Garden tractors...opinions?

Diana

Diana

Final Approach
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Diana
Soooooo, it's time to replace our garden tractor...well...tractors. Both the old Sears Craftsman garden tractors are shot. One of them was pronounced dead today. The big John Deere 420 tractor is in the shop for some major work and won't be back home for weeks, maybe months.

We need a garden tractor and not just a zero turn radius mower. It would be nice to have a 54" deck (we have to mow about 8 acres a week) and at least 24 HP. We've been looking at another Sears Craftsman, the John Deere garden tractor, and today looked at the Husqvarna garden tractor (but don't know a thing about them).

What experiences have you had with any of them? Any opinions?

Thanks. :)
 
8 acres is a lot to mow. I have a John Deere F935 25hp Yanmar diesel, 72" deck. I do my 5 acres in about 4 hours. It is a serious lawn mower.
 
JD 317 was my favorite at the ranch. I used a MF 135 with a Lilliston 7-6 and the JD to mow ~5 acres a few miles southeast of KOJC.

Diana said:
Soooooo, it's time to replace our garden tractor...well...tractors. Both the old Sears Craftsman garden tractors are shot. One of them was pronounced dead today. The big John Deere 420 tractor is in the shop for some major work and won't be back home for weeks, maybe months.

We need a garden tractor and not just a zero turn radius mower. It would be nice to have a 54" deck (we have to mow about 8 acres a week) and at least 24 HP. We've been looking at another Sears Craftsman, the John Deere garden tractor, and today looked at the Husqvarna garden tractor (but don't know a thing about them).

What experiences have you had with any of them? Any opinions?

Thanks. :)
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I've been very pleased with this JD X749. It has 4 wheel steer and All wheel drive. Tight turn radius and it handles outstanding on hillsides too.
 

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Diana said:
Soooooo, it's time to replace our garden tractor...well...tractors. Both the old Sears Craftsman garden tractors are shot. One of them was pronounced dead today. The big John Deere 420 tractor is in the shop for some major work and won't be back home for weeks, maybe months.

We need a garden tractor and not just a zero turn radius mower. It would be nice to have a 54" deck (we have to mow about 8 acres a week) and at least 24 HP. We've been looking at another Sears Craftsman, the John Deere garden tractor, and today looked at the Husqvarna garden tractor (but don't know a thing about them).

What experiences have you had with any of them? Any opinions?

Thanks. :)
Click to expand...


Well, if you're looking for something that does small three point as well, for your use, it's hard to beat some of the offerings from East Europe and India. They haven't got the great fit and finish of the the modern western tractors, but for your type of use, it'll run for life.
 
skidoo said:
I've been very pleased with this JD X749. It has 4 wheel steer and All wheel drive. Tight turn radius and it handles outstanding on hillsides too.
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//jealous

I have 3 yards totaling 1/3 acre and can't talk myself into firing up my trusty LX-188 as often as I should. I have the power blower and snow blower and have sunk more in repairs ande parts than I paid for it. :redface:
 
Are you running PTO or 3-point hitch accessories? Why garden tractor? Our JD 915? (I think, been wrong before though) diesel crapped out last year and we got a Toro zero turn. It has a smaller deck (52") than the Deere (72" i think) but mows much faster. 8-10 acres plus between veggie rows in the garden 4 hours on the Toro, roughly 7 on the Deere. Also note, we often are mowing particularly tall grass in mid summer (available manpower is making hay and picking veggies), but we still get those numbers.
Toro was recommended to us by a landscaper who rents out part of the barn. He shopped the brands the OP mentioned (Lowes, Home Depot, Tractor Supply brands) and determined Toro's were more robust and easier to work on. YMMV.
 
airbornejohnny said:
Are you running PTO or 3-point hitch accessories? Why garden tractor? Our JD 915? (I think, been wrong before though) diesel crapped out last year and we got a Toro zero turn. It has a smaller deck (52") than the Deere (72" i think) but mows much faster. 8-10 acres plus between veggie rows in the garden 4 hours on the Toro, roughly 7 on the Deere. Also note, we often are mowing particularly tall grass in mid summer (available manpower is making hay and picking veggies), but we still get those numbers.
Toro was recommended to us by a landscaper who rents out part of the barn. He shopped the brands the OP mentioned (Lowes, Home Depot, Tractor Supply brands) and determined Toro's were more robust and easier to work on. YMMV.
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For the zero turn the Tiger is also good. For any of the 'lawn mowers', the consumer grade units are around half the blade speed of the commercial units and dont do as good of a job of cutting.
 
Henning said:
For the zero turn the Tiger is also good. For any of the 'lawn mowers', the consumer grade units are around half the blade speed of the commercial units and dont do as good of a job of cutting.
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AH YES! That was the other benefit I forgot about: quality. We don't make fancy checkerboards here on the farm, but the cut is much better with the zero turn. It almost looks like we care about how it looks as much as we do that the grass is actually mowed.
 
http://www.bcs-america.com/what.cqs

You can put a tiller, mower snow blower and all sorts of stuff on them.

I had a 5 horse that run a 54" mower deck, and a 36" tiller, it worked great, no belts, all gears and shafts.

pick and choose the attachments you need. they all mount with no tools required, just pins and snap in keys.
 
For zero turn mower you can't beat these.
http://www.wisesales.com/gravely-pro-master-272h-992213.html

I had a 26/60 and could mow 12" grass at 13 miles per hours, that's 14 ac. in 6 hours.

I once upon a time mowed the airport for rent of the hangar. that's what I mowed it with.

The 60 & 72 inch are pro-mowers with blade tip speeds of 2100' per minute. they really cut.
 
My friend swears by (not at) his Kubota. I've used it a bit, and it is really nice. They aren't cheap though, but are less than a Deere.
 
Diana,

Put me squarely in the ZTR camp. We have a 61" commercial Bush Hog. Like Tom said, on smooth ground it'll mow at 13-14 mph. I mow the city's airstrip more than they do during the typical summer. This includes a 2600'x70' grass strip; the taxiway (1000'x60); plus 10' outside the cones down the sides of both; an add'l 50' or so off the ends of the runway; and also the grass around the hangars. I can finish in about hour and a half.

Once you mow w/ a ZTR you'll never go back to a lawn tractor. You can mow four times as fast...but then they're three times the price.
 
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Ingersoll hydraulic. We had a nice 24 hp version when we lived in maine. It is still running at the Surry Inn in Ellsworth, ME and it's been 23 years.
 
Gas or diesel? 4wd? Need a loader, or just a 3pt?
 
wabower said:
JD 317 was my favorite at the ranch. I used a MF 135 with a Lilliston 7-6 and the JD to mow ~5 acres a few miles southeast of KOJC.
Click to expand...
I wonder what would be a comparable JD now? Do you think a JD is worth the price they ask? Or are we just paying extra for that green color? Does JD make the quality products that they used to? I Googled Lilliston and it looks like they might be hard to find?

Jim Logajan said:
Lawn Tractor Replacement thread from last year may avoid some repeated advice:

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43271
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Thanks. I did a search for garden tractor before starting this thread, but not for lawn tractor.

airbornejohnny said:
Are you running PTO or 3-point hitch accessories? Why garden tractor? Our JD 915? (I think, been wrong before though) diesel crapped out last year and we got a Toro zero turn. It has a smaller deck (52") than the Deere (72" i think) but mows much faster. 8-10 acres plus between veggie rows in the garden 4 hours on the Toro, roughly 7 on the Deere. Also note, we often are mowing particularly tall grass in mid summer (available manpower is making hay and picking veggies), but we still get those numbers.
Toro was recommended to us by a landscaper who rents out part of the barn. He shopped the brands the OP mentioned (Lowes, Home Depot, Tractor Supply brands) and determined Toro's were more robust and easier to work on. YMMV.
Click to expand...

No PTO or 3-point hitch. We have the JD 420 for that when it comes back home, and a 4WD Ford tractor with a front end loader and brush hog attached in the back. The Ford tractor has tires that won't work on the runways as they are very knobby and would mess up the runways.

We need a garden tractor to mow, PLUS pull some stuff like garden carts, a roller, etc. We were told that a Z-turn mower would not be good at pulling stuff.

Chip Sylverne said:
Gas or diesel? 4wd? Need a loader, or just a 3pt?
Click to expand...
Gas. Don't need 4WD on the garden tractor.

Thanks all y'all for your input. :) Looking forward to more opinions. One of the things we are looking at is the quality of customer service from whomever we buy the garden tractor.
 
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Diana said:
We need a garden tractor to mow, PLUS pull some stuff like garden carts, a roller, etc. We were told that a Z-turn mower would not be good at pulling stuff.
Click to expand...

ZTRs are not really good at pulling things no, but you know what does a great job? Golf carts lol, Quad ATVs as well. Seriously, Get a good ZTR for the mowing and a cheap golf cart or ATV for pulling around the small stuff. You'll be happier in the end because the mowing is the primary function, and as a Mower, you cannot compare a ZTR to a tractor, the ZTR wins hands down.
 
Diana said:
Soooooo, it's time to replace our garden tractor...well...tractors. Both the old Sears Craftsman garden tractors are shot. One of them was pronounced dead today. The big John Deere 420 tractor is in the shop for some major work and won't be back home for weeks, maybe months.

We need a garden tractor and not just a zero turn radius mower. It would be nice to have a 54" deck (we have to mow about 8 acres a week) and at least 24 HP. We've been looking at another Sears Craftsman, the John Deere garden tractor, and today looked at the Husqvarna garden tractor (but don't know a thing about them).

What experiences have you had with any of them? Any opinions?

Thanks. :)
Click to expand...

The May, 2012 issue of Consumer Reports has a report on mowers and tractors (page 34). Perhaps you can find a copy in your local library if you don't have another source.

In the Lawn Tractors general category the Craftsman 28881 was ranked 19 out of 20 so not too good. In the wide deck and zero-turn-radius category they did better than the Husqvarna. John Deere rated lower than Husqvarna and Craftsman in the zero-turn category but better than both in the other two categories.

It appears there is a lot of product variations between categories.
 
Gmaper said:
The May, 2012 issue of Consumer Reports has a report on mowers and tractors (page 34). Perhaps you can find a copy in your local library if you don't have another source.

In the Lawn Tractors general category the Craftsman 28881 was ranked 19 out of 20 so not too good. In the wide deck and zero-turn-radius category they did better than the Husqvarna. John Deere rated lower than Husqvarna and Craftsman in the zero-turn category but better than both in the other two categories.

It appears there is a lot of product variations between categories.
Click to expand...

Did they have a comparison between the commercial grade ZTRs?
 
Henning said:
Did they have a comparison between the commercial grade ZTRs?
Click to expand...

They had 12 tractors listed in the ZTR category with a price range of $2,300 to $4,200. My guess is that this price range probably is consumer grade rather than commercial grade.
 
I have found that if it comes from Sears, and it has moving parts, or uses electricity, it will not last.

Even brand name products that Sears sells have the same problem.

Sears will go to a manufacturer of anything and because of the sheer size of an order from Sears, they are able to beat the manufacturer into the ground on the price they pay per unit. The manufacturer in turn will do everything they possibly can to cut manufacturing costs in oder to have some semblance of a profit.

A case in point; I purchased a new Bosch dishwasher from Sears. I did this on the recommendation of my brother who has been using the same Bosch dishwasher that he bought before Sears started carrying them. Sears installed it, and it worked wonderfully. It was ultra quiet, the dishes were spotless. All what you would expect from Bosch. Then on my fifth load of dishes, my kitchen floor and hallway were flooded from a leak in my brand new Bosch dishwasher.

It was a huge hassle getting Sears to fix it under their purchase warranty, but after only six trips, they got it done. On the third load, after Sears "repaired" it, the mother board fried, and the leak started again. I was lucky. Due to the smoke from the mother board catching my attention, I was able to get the water supply turned off before too much of my house was flooded.

I now use the Bosch dishwasher from Sears as a place to store my dirty dishes until I have enough of them to wash by hand in my sink. I bought my sink from a plumber, so I don't worry about that going awry.

-John
 
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Nothing beats a late 60's - 70's Wheel Horse , Cub Cadet , or JD. The new crap you get is nothing more than stamped steel disposable after 2 years garbage. Until you get into the commercial grade.

I just bought a 75 Cub , 54" deck , added front and rear hydraulics, replaced a bunch of worn parts , filled the tires with washer fluid for added weight and still under a grand invested. Will last another 30 years no sweat.

It wont mow as nice as a zero turn , but for an all around machine, can't beat something like that.
 
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Sounds like you've got plenty of hardware...
You might want to reconsider the ZTR though. No, they are not great at pulling stuff, but they are great at pushing it. The safe, proper way you use a spreader, cart or roller with a ZTR is to put an attachment bar on the front of the machine, and attach your implement there so you can keep an eye on it and not turn such tight corners that you get in trouble. Seeders, carts and rollers under 900# or so are no problem. Dixie Chopper has one that can handle up to 1500# I've been told.
If you want to cut fast, a ZTR is the way to go. Sounds to me like a lawn tractor would be redundant.
 
John Baker said:
I have found that if it comes from Sears, and it has moving parts, or uses electricity, it will not last.

Even brand name products that Sears sells have the same problem.

Sears will go to a manufacturer of anything and because of the sheer size of an order from Sears, they are able to beat the manufacturer into the ground on the price they pay per unit. The manufacturer in turn will do everything they possibly can to cut manufacturing costs in oder to have some semblance of a profit.
Click to expand...

Not just Sears, any of the big discount retailers. Nothing is immune either. I remember we got one of the IBM Selectric ball typewriters at a discount retailer. A year later I had to buy some parts and went to to pick them up from the service center and they were different and wouldn't fit. I was confused as I had ordered by model number. He asked where it was bought from. He then told me "Yeah, we build a cheaper version of everything for the discount outlets. I'm gonna have to order that part, it usually takes about 2 months to get parts for these." So we had to buy a new typewriter, hell of a savings that was...:mad2: Bought another one from them, that was about 1980 or so. That typewriter has been in continous service since and remains so today (unbelievably the State of Mo still uses paper).
 
Diana,

JD lawn tractors and gators are built up the road from me. They are a customer of mine (I sell stuff used for factory automation). The 100 series units sold at the big box stores are not made there. The smallest made in Horicon, WI is the 300 series. I think they go up to the 900 series there, but I am going from memory. There machines are well built and durable. They source the most reliable engines and transmissions available.

I only have an acre. I bought the X300 - the least expensive unit built there - because you gotta support those who support you. The dealers rarely discount, but the EAA partner program does save you some money. We used the EAA partner program for our 2010 Ford Focus, too.

You won't be disappointed with another JD.
 
One thing I have noticed in my use of John Deere engines in tractors, generators, and marine propulsion is John Deere makes fuel hogs. I first noticed it working hay with my BIL. I had a 125hp Case w/ Cummins and he had a 125hp JD, both FWA models. We would pull Identical and interchanged with no effect 945 swathes and 545 balers. We both held 90 gal by the book and he fueled right around 2:1 on me. My next experience was with a boat, we traded out a 90kw 2 stroke Jimmy with a 90 kw JD and we used more fuel per day.
 
Tom-D said:
http://www.bcs-america.com/what.cqs

You can put a tiller, mower snow blower and all sorts of stuff on them.

I had a 5 horse that run a 54" mower deck, and a 36" tiller, it worked great, no belts, all gears and shafts.

pick and choose the attachments you need. they all mount with no tools required, just pins and snap in keys.
Click to expand...

I rented a stump grinder made by that outfit one time - and was impressed by the machine's performance and rugged construction. However, I've never seen their products for sale anywhere.

Dave
 
cessna182b said:
I rented a stump grinder made by that outfit one time - and was impressed by the machine's performance and rugged construction. However, I've never seen their products for sale anywhere.

Dave
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The problem with buying unique Italian equipment is you have to deal with unique Italian parts support.:rolleyes:
 
Tom-D said:
Carl's mower has every thing you will need for support of the BCS as do all the dealers.

Thing is the BSC requires little or no support in the parts issues.
http://www.carlsmower.com/pages/Brochures/LinesList/1452
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I have been dealing with all sorts of Italian machines all of my life and I find that claim impossible to believe unless you produce a replacement part properly for each that breaks.
 
Henning said:
I have been dealing with all sorts of Italian machines all of my life and I find that claim impossible to believe unless you produce a replacement part properly for each that breaks.
Click to expand...

The only thing I had to buy for my BCS was an air filter, I got it at ACE Hardware.
 
Gmaper said:
They had 12 tractors listed in the ZTR category with a price range of $2,300 to $4,200. My guess is that this price range probably is consumer grade rather than commercial grade.
Click to expand...

Yes to that. My commercial grade 61" was over $7k and that was dealer cost. My BiL is a Bush Hog dealer.

One give away, if it has a stamped deck and not a welded deck...walk away...it won't last.
 
I forgot to mention that we have a 7' mower that we pull behind the old JD 420 with turf tires, that will hopefully be back home this summer. We still need a garden tractor that will serve as a back up to the 420 with mower, and also be the primary mower for the next month or two.
jhausch said:
Diana,

JD lawn tractors and gators are built up the road from me. They are a customer of mine (I sell stuff used for factory automation). The 100 series units sold at the big box stores are not made there. The smallest made in Horicon, WI is the 300 series. I think they go up to the 900 series there, but I am going from memory. There machines are well built and durable. They source the most reliable engines and transmissions available.

I only have an acre. I bought the X300 - the least expensive unit built there - because you gotta support those who support you. The dealers rarely discount, but the EAA partner program does save you some money. We used the EAA partner program for our 2010 Ford Focus, too.

You won't be disappointed with another JD.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info about the EAA discount! I wasn't aware of that! Just enrolled and found out that we can save $200 on the X320 that we looked at today. :)
 
If you're going to be pulling a roller of any size at all, be sure to ask if the x320 has a serviceable tuff torque transaxle. Some of them aren't, and the warranty is only 300 hrs on that mower.
Honestly, if I were mowing 8 acres once a week, I'd want more machine than that for the money.
 
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