Recommendation for Good Riding Lawnmower in Today's Market

[JDL130]

I have a JD L130 with 23HP Kohler engine and K46 transaxle that's crapped out at 330 hours.

I started looking for new tractors to replace it rather than throw money into the transaxle (I can replace it myself but $600+ for a new K46 -- meh).

Seems like you can't get into anything good for less than $7k. I have almost an acre that I mow that has some slight hills, etc., and I don't want to spend money on another 300-hour K46-equipped tractor. It takes me about 1 hour by the hourmeter to do everything; front, back, side yard, around the garden, etc. I don't use it for anything but mowing; I have a Kubota B1750 for the heavy work.

So far, I've I looked at the JD x540 and yesterday looked at a Kubota T2380. The Kubota seemed very nice but I can't seem to find any real reviews -- mostly people who say "I'm looking at one" and get a bunch of responses like "Well, Kubota makes good stuff, it's probably good." What little I've been able to find is that there are problems with the Infinity deck. The transaxle on the Kubota seemed beefy with a spin-on filter and etc. and the Kohler engine in my L130 has never been a problem although I've read some grumbling about the Kubota with the Kohler engine from the previous models of T-series tractors that may have been early-2000 era and may since have been solved by Kohler.

The Kubota was $5k and the Deere about $7200. I looked at the Cub Cadet XT3 online with the driveshaft and cast iron transaxle but I'm not sure about MTD "Quality" and they were as much or more once you figured in the deck as the Kubota.

I'm not sure if I should just go with another K46 mower for $1800-2k and get my 300 hours and be done with it or go bigger and try to get 20 years of value out of it. Cost per hour/season comes out significantly less for the cheaper tractor if you figure a $7k tractor for 20 years ($360/season to mow) or a $2k tractor for 12 years ($200/season to mow), based on an average 25-30 hours per season of mowing.

Part of me just doesn't want to reward the mfgs. by buying a K46 transaxle mower simply because voting with my dollars in that case tells some bean counter somewhere that mediocrity is OK and people love to buy K46 transaxle mowers whether they fail in 300 hours or not.

 

[chim]

Have you considered spending a little over a grand on a 5' rear finish mower for your Kubota?

 

[JDL130]

Unfortunately my yard has a lot of obstacles and the B1750 has a non-quick detach front end loader so the rear finish mower wouldn't really be able to do what I need it to do. A 48"-54" deck on a tight-turning controllable platform is about the best I can do. There are places where the L130 just fits now.

 

[DHD]

I recently went from a typical mid-mount mower garden tractor to a front mount mower machine, what a difference.
Front mount mower deck can be placed in the service position in less than a minute, so it's easy to clean out clips or change out the mower blades.
The front wheels of the garden tractor don't mash the grass down before it's cut either.
The motor is behind the operator, so the the operator senses less noise, less heat, and no engine exhaust fumes.
The cut is the best I've ever had from a riding mower.
The unit I've got has two transmissions, and they are serviceable (change oil and oil filter).
With two transmissions each one only works half as hard as a tractor with only one transmission.
One transmission for the front wheels and one for the rear wheels, it's an all wheel drive so it handles the steep slopes of my lawn with no traction loss, and does not damage the turf even in tight turns.
It can haul my 275# butt up a 19 degree slope forward or backward with plenty of power, traction and zip.
It has a super small turning radius so it's very nimble around object.
It's the least costly all wheel drive riding mower I think you'll find on the market at $5300.
It's not a box store riding mower, and it's Manufactured in Sweden.


Husqvarna R322T AWD

 

[Fawken]

Your rider usage sounds a lot like mine. We mow a bit over an acre with it but no hills. I've had the machine for over 20 years and hope it doesn't bite the dust because everything made now-a-days seems to have cheap steel.

Plus I like the all wheel steering and the fact you can actually stand on that trailer receiver and it doesn't bend:

Even so, if it does bite the dust and considering everything I've read here, my choice would be to get the cheapest lawn tractor I could find with enough oomph to get the job done knowing that in 7-10 years I'll scrap it for parts and get a new one.
This one will be around $1400 in November:
Snapper 46" 20HP (V-Twin) Riding Mower, Red - Walmart.com

 

[JDL130]

Hah! I see the same PTO-powered tiller in your garage as I have in mine, funny. It's a great little tiller, is it the one made by Tarter? My garage looks a lot like yours less the motorcycles.

You're probably right, the best bet is probably to accept the current mediocrity in the market and just get something that will work for 10 years or so and not cost an arm and a leg. It's just hard to do for a guy who is still using equipment his grandfather owned. A Toro tiller and a Troy-bilt Chipper shredder come to mind...Heck, even dad's old Stihl 009 got passed down to me and it's 17 years old now.

 

[JDL130]

I recently went from a typical mid-mount mower garden tractor to a front mount mower machine, what a difference.
Front mount mower deck can be placed in the service position in less than a minute, so it's easy to clean out clips or change out the mower blades.
The front wheels of the garden tractor don't mash the grass down before it's cut either.
The motor is behind the operator, so the the operator senses less noise, less heat, and no engine exhaust fumes.
The cut is the best I've ever had from a riding mower.
The unit I've got has two transmissions, and they are serviceable (change oil and oil filter).
With two transmissions each one only works half as hard as a tractor with only one transmission.
One transmission for the front wheels and one for the rear wheels, it's an all wheel drive so it handles the steep slopes of my lawn with no traction loss, and does not damage the turf even in tight turns.
It can haul my 275# butt up a 19 degree slope forward or backward with plenty of power, traction and zip.
It has a super small turning radius so it's very nimble around object.
It's the least costly all wheel drive riding mower I think you'll find on the market at $5300.
It's not a box store riding mower, and it's Manufactured in Sweden.

View attachment 431090
Husqvarna R322T AWD

That is interesting -- do you find you can mow into areas where a mid-mount wouldn't go -- like under trees, etc. because of that set-up? That would be attractive to me as we have a lot of small trees and tight areas near fences where I really can't pull the tractor in far enough to actually mow them. I recently picked up a Stihl FS250 to replace my old Yard Machines 31cc trimmer and I find I'm doing as much weedwacking as mowing because of all the obstacles.

 

[Fawken]

Hah! I see the same PTO-powered tiller in your garage as I have in mine, funny. It's a great little tiller, is it the one made by Tarter? My garage looks a lot like yours less the motorcycles.

You're probably right, the best bet is probably to accept the current mediocrity in the market and just get something that will work for 10 years or so and not cost an arm and a leg. It's just hard to do for a guy who is still using equipment his grandfather owned. A Toro tiller and a Troy-bilt Chipper shredder come to mind...Heck, even dad's old Stihl 009 got passed down to me and it's 17 years old now.

Actually that tiller is a County Line from TSC. I think it is made by King Kutter, but it is a little smaller than the 48" tillers TSC keeps in stock. I think it is 44" and it is a very solid unit. Yes the stuff (saws etc) from 20 years ago was better built, no argument there. But I think even those require some work to keep them running right. The deck on that old Craftsman has been rebuilt numerous times for example. Suffice it to say that we live in a throw away-buy-new world at the moment. Bucking that trend will get you brownie points on a forum- for whatever that's worth and little else that I can see. Add to the fact that at 62 a 7-10 year mower might outlast me- or at least outlast my mowing days.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

There is a thread here about repairing your k46. It isn't that hard, and cheaper than $600 (at least it used to be cheaper).

 

[JDL130]

There is a thread here about repairing your k46. It isn't that hard, and cheaper than $600 (at least it used to be cheaper).

I checked into the rebuild kits based on a poster in another thread. They're up to $361 + shipping. A new K46 on Amazon is @ $625. Also, this isn't the typical slow-death K46 problem, it has plenty of pep, but it's thunking periodically in drive and I think perhaps an axle shaft or whatever has gone up. 'Til I figure in my time with a rebuild kit assuming no other problems I'll be in for $600 either way I look at it. If I could do it for $200 I'd be right on that, but $400 is most of what I paid for the thing.