Buying Advice Sick and tired of low quality riding lawnmowers

arits74 · Jul 3, 2019

I have a john deere x300 with a 4 foot deck with Kawasaki engine.I have always had cheap mowers before this one.it was around $3000.it is miles ahead of any box store mower you will buy.also the box store john deeres are not the same mowers you find at a dealer

ETD66SS · Jul 3, 2019

arits74 said:
I have a john deere x300 with a 4 foot deck with Kawasaki engine.I have always had cheap mowers before this one.it was around $3000.it is miles ahead of any box store mower you will buy.also the box store john deeres are not the same mowers you find at a dealer

A guy I work with has one of those with the 4 way steering, he's already had it into the shop a bunch of times. He's looking to go with a Ferris 60" zero turn, he's had enough with JD mowers after owning 3 in a row, claims they are disposable units as well. So I don't have a good impression of them I suppose.

coobie · Jul 3, 2019

If you can find a older Ingersoll 4020 they are pretty stout lawn tractors.Pic of my 1996 4020.Paid $3,000 about 5 years ago with 320 hours with 3 pt.hitch snow blade and tire chains.

/pine · Jul 3, 2019

They (low end riders) are what they are...one good point is if it is something made by MTD (sold under many different brand names) parts are easy to get...

kthompson · Jul 3, 2019

Look at used,true commercial mowers. Many will be ztr but not all. There are still tractor style mowers buying built by Snapper and the best I know they do not build for any box store. They did build a rear mounted mower with steering wheel. Not a fast machine but simple dependable design.

To me, the box stores mowers are made to be the lowest price per inch of cut.

Follow up on comment on Ferris, I bought a 60 inch Ferris three or four years ago with 37 hp fuel injected Kawasaki and the mower is great to use. Had to have the throttle body replace just out side of warranty at over a $1,000 but the mower itself has been very good. Think have all this correct: Ferris, Simplicity and Snapper all same company and may be same plant building them for was told the decks are same between them. Seem to think Briggs and Stratton is part of the same company. Over the years we have owned two of the old style Snappers and they were really bullet proof. Both were 33 inch single blade decks. Travel speed is slower than many but the cut was very good and their grass catcher system was great.

dougtrr2 · Jul 4, 2019

I used to joke that my father's hobby was mowing grass, he loved to do it. He did have a couple decent Case mowers, but in later years he bought declining quality mowers. He had an acre on the side of a hill so it was hard on them. After he and my mom passed we realized they had the money to have bought much better mowers. There are times when I wish that my siblings and I would have gotten together and helped him buy a upper end John Deere. But I am not sure he would have allowed that. So I am in the camp of trying to do what it takes to get him a quality mower. Regardless of age it is much better to be using quality equipment.

Doug in SW IA

crazyal · Jul 4, 2019

I have a Deere X500. Like you I got tired of cheap riders. What pushed me over the edge was the POS Kohler courage engine. Pretty much every brand buys the engine and transaxle from a 3rd party. That's more than half of what makes up a rider. What I was told was to look for a rider that has lug nuts to hold the rear tires on. That denotes a stronger hydro unit. I know some of the X300 Deere have the weak Tough Torq K47 in them which seams to be a limited life unit. If you're serious about getting a step up machine then I would look for a low hour used X5 series Deere. You should be able to find one for maybe a few hundred more than your budget. I'm sure there's other brands, like Cub, but I'm not familiar with them.

searcyfarms · Jul 4, 2019

I have an LX280 with the tough torque, so far so good, as long as you keep the cooling fan clean, oil in good shape they seem to be ok, dont overheat them by doing more than they were designed for is what i have heard is the biggest part of their failure. Agreed, the two speed, bolt on rear wheel units whether older or newer machines are heavier designs and typically bigger gears/axles to take the strain.

Mowing is one thing, pushing with a blade, dragging an implement, running a tiller, all heat up oil which reduces life if you are slipping/overheating things and if you burn/boil the oil you better change it. Hydros are nice but have their limits like a clutch - something will give eventually.