Post by Idaho Linda on May 4, 2012 14:14:04 GMT -5
I learned a heck of a lot this week. Perhaps I can save someone a lot of time. When we went back to town with the truck--to come home with a lawnmower--people were asking for advice. One guy said, "Thank you for doing all the research for me." Even the salesman was interested in what we had to say.
Okay, here is what we learned. MTD makes almost all of the riding lawnmowers. One salesman said that they owned 500 companies. So, when you think all of the mowers pretty much look the same, well... They even used the same can of red paint on most of them. Even companies that own a name and patents--like Briggs and Stratton owns Murray, they still contract with MTD to manufacture the lawnmowers. MTD OWNS Cub Cadet, but it is manufactured in its own plant. Cub Cadet is made to a higher standard--the corners aren't cut to hold the price down. Nice machines!
Some general information: Anything in the $1000-$1300 range is a disposable machine. It is made to hold together for 4-5 years. MTD makes most of these machines, under different brand names. They will probably all have inexpensive Briggs and Stratton engines. (The engine may well be the best part of the machine, though.) They probably won't have an oil filter and may or may not have an in-line gasoline filter. The cheaper tractors won't mow in reverse, unless you can find that safety wire and disconnect it.
Unless your lawn is really smooth, don't make your decision on whether or not the machine has a cup holder.
If you are planning on keeping the lawn tractor more than 5 years, you want to make sure it has a cast iron front end. That puts you in the $1300 range right there. You want your engine to either be a higher end Briggs and Stratton or a Kawasaki. You want anti-scalp rollers/wheels, at least on the front. They aren't so much to protect your lawn, but to protect the blades and spindles if you hit something like a concrete curb. Some have them front and back, some just front, and the lower end machines, not at all.
The features go up as a package--pretty much across the brands. If you want a 42 inch machine, Troy Bilt isn't going to give you the options you want before they go to a 46 inch cut. Troy Bilt (a MTD product) has cut a lot of corners to put the cheapest machines out there. Read the reviews carefully. The decks tend to be thin and rust out. But, the one that really got my attention was the reviews that said "If you mow on a sidehill, the pistons and crankcase can fill with raw gasoline." One guy was an engineer and he put shutoffs on the gasoline, but that wasn't a perfect fix. I would make darned sure this was fixed before I bought one of these. Another person always carried a fire extinguisher on his lawn tractor because of this. I thought it better to just pass.
One of the most knowledgeable salesman--from a tractor place--was not in favor of washing out the decks with a hose after each use. Thus, the rinse-out attachments probably shouldn't be a determining factor on your list. You want those decks to be dry. If you aren't mowing wet grass, the grass should quickly dry and fall off. If you have mowed wet grass, then you should scrape it out so the bottom of the deck can dry. Adding water to make metal wet probably isn't in the best interest of the metal. The enemy is rust--not dry grass.
Lift up the hood. See how flimsy it is. John Deere makes their hoods out of something that doesn't rust. All the others seems to be metal. See if there is a gas gauge. See if there is an hour meter. See where you put the gas in--is it handy? One mower we looked at had the gas tank right next to the air cleaner. The air cleaner was in front of the filler hole for the gasoline. How easy would it be to have that nozzle slip out of the tank while you were pouring gasoline and have it end up all over the air cleaner and the rest of the engine? It didn't look like a great design to me.
Craftsman used to be one of the best names out there. Unfortunately, Sears is in deep trouble. The tractor place said that people with brand-new Craftsman mowers would bring them in there for repair. Even though the machine was under warranty, the folks would rather pay for the repair rather than let Sears have it for 2-3 weeks because they were shipping everything out for repair. They no longer have their own shops in their stores (at least here.)
Another issue to consider is "Who put this machine together?". These mowers come in boxes. Folks at the stores assemble them. Is the mower put together by a kid at $8 an hour? If a screw is wrong--like on one review--too long, so it rubbed on the belt and shredded it....
The new hydrostatic drive that works like a car--accelerator pedal and brake--is fantastic. The motor speed is controlled separately, the "accelerator pedal" is actually part of the transmission on lawn tractors. You can let off on the "gas" and slow down when you come to obstacles.
The lowest end models will have a manual transmission. Put it in a gear and go. The next model up will have an automatic transmission with the pedal---but no "cruise control"--so you have to control the speed with the pedal all the time. The third model up will have the hydrostatic transmission and cruise control. The second or third model up will have the cast iron front end. The engines get bigger and better as the models go up as well. The metal gets thicker as the models go up. The higher end tractors have a transmission release on the back by the hitch. Pull that and the tractor is out of gear and pulls or pushes easily. See where this is going?
Okay, so what did I settle on? I couldn't get the features I wanted on the Troy Bilt---before I could get the features I wanted, the brand went to a 46 inch cut. But, at about that same price, other manufactures that didn't have bottom-end prices appeared. The two tractors that I ended up choosing between were a Cub Cadet---nice machine--and a John Deere 130. They both were in the $1700-$1800 range. They would both last a long, long time. Both were assembled at tractor places--not box stores. Both had real tractor dealerships that would take care of maintenance on-site. And both had the features I wanted in a 42 inch cut machine.
I ended up with the Deere. It has the upgraded Briggs and Stratton engine manufactured just for John Deere. I bought it because Lowe's gave me a 10% military discount plus threw in a free dump cart ($140) to pull behind. The tractor was assembled at the Deere dealership and carried their stickers.
I could have been just as happy with the Cub Cadet, but they wouldn't budge on the price. They want everyone to pay the same price at their dealership. And, that makes sense. Now, maybe in August.... They said they sell all their lawn tractors by July--unless someone blows one up or something. So, that might be something worth considering. You would have less to choose from late in the summer, but you might be able to get a better deal.
Do your homework--read those reviews on-line.
One more thing I learned at the tractor store. Leave your lawn tractor on the lawn. If you want to mow your pasture or your arena, go buy an old riding mower. Abuse that one. No matter how much you pay for one of these new ones, they aren't made for that sort of abuse. You can buy an old beater for the price of a repair on your new tractor.
Okay, here is what we learned. MTD makes almost all of the riding lawnmowers. One salesman said that they owned 500 companies. So, when you think all of the mowers pretty much look the same, well... They even used the same can of red paint on most of them. Even companies that own a name and patents--like Briggs and Stratton owns Murray, they still contract with MTD to manufacture the lawnmowers. MTD OWNS Cub Cadet, but it is manufactured in its own plant. Cub Cadet is made to a higher standard--the corners aren't cut to hold the price down. Nice machines!
Some general information: Anything in the $1000-$1300 range is a disposable machine. It is made to hold together for 4-5 years. MTD makes most of these machines, under different brand names. They will probably all have inexpensive Briggs and Stratton engines. (The engine may well be the best part of the machine, though.) They probably won't have an oil filter and may or may not have an in-line gasoline filter. The cheaper tractors won't mow in reverse, unless you can find that safety wire and disconnect it.
Unless your lawn is really smooth, don't make your decision on whether or not the machine has a cup holder.
If you are planning on keeping the lawn tractor more than 5 years, you want to make sure it has a cast iron front end. That puts you in the $1300 range right there. You want your engine to either be a higher end Briggs and Stratton or a Kawasaki. You want anti-scalp rollers/wheels, at least on the front. They aren't so much to protect your lawn, but to protect the blades and spindles if you hit something like a concrete curb. Some have them front and back, some just front, and the lower end machines, not at all.
The features go up as a package--pretty much across the brands. If you want a 42 inch machine, Troy Bilt isn't going to give you the options you want before they go to a 46 inch cut. Troy Bilt (a MTD product) has cut a lot of corners to put the cheapest machines out there. Read the reviews carefully. The decks tend to be thin and rust out. But, the one that really got my attention was the reviews that said "If you mow on a sidehill, the pistons and crankcase can fill with raw gasoline." One guy was an engineer and he put shutoffs on the gasoline, but that wasn't a perfect fix. I would make darned sure this was fixed before I bought one of these. Another person always carried a fire extinguisher on his lawn tractor because of this. I thought it better to just pass.
One of the most knowledgeable salesman--from a tractor place--was not in favor of washing out the decks with a hose after each use. Thus, the rinse-out attachments probably shouldn't be a determining factor on your list. You want those decks to be dry. If you aren't mowing wet grass, the grass should quickly dry and fall off. If you have mowed wet grass, then you should scrape it out so the bottom of the deck can dry. Adding water to make metal wet probably isn't in the best interest of the metal. The enemy is rust--not dry grass.
Lift up the hood. See how flimsy it is. John Deere makes their hoods out of something that doesn't rust. All the others seems to be metal. See if there is a gas gauge. See if there is an hour meter. See where you put the gas in--is it handy? One mower we looked at had the gas tank right next to the air cleaner. The air cleaner was in front of the filler hole for the gasoline. How easy would it be to have that nozzle slip out of the tank while you were pouring gasoline and have it end up all over the air cleaner and the rest of the engine? It didn't look like a great design to me.
Craftsman used to be one of the best names out there. Unfortunately, Sears is in deep trouble. The tractor place said that people with brand-new Craftsman mowers would bring them in there for repair. Even though the machine was under warranty, the folks would rather pay for the repair rather than let Sears have it for 2-3 weeks because they were shipping everything out for repair. They no longer have their own shops in their stores (at least here.)
Another issue to consider is "Who put this machine together?". These mowers come in boxes. Folks at the stores assemble them. Is the mower put together by a kid at $8 an hour? If a screw is wrong--like on one review--too long, so it rubbed on the belt and shredded it....
The new hydrostatic drive that works like a car--accelerator pedal and brake--is fantastic. The motor speed is controlled separately, the "accelerator pedal" is actually part of the transmission on lawn tractors. You can let off on the "gas" and slow down when you come to obstacles.
The lowest end models will have a manual transmission. Put it in a gear and go. The next model up will have an automatic transmission with the pedal---but no "cruise control"--so you have to control the speed with the pedal all the time. The third model up will have the hydrostatic transmission and cruise control. The second or third model up will have the cast iron front end. The engines get bigger and better as the models go up as well. The metal gets thicker as the models go up. The higher end tractors have a transmission release on the back by the hitch. Pull that and the tractor is out of gear and pulls or pushes easily. See where this is going?
Okay, so what did I settle on? I couldn't get the features I wanted on the Troy Bilt---before I could get the features I wanted, the brand went to a 46 inch cut. But, at about that same price, other manufactures that didn't have bottom-end prices appeared. The two tractors that I ended up choosing between were a Cub Cadet---nice machine--and a John Deere 130. They both were in the $1700-$1800 range. They would both last a long, long time. Both were assembled at tractor places--not box stores. Both had real tractor dealerships that would take care of maintenance on-site. And both had the features I wanted in a 42 inch cut machine.
I ended up with the Deere. It has the upgraded Briggs and Stratton engine manufactured just for John Deere. I bought it because Lowe's gave me a 10% military discount plus threw in a free dump cart ($140) to pull behind. The tractor was assembled at the Deere dealership and carried their stickers.
I could have been just as happy with the Cub Cadet, but they wouldn't budge on the price. They want everyone to pay the same price at their dealership. And, that makes sense. Now, maybe in August.... They said they sell all their lawn tractors by July--unless someone blows one up or something. So, that might be something worth considering. You would have less to choose from late in the summer, but you might be able to get a better deal.
Do your homework--read those reviews on-line.
One more thing I learned at the tractor store. Leave your lawn tractor on the lawn. If you want to mow your pasture or your arena, go buy an old riding mower. Abuse that one. No matter how much you pay for one of these new ones, they aren't made for that sort of abuse. You can buy an old beater for the price of a repair on your new tractor.
But again, it's an older version. It seems like quality is going south in so many products the newer they are. *sigh*