My son just bought a home with 3/4 acre. I'm thinking about buying him a lawn tractor but don't have a clue on the best ones out there. I'd like to keep the cost around $1000 or less. If he was married, I would just get "her" a 21" push mower like I have I was hopeing any of you folks would have any suggestions or experience in these. My search indicated to stay away from Craftsman tractors and the good ones were way out of my price range. Appreciate any suggestions.

 

If you need to budget around $1000.00 Look at the automatic pushmovers. there great and have lots of uphill power if needed. I run two of them in my business. No pushing is involved.

I run a couple of Honda GX's. They take a beaten. They also have the consumer models that are available at places like Lowes and HomeDepot. Check out honda's site. http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/M...Name=hrc216hxa

 

MTD yard machines are cheap and they would do well for 3/4 acres. They are priced low under 1000 easy. I have a cub cadet but i had an MTD for 14 years and never had a problem with it.


http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS...28X&cm_ite=mtd

 

When I was looking for a lawn tractor, I found many consumer sites rated the MTD White industries machines the best value for the money.

here's a link:

http://www.whiteoutdoor.com/webapp/w...33778_33778_-1

 

I've been runnig a Craftsman for a couple years. It's been a good machine and I've used it to pull around a few hundred pounds a few times. If you're looking for a short turning radius mower Craftsman is NOT what you want. I think they make one but it's kinda crappy. CR rated crafstman fairly high for what that's worth.

Automatic pushmovers is a good idea. Those seem to be about the most manuverable machines. I've only seen commercial machines though that run about $2000 or more.

 

I wonder if the MTD zero turn lawn mowers are any good? My Dad has a Massey Furgeson that I love to drive. I've always wanted one.

 

You can often find lightly-used ones in the classifieds. As long as they are in decent shape with regular maintenance, they'll last a homeowner a lifetime. They'll see more use in a day of working for a lawn company than they will in an entire summer of residential use.

-Joe

 

Now that's a man right there.

 

We have 1 acre and I use a 1999 Craftsman rider. 16.5 HP Kohler OHV. Ive never had to do anything to it 'cept sharpen and replace a few blades, they dont call it Stoney Ridge Road for nothin. Oh and an oil/filter change once every Spring. Its only mod is a digital hour meter I put on a year or two ago. Already up to almost 200 hours!

 

We had a craftsman (that thing took a beating), but just got a TORO zero-turn....Sweet

 

You can get milk out of goat, and you don't have to feed them very much.

 

This is my new cubby 52" deck 27hp hydrostatic drive with cruise control rides real nice and has a very tight turning radus



you can see below the old MTD after almost 15 years of hard abuse, cutting trails, lawns hills, some rocks, branches and it still runs the trails on my property

 

Just my .02, I sold tractors for Lowes for about 4 years. Cub Cadet is very good. The lowest priced Cub was about $1300. Husqvarna is awesome. The lowest priced Husqvarna was about the same. You can always go up but one of these two is what I would buy. Just do me a favor and don't go to Lowe's and but the Bolens brand, please. From what I dealt with they are cheap (you get what you pay for) and you WILL have plently of problems to deal with. Troy-Built is also very good. You could get one for about $999. In Alabama riding mowers are considered farm equipment (don't ask me why I have no clue) so they only get charged 4% sales tax as opposed to the standard 9%. Just something to ask about.

 

I just talked with a guy who has a Craftsman 24 hp 48" cut with hydro and electric deck switch for $1200. He said it was a $2400 mower new. Supposedly has warranty to '07. Only mowed the yard 3 times with it, and had a heart attack and is now hiring it mowed. Sound like a good deal, anybody? I'm going to look at it today.

 

Stay very far away from CRAPSMAN hydrostatic riding tractors. I have a three year old CRAPSMAN GT2000 - 25 HP - 48" deck paper weight sitting in my shed right now. The hydrostatic drive unit went out and it is non servicable. CRAPSMAN considers it a disposable part to the tune of $780.00. There is no external filter for the hydro fluid and there was no way to change the hydro drive oil, short of literally turning the entire tractor upside down to try to pour the fluid out of the "Fluid inspection Hole" (not even considered a "filler" hole by CRAPSMAN). Jump on a couple of lawn and garden or tractor repair forums and read the post about about these new disposable hydrostatic drive units they are putting in these tractors. They have no filters and only hold about a quart of fluid. They just can't get rid of the heat and end up burning up internally. See if you can find a regular old manual shift tractor, be it CRAPSMAN or MTD. If it's Hydrostatic drive and doesn't have a filter and doesn't hold three or four quarts of fluid don'y buy it.

I wish I would have known all of this before I purchased mine.

I have an old (30+ years) Snapper Hydro drive that is still going strong today. Three point hitch, hydro lifts for attachments, garden plow, front blade, rear blade, rake, etc. The mower deck just finally gave up the ghost and I bought the CRAPSMAN just to mow grass with. What a mistake

Just my two cents, along with some experience.