That statement is not true. The John Deere that are sold at the box stores are John Deere and not some rebranded model.
Need opinions on a new riding lawn mower
- Thread starter Orangepeel
- Start date
This. I once had a box store 23 hp JD. It struggled. Get a used X series. Will last many years.
Actually a few years ago many of the cheaper "john deere" riding mowers at home depot were were mtd's repainted green with the deere logo. This has been shown over and over. There are many forums where people have shown where the part numbers are slightly different. This applies to things like Moen faucets. They are cheap stamped steel with a 90 day warranty at home depot Lowes etc. Many commercial outlets sell them and they have a five year warranty.
Are you using this mower for your business, or just your half-acre yard? Because you don't need an expensive $2600 riding mower if it's just for your yard.
Anything with a Honda engine will be fine for your use. However, you should consider an electric mower, as they are quiet. You won't miss the noise at all
Those box store Moen faucets are sill better than Pfister's garbage
Anything with a Honda engine will be fine for your use. However, you should consider an electric mower, as they are quiet. You won't miss the noise at all
Those box store Moen faucets are sill better than Pfister's garbage
ls1mike
$50 Site Donor 2024
Folks he is mowing .5 acres of flat land. Op does not need a 2500 dollar mower. He may want one and that is fine. My mowers from the 90's are still easy to get parts for (Craftsman) and will mow 3 acres at time with no issue and do just as good as my dealer purchased XT2. I now wish I had saved 600 to 1000 dollars and just got a box store mower for my 1 and 3/4 acres. Any box store mower is going to mow that plot of land for 20 years when maintained and stored properly. You don't need a 1 ton dually diesel to tow a pop up. You don't need some 2500 dollar mower to mow .5 acres.
I got 15 years of service out of a $1500 John Deere LA110 from Home Depot, mowing a roughly 1 acre yard. That same level of mower would probably be $2k now, and would likely do just fine for a .5 acre lot for many years. My FIL still uses my old mower to pull a cart around his yard.
4WD
$50 site donor 2024
January was a year on my Cub LT42 with Kohler 5400 …
However - I see they started this in house motor stuff …
The 46 has a Kohler twin
4WD
$50 site donor 2024
Good point - one of our Louisiana guys switched from an LT to a ZT - says it is harder to drink beer and mow with the ZT
I bought Husqvarna lawn tractor for my wife to use over 20 years ago. It has a single cylinder 21HP b&s motor that has had zero repairs other than 2 belts and sharpening blades once a year. I mow with it now. We bought it at an equipment deal that sold and serviced them and they even delivered it to our home. It is a hydrostat that is super easy to drive and steers like power steering. No complains here. The dealer let her drive different ones and that is what she liked. You may pay a little more but the service and knowledge of the independent business is worth it in the end.
My vote look for a used Husqvarna TS 254 XD. Kawasaki motor, fabricated steel deck , big front bumper, steel hood, LED lights, awesome seat. Better anti scalp wheels , better controls and better steering wheel. I also own the same year John Deere E180 and it’s been to the shop twice in the first year . It’s ran well since the fixes but not impressed. I have 5 acres of lawn so we need 2 bigger mowers to get it done quickly. Almost forgot a better hydrostatic transmission than the Deere all for the same price .
I’ve got an ariens zoom ZTR, the smallest one. It was right around 2600 and is a delight to operate. You’ll finish your 0.5 acres and wish you had more. I think mine is something like 34”, which fits through gate doors and can be carried in the bed of the truck with ramps. The 1 lung B&S is thrifty with fuel once broken in. I’d have another.
Drywall mesh?
For $2600 your money will go much further on a quality used machine (John Deere X-series, etc) over a brand new box store machine.
While I agree with most that the box store machines in the past have been perfectly fine for homeowner use (I owned a 2005 box-store Deere) the quality of them has gotten much worse, to where 5 years seems to be the max they are designed to last. Plastic transmissions, Chinese engines you can't get parts for, steering linkages that fold in half when your front tire hits a rut, etc.
I would steer clear, I have pretty much stopped working on these machines for my customers, because they become endless nightmares unless you buy strictly the top tier offered at those stores, which will be a lot more than $2600.
Go find a used John Deere with a Kawasaki (even an older one) or a used commercial zero turn that isn't too beat up and it will be the last mower you have to buy.
While I agree with most that the box store machines in the past have been perfectly fine for homeowner use (I owned a 2005 box-store Deere) the quality of them has gotten much worse, to where 5 years seems to be the max they are designed to last. Plastic transmissions, Chinese engines you can't get parts for, steering linkages that fold in half when your front tire hits a rut, etc.
I would steer clear, I have pretty much stopped working on these machines for my customers, because they become endless nightmares unless you buy strictly the top tier offered at those stores, which will be a lot more than $2600.
Go find a used John Deere with a Kawasaki (even an older one) or a used commercial zero turn that isn't too beat up and it will be the last mower you have to buy.
When the hood starts to crack (and it will, regardless of how careful you are with it) the best solution for it that I have found is to apply fiberglass drywall mesh to the inside of the crack then slather it with JB Weld.
When mine started cracking (up around the lift handle) about 7 or 8 years ago, I did this. It strengthened the area that cracked, and has prevented any further cracking in the area.
I don't think that it is the "best solution," but certainly appreciate the economical approach to repairing plastic.
I have done this more than a few times on splash shields on older cars and on lawnmowers. It's unsightly, so best kept "underneath," but you can't knock it for being an effective, immediate, near indestructable repair.
For those that have JD X series or older with plastic hoods... After years of experience with them here is how you can help prevent cracking them. A large majority of the time the cracking starts in the middle top part of the hood when people pull up on them. Instead of pulling up hard in the middle of the hood, do this: From the seat, gentle pull up on the bottom of each side of the hood to pops it up, once it is "unlocked" then dismount and pull up in the middle.
This is not true about the JD mowers, even though that conspiracy is out there, MTD did not manufacture any of the L, LA, D, E, or S series John Deere tractors or any John Deere mower. This rumor started because those entry level mowers come from the John Deere plant in Greeneville, TN, which just so happens to be the same town where there is a MTD lawn mower plant. Did JD source some parts from MTD, sure that is most likely true, but I can tell you JD never had a riding lawn mower roll off the line at the MTD plant. (I use to work for JD).
