Lawn tractor recommendations?

[Hermit54]

I posted this on antique tractor forum also (yea, love old iron), would like to get as many opinions as I can. I'm not finding much used but new is good!

I sold my last one when I left Maine.

Had;
Bolens, about 1990 22HP hydro, mid pto and shaft to a tiller, huge deck, had to be over 48" easy, great tractor!

JD, (forget number) but hydro, 42" deck, 18hp single cyl kawi and would cut hay. another great tractor, just plain wore it out (for me anyway). went and bought >>>

New Husky 18hp kawi twin, torque of a worn rubber band, choke on 5" grass. Smooth cut, reliable though. Moved and sold it. >>>

Used a cub last year, seemed a pretty good tractor. Not sure the model but 10 year old, 18hp or so.

Someone offered me a Huskee 25hp, 54 deck $850. Steep, not the best reviews.

TSC had a sale on cubs, missed it.

If you needed a lawn/garden tractor. 2 acres lawn, what would you reccomend? 42" min deck. Like hydro but open. Tow a small lawn cart too.

I do have a 2 cyl diesel YM1300d 4x4 and a 42" howse hog for the rough field stuff.

Considered a finish mower for it but tread marks in lawn, maneuvering. Thanks, Shawn

 

[Hermit54]

K7 Green is fine. My JD was a very good and tough machine. I paid $2500 for the twin kawi model Husquvarna, should have gotten the 18hp single for the torque.

This time budget wise $1500-1600 Towing is a minor thing, garbage can up the 250 yard driveway but I usually drag it anyway. Maybe a couple bales hay over to the other barn. I have the YM1300 if I have to tow anything substantial. And word out for a 40hp plus tractor with FEL.

Ok, how about; what ones not to buy! That may help some. Like stay away from chain store JD's? Lowes Bolens and troybuilt and JD's? How about TSC Cubs?

Other than a steep price for the 25hp Huskee 54" cut it sounded good. But then I read some reviews googling and I don't think 20% had anything good to say about them.

Other than that one, I'm not having any luck locating used ones, not craiglist, local shops.

Thanks, Shawn

OOPs and no worry of snow. Last 11 years upperstate inland Maine but here in central KY a couple inches is all. I have a rear blade for the YM1300 if I ever need to move any.

 

[Hermit54]

Thanks K7 There were alot more used tractors on CL a few months ago. Soon they will be out and asking top dollar cause grass cutting season. I know $1500 is very little to spend but it's all that's in the budget. I did put out some wanted adds, see what happens. I'll put some on the local bulletin boards too. Shawn

 

[Markcuda]

There's a lot of 100 series around here, but the transmissions don't hold up.

That statement is flat out wrong.

 

[jeffinsgf]

Hermit,

Check out the classifieds here:

Weekend Freedom Machines: <b>John Deere Lawn Tractor and Late Model Garden Tractor Forum</b>

You can combine "old iron" and "JD lawn tractor" into one. Some of the listings are "projects", some are finished tractors (may be out of budget at that point), and some are projects that exceeded guys interests and are half-way done (good bargains sometimes).

 

[jeffinsgf]

Only partially wrong. It wasn't worth the time and effort to list every 100 series made. To me, it would include all the old 1xx units and the various bigbox items of today. In simple terms, if you see a model with a 2 hundred number, it's probably better. But then, there's the x300's. So I say to find and unit, and then research it.

Depends entirely on how old the "1" is. 100 - 140 from the 60s through the 70s are beasts that still do what they're intended to do, if cared for.

 

[jeffinsgf]

That's true, but then we have the bigbox stores with the L1xx, LA1xx, LT1xx, LX1xx and how many other prefix 100's we have. I'm taking the liberty to lump them all together as 100 series, some good, some bad. If anybody wants to post a list of 100's and list their good and bad points, feel free to do so. Personally, I feel the OP should search for 200 series machines or better.

The problem with that is there's a raft of 2xx series tractors that couldn't possibly be compared to a 140 H3. The 140 H3 would be the one I would look for in the OP's situation. The early 100s are great collector tractors and will work their guts out to this day, but lack anything that could be considered a modern convenience.

I could go along with your original line of thinking if you had said 3xx rather than 2xx. I can't think of a single model in the 3xx series that wouldn't serve him well, from the late 70s through today.

 

[Carl Bert]

My dad has a 2004 John Deere GT235, with a 48" deck and 18HP Kawasaki twin, and he loves it. Plenty of power for trailering. You can probably pick one up for just under $2000 and worth every penny.
I have a 2003 John Deere GX345, with a 54" deck and a 20HP liquid cooled Kawasaki twin. This is a super tractor with power to spare, but more costly. You may be able to find an older model 345, which I think came out in 1998, in the low $2000 area. If you could pick up one of these, you will be very happy with it. Here's a picture of mine prepped for the winter snow.

 

[Hermit54]

Hermit,

Check out the classifieds here:

Weekend Freedom Machines: <b>John Deere Lawn Tractor and Late Model Garden Tractor Forum</b>

You can combine "old iron" and "JD lawn tractor" into one. Some of the listings are "projects", some are finished tractors (may be out of budget at that point), and some are projects that exceeded guys interests and are half-way done (good bargains sometimes).

Thanks Jeff, lot of nice machines there. Love that 1966 model.

 

[Hermit54]

Darn. Now I wish I could remember the number on my old JD It was a hydro, 18hp kawi, 42" deck. I bought it 3rd hand in 2004 and it had seen alot of use already. It was a very good machine. I kept enlarging my yard, cutting full grown hay, burdock, it never balked, had gator blades. Charging sys was gone but I trickled it after every 4 hour mowing 2x a week, leaked some hydro oil. Had to replace wheel bearings, some work on the deck, but it was not hard to do or to find parts. Finally bought a New Husquvarna 18hp kawi twin and cried from that day on, sold it to the EX, fixed her