We’re considering buying our first tractor mower. What features should I look for? Obviously, I want a mower that is low maintenance. It may help you to know we have a half-acre that is mostly flat to slightly inclined…except for one small piece which is a humble hill. We’d like to spend about $800-$1000 for the mower.
But also, perhaps even more importantly, I want a good, dependable, grass catcher device on the back. For years now, I have fought with the bagger on two different push mowers: Black & Decker and Murray. Even the driest grass just clogs at the neck, thus the bag itself never fills. For a riding mower, some look like they have what appears to almost be a “vacuum cleaner” device which throws the clippings into a black housing behind the tractor, and others have a “buggy” towed behind which, I believe, uses a beater roller (like how your vacuum stirs the dust) to throw debris into the “buggy”…which seems less efficient to me! The latter having more room for error, it seems.
Anyhow, what should I get? How many speeds does one need? And, please mention if you might be thinking of the zero-turn design vs. the more conventional design. Oh yeah, and I’d like a cup holder, please! …Just kidding!
Jinx
P.S. Confessing my sin, I swore I posted this question, but I don’t find it coming up when I “Search”. I think I thought I posted it around the time the Board went to paid subs…which probably distracted me to follow that thread instead, at the time.
Kubota tractors are nice, strong deisel engine, solid frame, built to take abuse, it’s basically a farm tractor shrunk to garden tractor size
we have two Kub’s back home, my parents own an old 5200 HST and my sister just got one of the 1500’s you see in that link, she runs a horse barn and needed something just a little bit better than the standard riding mower, she’s got the front loader on it and a post hole digger on the back, if it’s anywhere near aa half as reliable as the old 5200 it should run forever
you could cheap out but you’ll probably pay more in repairs in the long run, Kub’s are built to take abuse, you don’t have to baby them
Cub Cadet. My dad has had 3 (one made in the 50s, one made in the 70s, and one made in the 90s). The one made in the 50s lasted until the 80s, the one made in 70 is on its last leg but still going, and the one made in the 90s is fine. However, after the one made in the 50s broke my dad went through a craftsman, a john deere, and i think a toro in 10 years before he bought another cub cadet and has had that one for about 8 years.
Just like cars, if you take care of your mower, no matter what you get (except a real cheap one) it should last a good long time. I’m no expert on tractor mowers, but I have a Murray that’s going on 9 years now. It even mows in reverse. I paid around $900 for it. Whatever you buy, keep the oil changed, the parts lubed, filters clean (a piece of pantyhose over your gas can helps strain out crud), and the blades sharp. I guess that doesn’t qualify as low-maintenance, but eventually low maintenance leads to no maintenance when the mower craps out altogether.
I’ve thought about getting a grass catcher, but I don’t need another bulky piece of yard equipment laying around. I have recycler/mulching blades on my mower, and they work fine. For few weeks in the fall I use the push mower and bag the leaves.
I’ve heard good things about the Cub Cadet - when the time comes to get a new tractor mower, I’d like to get one of those ZTR models.
I’ve had a Craftsman 15.5 HP 42" deck for six years now. Not real impressed with it. Blew the engine, replaced several tires, replaced the drive belt almost annually.
Cub Cadets have interested me because they are shaft driven rather than belt driven. My perception is that they cost more and are worth it.
Spending under $1000 is going to get you the bottom end, most basic mowers. I would expect a bagging attachement to run around another $200. I wouldn’t expect much quality in this price range.
Something my mower has that I do appreciate (very much) is an automatic transmission. It’s basically a speed control lever so you aren’t limited to 4 or 5 speeds. The more hills you have, the more you need this. Adds about $100 to the cost.
For what it’s worth, I bought a 24 HP usedSimplicity for $4500. It’s a workhorse of a tractor… heavy steel beams, extreme-duty 60” mower deck, etc. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore…
Did you take care of the riding mower? What, specifically, caused the engine to blow? I assume you mean after six years of usage. Was it burning oil profusely, for one? And, the drive belt…how long should it have lasted? At least more than one mowing season, I presume, unless you’re mowing a small farm, I WAG!
Tell me more, tell me more! Craftsman might be a second choice with us leaning towards a Murray. (Still, my parents have never had success with Sears products over a span from 1960-1980.) So, this does make me hesitant. But, I need to hear all the facts from your experience, too.
Wow! It better damn work for that price! I might as well buy a small used car and strap a stationary (passive) cutting blade to it and mow the lawn with the car! I couldn’t afford that. - Jinx
I’ve got the least expensive John Deere ($1500), and I’m very happy. I’m mowing over an acre now, and it does a wonderful job. When I first mowed the neglected empty lot next to me, I thought I’d have to use one of those DR brush cutters – it was really thick and tall. The John Deere didn’t have any problems, I just had to go slow through the thickest parts because I have a mulching deck and it would tend to get full.
I do two things that have helped my lawn immensely:
I run the mower deck as high as it will go. My lawn stays green and lush without watering, far longer than my neighbors. I’m not using the lawn as a putting green, so why should I mow it so low? The grass is healthy, and actually crowds out most weeds. The neighbors have 10 times the dandelions.
I always mulch the clippings, never bag them. At some point I’ll probably have to thatch the lawn, because it’s got so much organic material in it, but so far mulching just adds to the ability to hold moisture.
Looking out the back window, it looks like the sun has dried everything enough to get out there again – later, dudes!
Sounds great. We’re starting to put Deere into our thinking, but we just hope we’re not buying a Cadillac to do the job of an Impala. I admit, Consumer Reports liked this model the best in its class, too. I just have to ask to confirm: Do you feel the mulching feature really works, or is it just a fancy term for grass clippings? Does your lawn look clumpy when finished (assuming, to be fair, it is mowed weekly), or does the mulching feature really make fine clippings which drop down into the lawn?
Hmm, maybe using the high blade setting is a big plus there, too! You may have revealed a great secret in lawn care for those of us who don’t want the golf-course look. - Jinx
The mulching really works – unless the area I’m mowing is exceptionally thick, or I go too fast, I never see any clippings. If I know an area is really thick, I reduce the size of the mowed swath. There’s one part of the lawn (over the drain field, actually) that is extremely thick and luxurious. The mower tends to bog down if I take too big a swath there. I often see some trails of clippings in those spots, but I just go over that area again to make them disappear. I suspect that I’ll need to de-thatch that spot before too long.
Also, and I know there was a thread on this last summer, I try to vary my mowing pattern. Today I did a couple big spirals in the back and on the sides, a huge circle around the madrona tree, and a V pattern in front.
The reason I got the least expensive JD, was because of the manual shifting. I don’t like automatics – even in tractors. All the higher priced (general consumer) models were automatics. If you want some tangible proof of quality, crawl under the mower and see how it’s put together. Check for sharp edges in the castings, and paint coverage of the metal. Check the thickness of the deck. Count grease zerks – one mower I looked at didn’t have any. It was clearly designed to be disposable.
Mowing your lawn too low is the most common problem of any lawn. It stresses the grass – think about it, the grass is relying on photosynthesis to survive. The root structure has only the blades for that. I see lawns all the time that are mown so low that they aren’t even green – they’re down to the bare stem. It’s no wonder that they have problems with weeds, and have to fertilize. I don’t use any chemicals on my lawn. I do get some dandelions, but if I wanted to I could control the few I get with manual weeding. The dandelions are mainly in areas of lawn that haven’t yet recovered from the previous owner.
The latest issue of Consumers Reports (May 2004) has an extensive article on this, talking about not only the basic models & their reliability, but also where to buy them & where to get them fixed, and which optional features are worth buying.
It’d be worth the effort to run down to your local library and read this, before you spend $1500-$3500 on something!
We bought a 46" Murray a couple of years ago. It’s OK but nothing spectacular. The deck tends to get out of level a lot. Fortunately, it is easy to relevel. The other “feature” that I don’t like is the gas pedal. You have to keep your foot on the gas or it stops. My last mower (MTD) had a hand speed control. I loved it but the deck belts only lasted about 3 months.
I have to go with my childhood and adulthood favorite: John Deere. I don’t know much about the current models, but i know the older ones from 10-20 years ago were built to stand the test of time.
Whatever you do, don’t buy a Bolens. The blade fell out of mine yesterday because the bolt broke inside the mount. That was on top of other troubles I was having with it. I ditched it and got a Troybilt.
I took the mowing deck off my JD today to do some maintenance – sharpen the blades, clean, lube, etc. Everything looks good, the belts are fine. That’s 1 year so far on the original belts, and I’m not easy on them. I mow probably 1/2 an acre of lawn, and some of that was 2 feet high last year, as I explained before. It’s amazing the blades still cut – I’ve been lazy about picking up some branches I pruned off some old apple trees, and have been ‘mulching’ them with the mower as I mow around the trees. I’m talking 1" to 1 1/2" thick branches.
I was amazed how ruggedly the deck was assembled – real quality stuff. Thick, rugged blades. They were really beat up – full of nicks, and completely dull. Had a hell of a time sharpening them with just a dremel, but put somewhat of an edge on them eventually. I’ll have to take them off and grind/balance them next time.
I’d left a patch of lawn un-mowed so I could check the sharpened blades against the dull ones – I couldn’t see any difference. Go figure. One thing I noticed today, on the front lawn where I made a V pattern, there was some uneven cutting where I made sharp turns at the top – too eager to turn around, I think. I’ll put that down to operator error, rather than a problem with the machine.
…Just kidding!
I have recycler/mulching blades on my mower, and they work fine. For few weeks in the fall I use the push mower and bag the leaves.