May be in the market for a new riding lawnmower

[samari46]

As the title suggests, I may be in the market for a new riding lawn mower. Can't use a zero turn in some places so a regular
one will have to do. Thinking about Husquvarna 24 hp but kind of wondering about the switch that turns the mower on. Had a John Deere that did nothing but drain my wallet. So no John Deere's please. Would like to hear about your suggestions. Thanks,Frank

[DougGuy]

Last one I bought was a Craigslist deal, bought it for a girl I was with at the time, gave $300 for a 42in Toro 18hp I think, put a carburetor on it, and some rear tires, ran it a full season, and me and the girl that owned it split, I bet she got another season out of it or maybe two, who knows. Not bad for less than $500.

Beats the daylights out of spending 4,000.00 on a new name brand mower, could you run it maintenance free for 10 years so it would cost $400 a year? I don't think so.

You don't always get what you pay for, so you learn to find things that almost pay for themselves by the expenses you avoid. That girl had been paying over $100 twice a month at the very least to have 4 acres mowed. That Toro was basically free, it paid for itself before the season was even half done.

[BJK]

Can't really help. I have a Husqy zero turn and have for 15 years. It's a beast. I still don't like mowing, but at least mowing is tolerable and fast and I have a lot to mow.

[racepres]

Husky Rider is nice... But... Sorry...Bought my Bitter Half a John Deere... BTW, She Loves it!!!
Oh and our place is much too Rough for Zero Turn... Throw yer ass right off of it!!!!

[Ford SD]

All I can say was last Summer 2021 did not see a lot of new mowers for sale

[trails4u]

Do not buy the Poulan Pro..I think Home Depot sells them (made by Husqvarna)......transmission will fail and is not repairable.

[ryanmattes]

I have a Husqvarna YTH24V54, with the 54" deck. It makes quick work of the ~7.5 acres I have to mow, and it's quite uneven, with long runs where I'm leaning at a 20 degree angle.

I bought the bagger attachment, mostly for picking up leaves in the fall, and I replaced the front wheels with solid tires because of all the mesquite thorns. I have a little trouble with the stock rear tires on an incline if the grass is wet, but some knobby tires would probably fix that. I've had it for about 5 years and 62 hours of run time. I've done the usual maintenance: oil changes, blow out the air filter, sharpen the blades, grease the joints, etc. But that's it. Never had an engine issue, never had a breakdown.

It is probably due to go to a shop for a tune up. It rattles and squeaks more than it did when it was new, and the engine doesn't run as clean and even as it did when it was new. But it hasn't failed me yet with regular, common-sense maintenance. And since engines aren't really my forte, I'd like to put it in the shop and have a professional go over it and make it hum along again like new. But other than oil and grease, that will be the only money I've spent on it since I've bought it.

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[cwtebay]

I have a BIG lawn and a push mower. I enjoy our grass and find time to get it mowed. Yep, I mounted a headlight on my old gal that makes it easier to get it done right .

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[Alstep]

I had a Husqvarna zero turn, and it was the worst mower I ever had. Constant maintenance, wore out spindles and bearings, oddball non standard belt size that cost 3 times a standard belt cost, and finally the hydraulics gave out at around 900 hours.
A couple of friends have a Ferris zero turn that are serving them well. I might consider that in the future.
My old 1970 International Lo Boy is still going strong.

[Winger Ed.]

I've done the usual maintenance: oil changes, blow out the air filter, sharpen the blades, grease the joints, etc. But that's it. Never had an engine issue, never had a breakdown.

There isn't much else a shop can do that you haven't, except change the spark plug and maybe a belt or two.
You don't really have much time on it either. About the biggest issue I think you'll have is stale gas.
A little bump of fuel injector cleaner will clean out the carb. jets too instead of an unnecessary rebuild.

[DougGuy]

There isn't much else a shop can do that you haven't, except change the spark plug and maybe a belt or two.
You don't really have much time on it either. About the biggest issue I think you'll have is stale gas.
A little bump of fuel injector cleaner will clean out the carb. jets too instead of an unnecessary rebuild.

Most of the carbs are made by Nikki, and they don't take well to ethanol fuel sitting for any amount of time. The O rings shrink which causes air leaks, fuel leaks, the Toro I posted about had one that bled past the O ring that seals the fuel inlet at the bowl, so it dumped an entire tank of gas thorugh the carb, into the cylinders and crankcase, filled up the muffler and kept running onto the garage floor. The garage was a BOMB with fumes waiting for something to set it off. Glad there was no power to the building!

It wasn't expensive to fix, but getting all the oil and gas out of the engine was a chore. I took the plugs out and had to remove the sheet metal so I could spin it by hand, slowly, as it was blowing gasoline and fumes out both spark plug holes. I see on Google that a LOT of people have this same issue with the same Nikki carburetor on many different brands of mowers. The common repair along with the carb kit or new carb was a $12 fuel shutoff valve added in the line to prevent dumping gas into the engine when it wasn't running. I ebayed a new carb for about $50 and it ran like a top. It ran a LOT better than before so that carb had been degrading the power and also increasing fuel consumption for a considerable time before it died.

[Winger Ed.]

it dumped an entire tank of gas thorugh the carb, into the cylinders and crankcase and out the vent onto the garage floor. .

Wow.
I've been super lucky. I've had jets stop up from old gas a few times, but nothing like that.
It's frustrating, but a easy and cheap fix with carb. spray.
I don't understand how they do it, but I've had a couple of spark plugs get ruined from old gas too.

My JD riding mower has the fuel tank in the back under the seat.
The worst it's ever done is have the vacuum operated fuel pump go out.
I don't think it can set up a siphon and empty the tank if a fuel line cracks or the float sinks down.

[bdicki]

I would not get a cheap hydrostatic axle, the biggest failed part on the mowers I've had has been the non serviceable hydrostatic transaxles. I've had a Murry copy of a Craftsman with the standard axle and it's going on it's third motor and still going strong. All the motors have come from mowers with the hydrostatic axles. Used mowers have been less than $500. Although I've stepped up and got the wife a new one with a serviceable hydrostatic system, a hydraulic pump and two hydraulic motors with two filters.

[dverna]

I had a Husqvarna 48" rider from Lowes (consumer model). Mowed 2 acres for 9 years and never replaced a belt. But I hate cutting grass so last year bought a Bad Boy 54" ZT. I cut the grass in half the time now.

BTW sold the rider for $1000 with the grass catcher. Only thing in 9 years was a bad seat safety switch, a couple of batteries, a fuel pump (cheap on line), filters and one set of plugs. Oh yes...one spindle but that was my fault...hit a large rock. Decent machine for $1800.

BTW get a mower lift. Makes changing blades safer and easier. Only about $150. I got mine at TSC.

[Finster101]

I don't understand how a lawn tractor will work, but a zero turn will not. For cutting grass there is no better tool than a zero turn.

[Shopdog]

Think it's an '89? Bought it around 5 or so years ago with just over 500hrs on it. About the same price as a zero turn. 3cyl diesel,4wd,6' Land Pride deck. Uses less fuel than the JD riding mower. Which was a VG mower.... all the plastic pieces on it literally disintegrated. Just turned to crumbles? And these machines have their own,luxury parking places. Doubt that JD ever got rained on? Big honkin Kawasaki V twin motor was as strong with 20 years on it as when new. Daad blamed plastic!!

[DougGuy]

Wow.
I've been super lucky. I've had jets stop up from old gas a few times, but nothing like that.
It's frustrating, but a easy and cheap fix with carb. spray.
I don't understand how they do it, but I've had a couple of spark plugs get ruined from old gas too.

My JD riding mower has the fuel tank in the back under the seat.
The worst it's ever done is have the vacuum operated fuel pump go out.
I don't think it can set up a siphon and empty the tank if a fuel line cracks or the float sinks down.

OH I forgot, it didn't overflow the vent, it filled up the cylinders, crankcase, AND muffler which is underneath the engine, kept on until it had drained a full tank of gas through the engine and out the exhaust. Gravity feed tank. Edited previous post.

The Nikki carb has a single molded bowl gasket which has all the O rings molded into it, the one that failed lets the bowl fill up and there is no shut off on that one, since the needle valve is intended to stop the flow of fuel. I learned from a repair shop that none of the commonly available O rings will work as this one is an ******* size cleverly implemented to make it where it can only be repaired with this proprietary gasket that only comes in one of their rebuild kits or a new carb.

The kit ordered from fleabay came and it was missing this only O ring that goes where the fuel line comes in, now in hindsight I guess someone bought the kit and cut the O ring out of it and sent it back or somehow it came with all new parts EXCEPT the O ring that was broken, so new carb was a lot less hassle and it ran better.

[rockrat]

I have an older JD 445. Oil and gas and filters except for the bagger, which eats drive belts, so I don't use it much. Wife has a JD304, 4 wheel steer and had to put a battery in it. Factory one lasted a year. Would barely turn over and when I put a new battery in, still wouldn't start. JD fixed it for free and said if you have a low batt. and tried to start it, it would burn out the ignition module, so make sure the battery is charged.

Since you don't care for JD, maybe look and see if Kubota makes anything that might work for you

[Gator 45/70]

Bought the wife one of these, It should pay for itself considering high gas prices?

https://yardday.com/best-hand-push-lawn-mower

[Finster101]

Bought the wife one of these, It should pay for itself considering high gas prices?

https://yardday.com/best-hand-push-lawn-mower

Not by the time you factor in the attorney fees.