes to mow it, and i only dump twice. My lawn is very healthy and needs to be mowed every 4 days.
 
John Deere baby!!
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My mowing duties sound about like the OP's. I purchased a JD LA115 with the 19.5 HP engine, from Lowes in 2007. I have used it to mow 1.5 acres once or twice a week since then, and have had zero problems with it. Having said that, I am pretty sure I could have gotten an equivalent Craftsman rider for $300-500 less.
 
Originally Posted By: wavinwayne
My mowing duties sound about like the OP's. I purchased a JD LA115 with the 19.5 HP engine, from Lowes in 2007. I have used it to mow 1.5 acres once or twice a week since then, and have had zero problems with it. Having said that, I am pretty sure I could have gotten an equivalent Craftsman rider for $300-500 less.


Trust me,your JD will out last any Craftsman.
 
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Originally Posted By: built
What mowers are best for this and are worth the money.


Depends on how much you want to spend, what your mowing conditions are like and what you want to do aside from mowing with it. You can spend $800 or $8000.

Joel
 
I had a 06 Cub Cadet 1045 that was awesome, but I was partial to older mowers, so I bought an old and abused 1979 JD 317 that I restored. I now use that and sold the CC. But if I wasnt into vintage tractors the cub cadet was flawless and cut very well.
 
Speaking strictly from past personal experience, just stay away from the hydrostatic transmissions. I know that some people like them but I will never own another one.
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Originally Posted By: bigdreama
Speaking strictly from past personal experience, just stay away from the hydrostatic transmissions..


Problem with that is; Your other options are far and few between for a NEW machine. There's no HD gear drives left. You've got MTD's belt and variator pulley drive (which is absolute junk), or Snapper's rubber friction wheel drive. Both are advertised as "gear", "variable speed" or "CVT" even. Some low end MTD, AYP/Sears and JD products offer a fender shift gear drive which is a light duty grease filled gear case. I believe Sears discontinued the between the knees shift, dual range gear drive for their GTs. I also believe Toro Wheelhorse discontinued this real gear drive beast: http://www.toro.com/home/tractors/classic300/3158.html It's pretty much hydro or nothing today. You need to pay up for a decent hydrostatic drive tractor.

Joel
 
Originally Posted By: Mkos1980
I had a 06 Cub Cadet 1045 that was awesome, but I was partial to older mowers, so I bought an old and abused 1979 JD 317 that I restored. I now use that and sold the CC. But if I wasnt into vintage tractors the cub cadet was flawless and cut very well.


Was your CC the Kohler Courage V-Twin?? Thats what I have and am very happy with it as well. 06 LT-1045 (really its the 1046 due to the twin cylinder)
 
John Deere.John Deere lawmowers have a Kawasaki engine now and the newer ones have EFI.Avoid a Kubota,a huge piece of junk and you will work on them all the time.I know someone that has one,nothing but problems with it and has to be worked on all the time.The pto shaft came out and the seal for the pto shaft popped including oil leaks
 
Originally Posted By: wafrederick1
John Deere.John Deere lawmowers have a Kawasaki engine now and the newer ones have EFI.Avoid a Kubota,a huge piece of junk and you will work on them all the time.I know someone that has one,nothing but problems with it and has to be worked on all the time.The pto shaft came out and the seal for the pto shaft popped including oil leaks


Right, but the most basic entry level JD that includes a Kawasaki engine is the X300 with a measly 38" deck. They start at $3K, dealer only. Not to say they don't break, but I've never heard of such issues with a Kubota. Typically they lead the pack in quality and cost the most. The cheapest Kubota riding mower is a good five grand.

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Joel
 
Our JD which is almost identical to the one shown above has a B&S engine 22 horsepower and it runs like a champ. We have owned it just over 3 years now and use it to cut the grass, as a utility cart with the carry bucket, and with the snow plow attachment in the winter.

It has over 400 Hours on it already and still purrs along.
 
400hrs in ~3yrs? That's a lot of mowing. I only do ~40hrs/year on my 1.5 acres. Then again, it sits from Nov-April.

Joel
 
Yup 400 Hours on the hour meter. It's a work horse. We have already sharpened the blades twice, and adjusted the deck height to be level on both sides.

It plows snow pretty well, but we decided to get chains for the tires after the first year when it would spin wheels in the snow.

Works great now. One tough little tractor earning its keep!
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In case you are interested, we use Amsoil 4-stroke Small engine formula 10w30 in it with a JD oil filter. Works excellent and the oil comes out clean just before the winter season when we change it.

A BITOG member told me that the EAO-57 Amsoil filter will fit the JD. It has the proper flow/filtration for the JD (I checked) and it's cheaper and can be run longer. I think I will be doing this once the case of JD filters is used up.

A tad of Choke and a turn of the key and it fires up right away and in most weather the choke can be turned off right away.
 
Thanks for the relys, you all have brought up great points.
I would like to spend around a grand for a new mower that might be hard i'm not sure but if it is worth the extra money to have a mower that doesn't need repairs or that last a long times it would be worth the extra money.
A plow attachment would also be nice to have ,hadn't thought of that.does the deck have to be removed to use a plow?

what about the brands that lowes sells, they have jd, huskys,troy bilt,bolens.
 
The deck doesn't have to be removed on my JD to use the plow attachment. We just set it to the highest setting using the adjustment lever beside the seat and it's good to go.
 
Originally Posted By: StevieC
The deck doesn't have to be removed on my JD to use the plow attachment. We just set it to the highest setting using the adjustment lever beside the seat and it's good to go.



Stevie,You have to admit that it must look kinda funny plowing snow with the mower deck still on!!
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The way my cub is set up,I have no choice but to remove the deck.
 
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