Riding mower/garden Tractor

Danbo

Danbo

Joined
Nov 28, 1999
Messages
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Since the wife and I were "Forced" to move to Kentucky and were "Forced" to have a house built on almost 8 acres a few months ago ;), we're now faced with the task of either mowing it ourselves, or paying somebody to mow it for us. Now, the greater portion of the property is currently being cut by the farmer across the road; he wants the hay for his cows. Still, what he doesn't cut is WAAAAY too much to be cutting with any push mower, so we're looking at riding mowers or small garden tractors. Never, in my wildest dreams, did I imagine the wide variance in the quality and price differences between the selections out there. :eek:

I have friends who are in the know, industry wize, and they're all basically saying to avoid anything that comes from Sears, Lowes, Home Depot, Tractor Supply, etc... and, are recommending one of the stand alone, commercial grade mower/tractors. (John Deere, Cub Cadet, Kubota, etc...) Rational being, the bargain mowers are really not bargains in the long run. Cheaper mowers use cheaper parts, etc... replacement/repair costs, in the long run, would be too much. So, I'm TRYING to talk the wife into spending the moolah, and getting a good one that hopefully, won't need repairing or replacing for a long, long time. One that can be maintained by me; oil changes, etc... Shaft drive, instead of belt, etc...

I believe I've narrowed the choices down to either the Kubota or the Cub Cadet(John Deere doesn't make any shaft drive garden tractors and it seems that you'll pay more just for the Deere name).

Opinions, please? I'm leaning towards the Kubota; as, I can't find anybody who has anything negative to say about them. Plus, they currently have 36 month 0% interest financing available. (a BIG selling point, with the wife, BTW).
 
I cut about 2 acres. I have a Toro TimeCutter zero turn. It has cut [no pun intended] about an hour off the time it used to take with an regular lawn tractor mower. Its also fun to drive. I've heard that they aren't great for hilly terrain. My lawn is bumpy, but flat so I don't have to worry. The downside is that it is "just" a lawnmower. If all you are looking for is grass cutting, don't count out the Toro.

Something like the Kubota will give you more use if you want to become a gentleman farmer. With a Kubota, depending on the size, you can get cool and fun attachments which will let you dig holes in your lawn, fill up said holes in your lawn, and do a lot of other stuff that I'd like to do at my house (but don't have any real justification for buying a new tractor). I imagine you can get a CubCadet with those types of attachments but not sure.
 
What about one of the walk behinds that cut 48 wide?? Now there is a peace that you can attach to the back of it so you stand on it and ride while it is mowing your yard for you. I life in fl and all of the landscaping companies that mow yards have them so they must be worth something.
 
I'd go for the Kubota, they are generally very well built units, and the accessories are good too. I'm partial to a tractor plus implements, but you may also want to look at zero-turning radius mowers if you only plan on mowing, or have an ATV for other chores. or get a quad mount mower?
 
The ZTs are faster if your just looking for a mower,but the small tractors are nice if your looking to add a loader or anything like that.Kubota makes a great tractor but parts are expensive,including the the filters that need to be changed regularly.The Cubs are the same whether you buy them from Tractor supply or a dealer,same with the JDs sold at Home Depot,the trouble is that it's harder to get service if you do need anything done like warranty repairs.
 
I have an older Toro 44" walk behind with a sulkey and it's the best mower I've ever used. Not the biggest, but far and away the best I've dealt with and easiest to drive. It has the T-handle control and you can steer with one hand if needed. It's belt drive though so you do have to choose one of 3 forward gears or put in reverse to back up but no hydraulic motors to worry about. Kawasaki engine as well.
Whatever you do, test drive the mower for a decent amount of time. I've used some Scag walk behinds and they just gave me annoying forearm pump.
I agree with beau5278, if you have more than a few acres to mow and forsee other uses like a bucket loader, forks, wagons, etc. A small tractor is the way to go.
 
I have a John Deere LA130, twin cylinder Briggs and Stratton,hydrostatic drive with a single belt for the mower ... 48inch 3 blade...in 3 seasons here in Florida I've only sharpened the blades one time, and my lawn is fairly sandy... the mower deck is easily dropped by one person and there is virtually no wear on the belt with about 28hours on the motor....easy access to grease fittings on the blade spindles with the deck off...it does have an annoying safety feature (manual override to allow mowing in reverse... I used to mow commercially as a kid) it is not zero turn... but very close to it.... it was about $1600 at Lowes...I thought it was a better deal with the dual cylinders than the Husqvarnas for the same price with a single cylinder engines... I would not exclude the Deere
 
if all you want to do is mow - and your ground is fairly flat, a zero turn is the way to go.
if either of those is untrue, then you want a lawn or garden tractor -- or a sub-compact diesel tractor with a true 3-point hitch.
Kubota, New Holland, Massey, TYM, Mahindra, Kioti, and Bobcat all come to mind there. (JD green still costs extra here)
a bit more expensive, but a LOT more function on an acreage. (especially if you also get a front loader) All of those can be found with 22-26HP motors and 60" belly mowers. The second hand market is impressive as well.
 
Last edited:
Russ Andrews said:
You don't need a mower at all...!!
You need GOATS...!
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Probably the best suggestion yet! :p:D


Ok, more confusion, after stopping at another Farm equipment dealership last night after work. This dealership had several different brands. Kubota, Cub Cadet and some other brand I didn't recognize(but, looked every bit as heavy duty). Basically, I need to make a decision as to whether or not I want this machine to do more than mow, and if there's anyway to afford a multi-use small tractor, cuz there is a HUGE price difference. :eek:

This last salesman almost has me convinced to buy a zero turn mower in the $5000 range. I'm liking the Cub Cadet Z-force with 26 hp Kawasaki engine and 60" cut, BTW. Part of me wants to be able to do other stuff with this machine, like pull attachments(tiller, aerator, etc...) and, to put a snow plow/blower on front, but I realize that I would have to step up quite a bit in price range, in order to do that. The smaller garden tractors don't seem to be able to do those things very well, due to traction constraints, power restrictions, etc...

The thing that has me hesitant on the zero turn mower is this; our property is not that flat and has several areas of rolling hills, etc... This factor brings me back to the garden tractor/mower thing.
 
Danbo, if you have ever used a tractor with a loader, you get spoiled fast and wonder how you ever lived without one.

If you have rough ground like we do, we passed on a zero turn and bought the less expensive 50" cut cub for a finish mower. With rough/uneven ground a steering wheel is nicer to hang on to and am never really able to mow at speed because you really take a beating mowing fast in the rough.

On the other hand we don't cut grass as much up here in the north, It's been at least a month since I cut grass. :D

IMHO If you are the kind of person who likes to work with land, I'd buy the less expensive riding tractor for mowing lawn and with the savings, save and buy a real tractor for a work horse.
 
BTW I've been shopping for a 60 or 72 inch 3 point hitch finish mower for behind the large tractor because it uses less fuel (a diesel) than the cub and and nothing rolls over rough ground like large wheels/tires. :D
The cub would still be used for the close to tree and building stuff.
 
MTD makes many of the non-commercial lawn/garden tractors sold today. Sears (Craftsman), Husqvarna, Huskee and YES, even Cub Cadet are all made FOR those companies by MTD (they also make for others as well). A Cub or Sears is essentially an MTD, built to the higher standards requested by Cub or Sears etc. Many companies do choose different motors however (Briggs, Kohler, Kawasaki etc.).

I just replaced my 10 yr. old MTD garden tractor with another MTD (Sears W/Kohler) so I've just been through the process. I'm also a big follower of Consumer Reports magazine and ALWAYS include their ratings in my research. Their first pick for a "consumer" riding mower was a John Deere (IIRC an LA-115 W/a Briggs) followed closely by a Craftsman (Sears). They did not rate any "pro-sumer" brands however (Kubota, Case etc.).

Hope this helps.:)
 
Anyone that buys a Craftsman gets less than what they paid for, even though the prices are low! I don't know how they manage to make such bad products even though apparently they use the same motors as everybody else!

I have had Craftsman rider, push mower and string trimmer from Sears and they all have been terrible! I bit the bullet and got Toro mowers and Echo string trimmers and although they were more than twice as expensive, they have worked for years and years.

I also bought a treadmill from Sears. It lasted a good 3 weeks before dying. The salesman said no problem, we will replace it with a brand new one. I said that's what I'm afraid of, just give me my money back.
 
Shann said:
Anyone that buys a Craftsman gets less than what they paid for, even though the prices are low! I don't know how they manage to make such bad products even though apparently they use the same motors as everybody else!

I have had Craftsman rider, push mower and string trimmer from Sears and they all have been terrible! I bit the bullet and got Toro mowers and Echo string trimmers and although they were more than twice as expensive, they have worked for years and years.

I also bought a treadmill from Sears. It lasted a good 3 weeks before dying. The salesman said no problem, we will replace it with a brand new one. I said that's what I'm afraid of, just give me my money back.
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Interesting... I've had great luck with most Sears products (in this case MTD). My MTD chassis is still going strong (the Briggs motor went bad). My father has an MTD that is 15 years old and still going strong. I live right next door to my folks and my wife and I use his mower an mine to mow about 3 1/2 acres every 6 to 7 days.

Toro does make there own stuff, and I do hear good things about them (pricey though).
 
My father has owned the same Kubota for ~15 years now. I've spent almost as much time on it as he has (well, not quite as much). I've also spent a number of hours making repairs. He has it "professionally" maintained every year, usually to the tune of about $400 or $500 bucks (including pickup and drop-off). It takes a beating by everyone who uses it, including my young nephews who like to pretend that they are driving a stock car. Very expensive initially and somewhat expensive to maintain. Nevertheless, I consider them to be the Cadillac of lawn mowers and if you take good care of them they will last a long time and take some abuse. Kubota equipment is favored by many higher-end golf courses and I would not hesitate to recommend their stuff. Happy mowing.:thumbup::) With a decent tractor it can actually be very enjoyable. ;)
 
Perhaps this will help you out...

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timcsaw said:
Interesting... I've had great luck with most Sears products (in this case MTD). My MTD chassis is still going strong (the Briggs motor went bad). My father has an MTD that is 15 years old and still going strong. I live right next door to my folks and my wife and I use his mower an mine to mow about 3 1/2 acres every 6 to 7 days.

Toro does make there own stuff, and I do hear good things about them (pricey though).
Click to expand...


I'm glad that you have had good luck with them. Seemingly, the Craftsman brand should be just as good as any of those that use the same parts.

I just get so angry every time that I think of all the money I've wasted at Sears that I go off on a rant. I should just post in W&C. :o
 
Shann said:
I'm glad that you have had good luck with them. Seemingly, the Craftsman brand should be just as good as any of those that use the same parts.

I just get so angry every time that I think of all the money I've wasted at Sears that I go off on a rant. I should just post in W&C. :o
Click to expand...

No, no, the more voices of experience the better as far as I'm concerned. Like any product made now-a-days, sometimes we get a good one, sometimes a bad one... kind of a crap shoot!

Who knows, maybe my products were made on a Tuesday and your's were made on a Monday after a hard weekend of drinking by the guy who made them!:D
 
Long haul the Kubota will pay off. I look at the rental places who are all running Kubotas that are at least 10 years old, they still run dispite being operated by every idiot under the sun.
 
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