Spring '07- good/better $2000 Lawn Tractors?

[Steve S]

Does John Deere make their lawn tractors? prolly not

 

[UncleS2]

I wondered the same thing myself, it turns out JD really does make their own lawn "tractors"- but at a separate facility in Tennessee, I think) from where they make the *Real* tractors!

Found out this evening that those Craftsman Fairway models have the Hydro Gear -0610 unit instead of the 0510- that's at least a lttle better.(same size unit, with ~10% higher reduction ratio).

 

[UncleS2]

Well, I finally bought the new lawn tractor tonight. Got the Craftsman Fairway FS 5500, 24 hp Briggs Intek, heavy 48" deck, Tuff-Torq hydro trans. Has everything the new MTS 5500 does except different bodywork on the hood & the 26 hp Extended life engine- and it was a lot cheaper.

Also bought the Craftsman 46" Hi-Speed pull-behind lawn sweeper. And since I don't have a truck or trailer to haul the new mower, I even sprang for the Ext Warranty/Protection plan- includes parts, labor, & the biggy, house calls. Got 10% off of everything- gave the old Sears card a real workout.

Mower & sweeper to be delivered next Sat, Mar 31. I was able to bring home the manuals & papers today- and of course, I read up on the oil change recommendations! Above 32* F, they specify- drum roll- SAE 30.

I'll probably pick up a gallon or two of Chevron Delo or Shell Rotella straight 30 weight. Filters? I'll just use some of the smaller filters stockpiled for the Neon- lessee, there's an AC-Delco PF-53, a Wix 51348(?), and a Purolator & some of its clones in the same size.(the Evil Fram number is PH-3614)

Or maybe I'll try some WalMart SuperTech synthetic in 5/10w30- some fellow Texans have reported that it worked well in their mowers/lawn tractors in the summer heat.

Looking forward to all the new machinery- now if I could just get it to mow the yard for me!

 

[peleuba]

Quote:

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I wondered the same thing myself, it turns out JD really does make their own lawn "tractors"- but at a separate facility in Tennessee, I think) from where they make the *Real* tractors!

Found out this evening that those Craftsman Fairway models have the Hydro Gear -0610 unit instead of the 0510- that's at least a lttle better.(same size unit, with ~10% higher reduction ratio).

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Hi Stewart,

I enjoyed reading your decision making process as it related to you purchasing a lawn tractor that best suited your needs. As you have come to find out, at the $2000 price point, the tractors offered in this space are really a machination of compromises. Whether its deck thickness, trasnsmission, ease of adjusting/removing the deck ect. Your not going to het all the features you require in a $2000 machine. You have to determine what you can live with. You did an admirable job of doing this!

Regarding the JD 100 series... JD dealers hate selling them. The machines are stocked for one purpose - to compete with the big box retailer offerings. As you found out, the metal is thin on the deeck and the frame. And, many of the conventional sealed bearings in the 100 series have been replaced with bushings. Its no surpise to me that the dealer was not interested in selling you one. But I am suprised that the dealer did not try to upsell you into a slightly more expensive, but more reliable Lawn and Garden offering from JD.

 

[JTK]

Stuart, now to devise a remote filtration and cooling system for that TT trans!! (kidding). Does it by chance have a drain port? I know the TT's do typically have a top plug for filling. It's relatively easy to drop the whole rear axle to invert the trans to dump/fill should you need to.

Joel

 

[UncleS2]

P, you really summed it up well- there are no magic $2K lawn tractors!

One way or another, everything's a trade-off, and I'd have to go up to $3K or above to get anything substantially better. I'm satisfied that for my purposes(no plowing, just rough mowing, pulling the sweeper, & maybe a cart/lightweight trailer around the yard to pick up limbs) what I have should work as well as anything else for the money- and it was a lot cheaper than anything comparable I could find. Final cost on tractor was $1710- and I'll even get a 5% rebate on that, drops it to ~$1625. Of everything I saw or read about, it was the bang-for-the-buck champ by a huge margin.

Joel, I have no idea if the TT trans has a drain plug- but I highly doubt it, just couldn't be that lucky.

Figure I'll run it all this summer, then maybe next fall/winter I'll drain & refill it somehow. There's a suction gun in the closet, surely I could rig some type of adapter to use small-dia tubing to either pull out/fill up the trans. Or maybe just remove it like you said & turn it over to drain it & then refill. Hmm...what to refill with? TuffTorq says their trannies use 10w30 motor oil- so at least a 5/10w30 synthetic- or maybe try some Xw40 or XXw50 syn instead?

There's a long time to figure that out.

For any who are interested- here's a link to the FS 5500 mower.
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.d...N&ihtoken=1

 

[Tommyboy]

I bought my Husky GT (3600?) 2 years ago @ Lowes. $2000, 22hp B&S, 54" deck, manual tranny. I got the extended warranty for up to 3 years. I never buy the exteneded warrantys but read that Lawn tractors are about the most likely to break appliance you can get. And, I've already used it. A bolt mounting a pulley up and to the bottom of the engine broke; and I had to get the service guy out.
Anyway... I was just doing the yeaarly maintainence and saw that the trans is sealed and you never have to change the oil.