Who made the best diesel mowers 15 years ago?.

[alltherage]

Looking at getting an older diesel mower. Our neighbor has a JD 455 and it's well built. What were the best back then and who even made them? JD, kubota, cub...

 

[Xfaxman]

This one is 18 years old, TORO Groundsmaster 325D, 4 wheel drive, 3 cylinder 25hp Mitsubishi diesel, 6' side discharge deck.


6' recycler deck.

There are a lot of them on eBay and craigslist, when searching, also use groundmaster, ground master and grounds master.

The traction unit that I put the loader on is 24 years old and still going strong. :thumbsup:

 

[Tor Arne]

Stiga made a Park model with a Lombardini diesel

 

[AaronS]

My dad still mows 4 acres every week with his JD 455 and it's been a great machine. I'd think both JD and Kubota would still be going strong if they were taken care of.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Lots of good power units and just about any diesel with less than 2000 hours or so would be good if serviced properly but a 15 year old deck is likely in bad shape regardless of how well it was taken care of. New decks aren't cheap either. I had a JD 332 diesel (1984)and the deck was pretty worn out. I had to do a lot of patching of rusted out spots around the spindles to keep from spending the $1200 for a new stamped deck (deck only- no spindles or other hardware)

 

[xtruckerbob]

I think you can beat Kubota - I still mow with my G3200 Kubota every week. It is a 83 model. We retired it for 4 years when I bought the first (cheap) ZTR. After 4 years the ZTR was wore to a numb, so I swap the battery warmed it up and it started in true Kubota style. Last month I bought a new Kubota ZTR but will still mow the sloped banks of our 3 ponds and the 3/8 mile of sloped road ditch. The Little has around 3000 hours on it.