What's the biggest and baddest Husqvarna garden tractor for 2019?

[Rock Crawler]

I'm looking to update my garden tractor again, and want the best mixture of Kawasaki twin engine, heaviest duty rear axle/transmission, clear cut 54" fabricated deck and differential lock.

Last year it was a variance of the TS354DX, has anything newer/bigger/better been hinted at for this coming spring from Husqvarna? I want the Mac Daddy if the Husqvarna line. As close to a commercial grade machine as I can get. Last year Husqvarna pretty much owned the value segment at around $3600 for that TS. Let me know if there is something I'm unaware of please.

 

[s219]

They don't make anything commercial grade, but they are among the best consumer grade brand out there now since Cub went downhill.

If you want the absolute best garden tractor it would probably be a Deere X700 series but they are serious $$. Deere X500 might be a good option. But neither lines are what I'd consider commercial, just high end heavy duty consumer.

Husky does not have product offerings that compete in the X700 space, and they have only minor competitive overlap in the X500 space, but they are very competitive in the X300 space.

 

[Gem99ultra]

I'm looking to update my garden tractor again, and want the best mixture of Kawasaki twin engine, heaviest duty rear axle/transmission, clear cut 54" fabricated deck and differential lock.

Last year it was a variance of the TS354DX, has anything newer/bigger/better been hinted at for this coming spring from Husqvarna? I want the Mac Daddy if the Husqvarna line. As close to a commercial grade machine as I can get. Last year Husqvarna pretty much owned the value segment at around $3600 for that TS. Let me know if there is something I'm unaware of please.

With your menu of equipment owned, I pretty much suspect that YOU are the expert on what's good and what's not. If I were shopping for a new mower, I think I'd go to you for your recommendation, rather than my own outdated personal experience.

I have a GTH26V52LS which is near what you've spec'd out. Mine did come with the optional Kawasaki engine, but I see they're now only coming with the Kohler.

At the time I bought my GTH 4 years ago, I was reading a lot of bad print about Kohler. That, however has really not been my personal experience. I also have a Rider 155 with a Kohler, and it has ran without any engine problems at all for 16 years, 2500 hours. On the other hand, my GTH with the Kawasaki has also proven to be 100% reliable and very strong. Both receive excellent maintenance.

My criteria is pretty much like your criteria, my motto is:
If a 'Little Bit' is good,
'More' is better,
and 'TOO MUCH' is Just Right


Good luck on your search.

 

[nybirdman]

Look at the larger Simplicity units,very well made.

 

[MESSMAKER]

Go to Rural king and get a sub-compact. About 10-12 grand and will last you the rest of your life.
I know that is more than the Husky but you can use the TYM/Rural king tractor for 10 years and 5-6 hundred hours and sell it for about what you paid for it. It will end up costing less. You will also get a standard PTO which is handy for many things. Hydraulics also give you a lot of options.Don't forget 4x4. Last but not least,the diesel engine will win you over. These are the reason that they hardly make garden tractors. They have built a better mousetrap.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I love Husqvarna garden tractors but 24-26hp and 54in is about as big as it gets with them, nothing commercial grade.



GT52XLS and GTH2454T I liked them both a lot BUT I had an opportunity to buy a 99 JD 455 with 1200 hours on it for $2300. I sold my 13 GT52XLS to a neighbor and I use the 455. I added a Rugg cat 1 3pt to the mower. This machine will last a good 3500+ hours, I figured quite a bit longer than the Husqvarna.

If you want more out of a Husqvarna, step up to a more capable machine, honestly just cutting grass, idk how you could grow out of a bigger Husqvarna with diff lock, the GT52XLS didn’t have deff lock but I never got it stuck with the Titan multi trac tires.

 

[slus]

I got the TS348 with the locking diff. My dealer said that their Husqvarna rep wouldn't give them any more with the Kawasaki engines, so mine has a Kohler. I've had less than stellar experiences with Kohler engines but the guy said it was basically a Kohler Command commercial engine in them now that they called a 7000 series, that was better than the consumer grade Kawasaki they use to come with. I hope it is true, he seemed like a stand up guy. The other wisdom he imparted was that he only stocked the 48" models now, because every 54" he sold led to an unhappy customer with a scalped lawn in our hilly area.

I've only used it 5.2 hours so far but it is worlds better than the tired 1992 Deere LX178 that it is replacing. After such good service from the old John Deere, I wanted another one, and I looked long and hard at the X500 series. Eventually the price and the plastic hood on the X500s sent me back to the Husqvarna, it was literally half the price and very comparable. The plastic hood on my LX178 was replaced once for about 600 bucks, and shattered again a few years after. I had to laugh when the sales guy thumped the hood on the X500 bragging that it was plastic, so it "wouldn't dent like the Husqvarna". I would have bought the X570 if they were the same price or slightly more than the TS, based on my experience with the LX178 and the fantastic supply of parts still available 25 years later. At double the price, I'll hope for 10-12 years out of the TS and then buy another new one.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I got the TS348 with the locking diff. My dealer said that their Husqvarna rep wouldn't give them any more with the Kawasaki engines, so mine has a Kohler. I've had less than stellar experiences with Kohler engines but the guy said it was basically a Kohler Command commercial engine in them now that they called a 7000 series, that was better than the consumer grade Kawasaki they use to come with. I hope it is true, he seemed like a stand up guy. The other wisdom he imparted was that he only stocked the 48" models now, because every 54" he sold led to an unhappy customer with a scalped lawn in our hilly area.

I've only used it 5.2 hours so far but it is worlds better than the tired 1992 Deere LX178 that it is replacing. After such good service from the old John Deere, I wanted another one, and I looked long and hard at the X500 series. Eventually the price and the plastic hood on the X500s sent me back to the Husqvarna, it was literally half the price and very comparable. The plastic hood on my LX178 was replaced once for about 600 bucks, and shattered again a few years after. I had to laugh when the sales guy thumped the hood on the X500 bragging that it was plastic, so it "wouldn't dent like the Husqvarna". I would have bought the X570 if they were the same price or slightly more than the TS, based on my experience with the LX178 and the fantastic supply of parts still available 25 years later. At double the price, I'll hope for 10-12 years out of the TS and then buy another new one.

I have always had good luck with kohler, I have had many kohler powered arien’s machines. I have had both the B & S and Kawasaki powered Husqvarna machines with 54 and 52in decks. The Kaw ran louder and wasn’t as balanced as the others, I didn’t run it long so can’t say which is better.

I find it interesting that people complained about the larger decks, maybe they didn’t adjust the wheels good enough so they don’t scalp.

As for hoods, my mother mows with a 42in 19hp Arien’s, sold at Home Depot and made by Husqvarna, it was a cheapy but still running strong after 6 seasons. She’s ran that thing into trees and crushed the front of the hood so bad the hood wouldn’t open all the way, she’s managed to dent the vents up in the hood by running the mower into branches and things. Every year I take some pliers, sheet metal break and maybe a hammer to it, straiten all the tin back out and it’s good as new. She would have just smashed up a plastic hood.

 

[revmark]

The ts354 is probably the baddest of the consumer riders from Husq as far as I can tell. I have a GT52XLS and it is a beast. I think this is the closet to that without spending $5-7000 on a Deer.

 

[Rock Crawler]

The ts354 is probably the baddest of the consumer riders from Husq as far as I can tell. I have a GT52XLS and it is a beast. I think this is the closet to that without spending $5-7000 on a Deer.

That's exactly why I bought it. In the price zone of $3,500 give it take $1000.... There is not a single product that even competes with it, let alone beats it.

Sure you can double the money and go green to beat it. But in this same price range even team green doesn't want to step into the ring against this lightweight champion.