Vanity - What Brand of Riding Lawn Mower is Best?

My dark and forboding mind....... | 02/24/2018 | Red Badger

[Red Badger]

Will have to buy a riding lawn mower soon.

Have never owned one.

42 Inch seem to be the right size for my yard.

Have no experience with any, so I ask for your comments and suggestions on what brand to look at and what to stay away from...........................

[blackdog]

First I filled the back tires with water and calcium chloride. Then when the 2000 pound round bales lifted the rear tires up, I installed a 3 point rear hitch bale spear fork to balance the load.

The 8N and 9N are the most versatile tractors ever. That is what is wrong with them.

[cva66snipe]

Go to an authorized Cub Cadet Dealer/Repair shop and get a Cub Cadet. Several reasons to do this. The mowers are built better than Big Box this includes better belts and pulleys, you can more or less match the price within reason, if it needs repairs and you bought it there they have much greater incentive to fix it and keep you happy. Big Box Stores as such may not use an authorized dealer for repairs but a contracted local shop backed up 5 weeks from next Tuesday.

[rapture-me]

A rear engine Snapper new or used. They are just about bulletproof

I have a used one that I bought years ago. Still runs like a top. I agree 100%!!!!

[Chickensoup]

I have a 23 hp craftsman about 10 years old and no problems. I replace the blades occasionally.

[cva66snipe]

I have a large yard. I mow rocks, branches, and dirt. I use it as my bush hog.

Same here but I do get the yearly maintenance done LOL. No doubt Cubs are definitely built to endure abuse and definitely keep on going. Before a Cub Cadet we had a Big Box Troybilt. It spent a good portion of the time even in the first year in the Big Box warranty approved shop. Belts were much smaller and thinner and pulley spindles wore out fast. Not to mention the chronic electrical issue of blowing the primary fuse bring it to a stop and the chronic oil leak all TroyBilts seem to have in the front of the engine causing them to smoke like mad upon start up.

[OKSooner]

That’s because you won’t find it at the box store. You have to go to your local dealer who provides equipment to your local landscape pros. It’s a fun place to go. :)

[JudyinCanada]

Ouch. Worse than getting a new car scratched. Out at our little cottage we have a nice guy who cuts the grass in our common area. It’s hard to complain to him because he bought the mower and does it for nothing (he’s a dentist and pretty well off), but he rides over the gravel lane and doesn’t think a thing of it. Man, those stones go flying. Whenever we see him heading our way, we call “Incoming” and head inside.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

So how do you load front and rear together? You have to load one first and that tips the tractor. Or do the water filled tires provide enough counter-balance?

[Clay Moore]

The rear engine ones have a drive plate about 8” in diameter on the bottom of the engine. The way you “switch gears” is to move the driven wheel out towards the outside of the drive plate causing the driven plate to turn faster.

The driven plate turns the pinion gear of the differential. There is no transmission per se to fail.

Only issue I have had is that if you get it all real wet, it might not want to pull itself.

I don’t know how much it would matter in the grand scheme of a mower, but having the engine over the drive wheels will add some traction.

[catnipman]

A REAL John Deere from a John Deere dealer, not the fake John Deere mowers sold by the big box stores. The two are totally different beasts under the hood even though both are painted JD green. I have an LT155 I bought new 18 years ago and it still works just as good as when I bought it. BTW, be sure to get the mulching deck ...

[Basket_of_Deplorables]

Deere. Hands down.

[trebb]

Most are decent these days - if you take care of them.

I would suggest a automatic transmission for ease/convenience.

[blackdog]

You load the front bale first and keep it only an inch off the ground. This keeps the rear wheels on the ground. You then slowly stab the rear bale with the forks in the back. Then lift back and front. Works great.

The problem with those old ford Massey tractors is that they can be made to do anything unsafely.

[Hootowl99]

Yep, Dixie Chopper is good one to bring up. Fast fast when fast is a requirement.

I had a project at an oil and gas facility located in coastal marsh lands off the Louisiana gulf coast. About 60 acres with about half of that with grass for mowing. Only way to get equipment there was by barge and people went by crew boat.

Most of the mowing hours were on a John Deere ZTR mower. The Dixie Chopper was used on the 7 acre patch next to the pond that had a resident alligator. The Dixie Chopper had even been worked over by a speed shop to crank out some extra speed. The gator never caught that mower. It did though try to eat a tire off of a pickup I was in. LOL.