Husqvarna GT48DXLS- Season 1 report

[plowhog]

Early in 2017 there was a forum debate about the merits of a John Deere X380 riding mower vs a Husqvarna GT48DXLS riding mower. I first went to a Deere dealer to purchase an X380, did not do so. I then learned about and bought a Husqvarna GT48DXLS. Since it was a brand-new model for 2017, I agreed during that debate to report my impressions, whether "good, bad, or ugly," after a season of use. It's time to do that now.

Good: It's a good machine, quite powerful, and almost unbelievable side discharge power and volume. Mowing and mulching with no bagger worked well. Easy to drive and a tight turning radius makes it easy to maneuver. My wife easily operates it as well. My lawn is fairly small so total mowing time this season was only 26 hours. I have had zero maintenance issues. One reason I purchased this over the X380 is that it has a differential lock. I only used the differential lock one time but it was useful. When away from the lawn dumping discharge, I got onto a slippery slope with dry pine needles. I tried to back out but started slipping and turning sideways-- not a good combination. Activating differential lock let me drive right out of it.

Bad: The ride and operator comfort is not bad, but is rougher than I expected. I learned the units are shipped with grossly overinflated tires for some sort of shipping reason-- up to 30psi. Once I reduced psi to 8-10 psi the ride got a *lot* better. But my property and lawn is not smooth so it's a little bumpy at times. Another complaint is that Husqvarna does not tell you to do a first oil change at 8 hours. That's in the Kawasaki engine manual. I purchased the $399 Husqvarna 7 bushel bagger, which did not require any separate power flow unit since the side discharge is so strong. It works really well but there is a red indicator wheel that is supposed to spin (or not spin) to let you know if the bagger is getting full. Mine doesn't spin. I know the bagger is full when debris begins blowing out the bottom of the deck. Not a big deal, but it doesn't work as advertised.

Ugly: nothing in the ugly category.

Overall impression: Excellent. I paid just under $3,000 for the mower, added a bagger for $400, and recently added a Cyclone Rake ($1,800.) Total investment about $5,200. The Deere X380 was about $4,500 plus $1,200 for a bagger/powerflow, or about $5,700. With no Cyclone Rake. To be fair, I believe it would have provided equally effective mowing performance plus would have been equally reliable. But with no Cyclone Rake, I'd be hand raking leaves again-- which I did not want to do.

Today I assembled a new Cyclone Rake and tried it out. Like the Husqvarna, it's a beast. The two of them together, running two engines, is impressive. Leaf season is coming, and I will probably put another 20+ hours using the mower/Cyclone rake combo to vacuum up leaves. My leaves pile up in "feet" due to the many trees (oaks, etc.)

I'll post another review after the leaf season is complete. The leaves should provide a pretty good workout ...

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Looks good and looks like this machine is working well for you.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Another one followed me home. It’s a GT52XLS, no deff lock but better than the GTH2454T

 

[plowhog]

I confess I've thought about buying a 2nd one for another property. We'll see. Did you buy this one used, and if so, how much $$?

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I confess I've thought about buying a 2nd one for another property. We'll see. Did you buy this one used, and if so, how much $$?

I bought them both used, first one had 230h on it, paid $800 and put $150 in it with new deck pulleys and voltage regulator. Has 278h on it now. It’s an 05 GT 24hp B&S 54in deck. With the G5 blades it mows like a golf course, does a fantastic job.

Second is a 13 GT52XLS with 92h on it, I just bought it today for $1800. It turned about 4 times as hard as the old one so has to hose all the steering components down with white lithium grease, greased all the zerks and spindles then cut the grass. That made a huge diff on force to turn the steering wheel.

I will be selling the 05 because it doesn’t like hills very much, it was originally bought at Lowe’s and needs a flatter yard.

Oddly enough there is a lot of things I like more about the 06, the B&S is a smoother engine than the Kawasaki in the 13. At high RPM with blades on the 13 is loud, idk if it’s spinning faster but it deff sounds more like a biplane than a mower lol.

13 kills the 06 on maneuverability, it turns on a dime and doesn’t oversteer and the reverse speed on the 13 is 2.1mph, the 06 is like 1/2mph and on a incline it stops sometimes, that’s adjustable now I believe on the 06. Pedals also trump the hand throttle of the 06.

One complaint on the 13 is the deflector for the deck is like a mile long, the deck is 2in smaller than the old one and I still can’t get into as tight of spots, I will either take it off or cut the original down.

Overall there’re both good machines