Used Riding Lawnmower - Which Brand and Model

[JayhawkRoy]

Our favorite is an x-300 48 (42 deck OK, too as we also had one for small ditches) deck bought used in a smaller corporate dealership 50 mi away. Continue to have good support from JD as needed. On my two acres in between killed two Sears Husqvarna s (Kohler and Briggs engines& one transaxle ) on the same acreage.

The old pay once cry once. My farm still has a jd 325 from 1997 doing small pasture work today. They all have the 17hp single cyl Kawasaki engines.

 

[jhs914]

$40 for yard service sounds more than reasonable. My son runs a lawn service and $50 is his minimum for a postage stamp sized lot. 1/2 acre lot would be more like $75, but he cuts, weed eats, edges sidewalks/driveways, and blows. Don't know how long your growing season is in Tennessee but do the math on the cost benefit. Add in gas, blades and maintenance for the mower.

 

[Tdbo]

I second a John Deere X 300 or 350.
As long as you have a relatively flat yard without severe hills, or don't use it beyond its means, the K46 transmission is fine.
The cheapest bits on the tractor are the hood and the seat cushions.
The Kawasaki is a nice motor as well.
I have a 2007 that I bought new. I bought once and cried once.
Green is not cheap, but having a decent retail network and ready access to parts makes it worth it.
If you want to keep it under 3K, clean low hour examples are relatively easy to find, as there are usually enough examples on the market from people who want to upgrade to the 500 or 700 series for added capabilities.

 

[2002 Maxima SE]

$40 for yard service sounds more than reasonable. My son runs a lawn service and $50 is his minimum for a postage stamp sized lot. 1/2 acre lot would be more like $75, but he cuts, weed eats, edges sidewalks/driveways, and blows. Don't know how long your growing season is in Tennessee but do the math on the cost benefit. Add in gas, blades and maintenance for the mower.

It's a very fair price, they cut, edge and blow off the driveway and front street. They mow from March until October which comes out to about $1400 per year.

 

[2002 Maxima SE]

I second a John Deere X 300 or 350.
As long as you have a relatively flat yard without severe hills, or don't use it beyond its means, the K46 transmission is fine.
The cheapest bits on the tractor are the hood and the seat cushions.
The Kawasaki is a nice motor as well.
I have a 2007 that I bought new. I bought once and cried once.
Green is not cheap, but having a decent retail network and ready access to parts makes it worth it.
If you want to keep it under 3K, clean low hour examples are relatively easy to find, as there are usually enough examples on the market from people who want to upgrade to the 500 or 700 series for added capabilities.

What is considered low hours (ex 50 hours per year)?

 

[cptbarkey]

Avoid anything with a large single cylinder B&S engine in the 17-19 HP range as these are know to have head gasket problems.

This is generally bad internet advice that gets spread too often. I've had nothing but good luck with BS engines.

Another vote for any JD riding mower, or even an older cub cadet if you are on a budget.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

The K46 Hydrostatic is in many of the tractors. For me as an experienced wrencher, needing to drop the transmission to change the fluid is just a PITA. My 23+ year old John Deere LTR166 is maybe a bit more challenging from design with center chute rear discharge. Parts are available, not inexpensive and for me only 2 dealers on Long Island. Closest is at least 30 minutes away and no one else has the parts or wants to deal with it if you need to bring for service.

Mine got a new motor at some point before I bought it at a house/divorce sale. The Briggs motor is more HP than factory manual.

I would need to really look at next one if there is an easier serviceable transmission with drain plugs and easily accessible fill plug.

Watch some of the video's on K46 transmission fluid change and/or rebuild so you know what to expect. Getting a used one may include a worn out one that fluid change may fix or it may need $500 in parts and your time to rebuild it. New transmissions are available as basically bolt up for about $1000.

 

[skyactiv]

$3199 plus tax, but I'd buy the assembled in Tennessee John Deere Z315E on sale from Home Depot or at a dealer if sold at one for the same price. A 42" zero turn will cut faster than a 42" lawn tractor.


https://www.homedepot.com/p/John-De...Zero-Turn-Riding-Lawn-Mower-BG21296/322095528

 

[Tdbo]

What is considered low hours (ex 50 hours per year)?

On that unit, I would consider 5-600 hours relatively low.
I asked several dealers when I was looking at tractors what the life expectancy of the Kawasaki was on a decently maintained machine.
The answers that I received were 1500-1700 hours.
I'd look at it as a sliding scale depending on what your usage is.
If you don't put a ton of hours on it, you might get good value from one with higher hours, and bank the reduced initial outlay.
Mine doesn't see a ton of use, 253 hours on a 19 year old tractor.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

I've never used a zero turn or really looked at them much. Do they have all the bagging type attachments or does that negate with ZT?

I mulch most of the time anyway but if I know pool will be used or a party I'll bag accordingly. That also applies for fall yard clean up. Mine mulches pretty well and then I'll run again bagging it. It might wind up on my leaf/grass pile for nice dirt for filling low spots or get bagged and town picks it up for recycling the same way.

 

[IndyIan]

The problem with old mowers is the deck. $700 for a bare bones deck plus $$ for spindles and blades is more than the mower is worth. My 20 year old cub cadet zforce has a deck from a newer mower. I had to weld on the new parts and put on a few new pulleys but it saved a good running mower from being junked.

I don't find a problem with mine? I mow the mountain bike trails and when going slow, the stamped deck can catch the dirt and stop the mower with no bending? Spindles are like $40 for the housing, which seems to break long before the shafts do(never replaced one), and bearings are just a dozen bucks at the bearing shop? The thin blades would start to bend if they caught the dirt, and then they would eventually really catch the dirt and break the housings. But once I got some HD blades, that hasn't been a problem, and over the years, the mower has smoothed out the dirt features so I'm not cutting ground as much.
I guess if you mow on a sandy lawn a lot, maybe the deck wears through eventually?

 

[Elkins45]

The problem with old mowers is the deck. $700 for a bare bones deck plus $$ for spindles and blades is more than the mower is worth. My 20 year old cub cadet zforce has a deck from a newer mower. I had to weld on the new parts and put on a few new pulleys but it saved a good running mower from being junked.

That’s why you buy a bunch of cheap used ones as spares. If the deck ever goes out on my Craftsman rider I have two identical decks just waiting to be installed.

 

[Astro_Guy]

Not a big deal to replace the head gasket. No reason to avoid.

But $500 if you don't do it yourself. That qualifies as a big deal to many. My MIL had to have that service done ten or twelve years into the game and it cost one third of what she paid for the machine.

 

[4wd]

This is generally bad internet advice that gets spread too often. I've had nothing but good luck with BS engines.

Another vote for any JD riding mower, or even an older cub cadet if you are on a budget.

Same

 

[14Accent]

Lower end JD mowers are made in the same factory as several other brands, and the odd time one of them specs a slightly upgraded HST, or adds extra rollers to the deck, but they are all comparable, in parts or quality.

People really need to stop spreading this nonsense. NONE of Deere's mowers are built by anyone other than Deere, regardless of whether it gets shipped to my dealer or to Lowe's. The S-series mowers that are sold at big box stores come from the exact same factory in Greenville, TN as the ones on my lot. They even arrive at my dealer with the hang tags that you'd normally see hanging from the machine while it was out on the floor, but we remove them before putting them on the lot.

 

[4wd]

Folks that cut fast on a ZT’s are okay slinging grass back and forth. I like keeping the clippings going in a single direction - so still buy LT’s

 

[Astro_Guy]

This is generally bad internet advice that gets spread too often. I've had nothing but good luck with BS engines.

Another vote for any JD riding mower, or even an older cub cadet if you are on a budget.

The design flaw in the large single cylinder B&S engines is well known and docummented. Perhaps you need to do a little research. I too have had a great deal of luck with B&S engines but those large one cyclinder engines should be avoided.

 

[cptbarkey]

The design flaw in the large single cylinder B&S engines is well known and docummented. Perhaps you need to do a little research. I too have had a great deal of luck with B&S engines but those large one cyclinder engines should be avoided.

Nah, its simply folks who do not maintain the area around the cylinder head, such as annual hosing off and cleaning. Unfortunately people on the internet wants a villain and the truth happens to be the lack of maintenance.

 

[Elkins45]

Nah, its simply folks who do not maintain the area around the cylinder head, such as annual hosing off and cleaning. Unfortunately people on the internet wants a villain and the truth happens to be the lack of maintenance.

The design flaw in the large single cylinder B&S engines is well known and docummented. Perhaps you need to do a little research. I too have had a great deal of luck with B&S engines but those large one cyclinder engines should be avoided.

Whether there’s a design flaw or not I would still recommend spending a little more and getting a twin cylinder engine. They’re just so much smoother than a single.