We just bought a new place out in the country, and it sits on 1.75 acres.
The driveway is so frikkin long, you need to take a shuttle bus to drive down it.

What's a good riding mower?
How do you guys feel about those snowblower attachments that you can put on your rider?
Is it just for small driveways, or do they really work well?

My thought was to buy an old clunker truck with a plow, not plate it, and just use that to clean the snow.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Habibi

 

Old clunker for the driveway IF you have a good place to push it to. Keep in mind tho of no snow melting and multiple storms. This is where the blower comes in.....easier to put the snow where you want it and takes up less storage room. If you go with the blower it MUST be a two stage with at least 8hp.

Couple of buddies have had/heard that the blowers for the mowers suck. Lack of traction was the main reason. I have a plow for my quad and it sucks. Traction is the reason and I am not going to put chains on and tear up the driveway.

I have an 8hp Yard Machine from Home Depot and it works the *****. If you have the money to blow, Honda's hydrostatic 8hp is awesome. I have one here at work and it will throw snow 25-30 feet.

 

I too have a long driveway on 87 acres. I had purchased a Craftsman 21hp hydrostatic almost 2 years ago when I got the new place. I love it. I bought the hydro model so I could use a snow blower one it. Instead I got my father's push snowblower as part of his estate and now I am buying a tractor with loader but I still love the LT. The turning radius is pretty tight.
I researched out the LT before and found it is good for the $. Make sure you get a higher hp and auto(hydrostatic) if you want the snowblower. I was also looking at Cub Cadet and John Deere but I did not want to pay that much so I went with Craftsman.

How much are you looking to spend?

 

ROTFLMAO...

Oh man, this subject will provide answers that could provide endless and high entertainment value...

 

And down we go...........

 

sorry, couldn't resist.


In Oklahoma, we dont get enough snow to need a snow blower. So normally just use shovel for the business and leave the driveway to its "natural" state.

Riding Mowers, We have a Dixon and have a Honda Push mower. Both produce about the same quality, just a little differnt look. The dixon is wider, so not as many tire patterns in the yard and its much faster, but the Honda push does well and can leave some cool patterns. Anyway, the Dixon might not be the strongest/most durable. If you are like me, you often mow your yard in the same pattern or alway's turn in the same dirrection. Eventually this will wear down all the domes and gears in the Dixon. (not sure how new models are designed now, ours is 6 years old) But, I do like the zero turning mowers, fun to mow with and cuts the time down a lot if you have a lot of stuff to move around. But if you have a large yard thats a bit rougher, mabee a normal tractor? I dunno, just stating what I use.

 

Congrats on the new place Habibi!

I wish my lawnmower thread was still around. That archangel of a webmaster deleted it... Besides, it was a pushmower thread. From the sounds of it, 1.75 acres isn't close to a pushmower... maybe for some trim work....

HA!

RP

 

Good riding mowers?

If you want to spend a little $$$- get a Murray riding mower from WAL-MART. I have 11 hp no maybe it's a 12hp, you get the picture. And it's about 9-10 years old and its still going strong. Not one problem. Except the battery went dead once. But that's to be expected from any riding mower. If you want to spend alot, get a John Deere. They are the shiznit because you just push the gas pedal and your off!

 

I have a craftsman 17HP mower. It's one with the Kohler engine. I don't know how a snow blower attachment would work since here in Florida that's not a worry. I would imagine you'd want chains or nobby tires put on it for that. Maybe regular wheels and tires for summer and more agressive for winter. The 17hp is nice. I've had 6-8 hundred pounds in my lawn cart pulling it around with the mower. It'll climb steep hills with that too as long as it has traction. Put it in the sand and it's all you can do to get the mower around.

For 1.75 acres I would recomend A 15+hp rider, a trailer to haul stuff around, and a spreader atttachment if it's all lawn. There's all kinds of other things you can get for riders too. I have a cheap lawn ariator that I drag over the lawn every few months.

 

This reminds me, Crafstman makes and "automatic" transmision and I would suggest getting that. I have the manual where you have to stop to change speeds. It can be a PITA if you're trying to gain momentum, and also just for changing speeds for whatever. My manual is also real touchy. If you don't let off the clutch REAL slow it'll buck hard enough to lift the front wheels up in the air.

 

Thanks for all the helpfull advice.

We were at the house today taking measurements and just poking around when we happened to stumble onto a farmer who lives nearby.
He told us he takes care of the snow for $25 a pop.
The way I figure it, we need to have it done 6-8 times a year on average, and for $200 a year, I will let the farmer do it.

This way I don't have to spend x bucks on a machine, service and maintain it, and keep it full of fuel.

So now all we have to do is buy a decent rider.
Those attachments are cool by the way, for sure we will get the little trailer for it, and maybe even a bagger or something.

We are both looking forward to getting into this place, it really is the perfect house for us.
Inground heated pool (makes the wife happy) and a dream garage with a built in oil furnace makes me happy

I know this is OT, but this place comes with one of those gigantic sat dishes, u know the ones from the 80's?
The owner said he will leave the dish and the receiver.
Do you have to pay a subscription service for those ones, or will they still pick up random channels just the way it sits?

Habibi

 

I bought a Deere two years ago, I have 1 1/2 acres, and about half of that is grass. I bought the Deere L-120, (22- HP,48 inch cut, hydrostatic tranny, beer holder etc.) for around 2200 dollars. The guy who sold it to me was a friend and he didn't want me to buy it. He said Deere makes the L line as "throwaways". That is they are made to compete with all the low priced machines at Wally World, etc. Despite that, I have had no trouble other than sharpening a few blades.

I also noted that the month after I bought it, Consumer's Guide rated the White 1650 or 1750 as the best riding lawnmowers on the market. You may want to look at them.

Just my .02 worth.

 

Yep, thats sound like a winner of an idea.
I have 1.3 acres myself, and my driveway is about two 'tractor trailers parked end to end' long. I only had to have mine plowed a couple times a year when I had the 2WD F150. Mind you, I had a 17 HP craftsman, but digging it out of the garage, and maintaining it in the winter for the few times I'd need it was pointless when I can pay someone $25. Of course since the garage fire, the Tractor is no longer, and since I got a F250 diesel 4X4, I didn't shovel or plow chit this whole winter.

Congrats on the new house!!!

 

DIXIE CHOPPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have a POS Craftsman - 16 hp - for my ~1 acre yard. The thing is only about 3 years old and I am always having to fix it. Right now I've got the carbuertor off it becasue the needle valve was messing up and gas was getting in the oil.

My parents have a Dixie Chopper and it is the *****. I can mow yard in about 1/3 the time with it compared to my Craftsman (and it is a lot more fun!)

There is only one problem w/ Choppers - they are EXPENSIVE!

 

DAMN, this thread has over 200 hits but few responses. Guess there are a lot of hicks that would love to help you out Habibi, but either can’t figure out how to post or can’t sepell berry goed or both…