Pedal or hand lever hydro?

Jeepnford · Apr 20, 2017

I'm looking at replacing our 20 y.o. Craftsman lawn "tractor". It has the hand control hydro lever which has worked well. Now it seems most are foot controlled. We mow maybe an acre with a number of trees. Do the foot pedals work OK or do they get tiring dodging obstacles? I see most of the pedal types have cruise control, but again, I'm not sure how handy that would be making frequent turns.

tomplum · Apr 20, 2017

You will like the foot pedal I'd think. I have both myself. The lever was great for a big area that you weren't changing speeds, but then again it would have the cruise for that.

4570Man · Apr 20, 2017

I had an old Case 235 ( probably the best small tractor I've ever had ) that had a hand lever. I prefer the foot pedals. A 4x4 B7200 replaced the Case, but the case was a more refined machine.

Sonny580 · Apr 20, 2017

Go for the foot peddles LOL!!!! ----It's the only to mow!!!!---I junked 2 "hand lever jobbers" because they are deadly dangerous!!! One wrong move and you have crashed into something!!!----or hit the lever getting on or off,---a real pain!! thanks; sonny580

oldpilgrim · Apr 20, 2017

I had a hand lever unit. Ugh, never again.

Xfaxman · Apr 21, 2017

I have a commercial mower with a 6' out front recycler deck.

It has the foot pedal control, with a foot rest at the side. Put your heel on the foot rest and toe on the top of the go pedal. It works better than good.

tbzep · Apr 22, 2017

I've never liked foot pedal mowers. I've never really enjoyed using foot operated front end loaders, skid steers, or fork lifts with stiff accelerator pedals, either. I use cruise control any time I can in my truck. That's why my tractors are geared (one is a shuttle) and I just went to a ZTR mower after retiring my ~25 year old Craftsman hand lever hydro mower. For whatever reason, I develop a quite annoying pain just under my kneecap when using said foot operated equipment. All the foot operated lawn tractors I've sat on felt like they would have caused the same issue.

Slowpoke Slim · Apr 22, 2017

I would say try both if you can. I prefer the foot pedals on my old JD LX series, and my current Husqvarna. My neighbor has an older Craftsman mower with the hand control, I don't care for it at all. Seems counter intuitive to me, but I didn't use it but one time I think. And my Husq does have cruise control on it, but I've never used it.

boggen · Apr 22, 2017

what stuck out was 1 acre, and lots of trees. and turning, and mowing.

i would say zero turn mower is were you want to go. vs a generic riding lawn mower. so you can make sharper turns. the deck is out in front of you making it easier to see were deck is to get around stuff.

zero turns have different control types, from lever per hand, joystick per hand, single joystick, steering wheel, to foot peddles.

due to 1 acre size, you really do not have enough acreage to justify a larger zero turn mower / commerical mower. and in that deck height might be an issue for you. more so if grass growth can get away from you... (vacations, long wet rainy portions of spring, just busy with everything else in life (kids/famialy)). with that said zero turn mowers the cheaper smaller size ones, the deck height may not lift up as high as a riding lawn mower.

tend to see more folks complain about 2 lever setups (one lever per hand) to control zero turns. due to arms are being held out from body during entire time mowing. and there job / regular life does not really encourage muscles that have your arms sticking out for longer periods of time.

myself, hate old tractors and even manual trucks, were you had to constantly push in clutch to change a gear. or turn on/off PTO / mower deck. my foot from toes, to bottom arch of foot just "ached" and felt bruised. and pending on how i sat, ankles would hurt. more so if i wore boots or high top shoes for past week, were shoe laces were tight causing little ankle movement. (ankle muscles got weak).