Hi everybody!
I currently have an old, beat up Simplicity Regency rider with a 38 inch deck. It has a knock, smokes a bit, the transaxle smells hot when I'm done mowing, and it floods the crankcase with gas if I leave the tank full! However, it still cuts great if I keep the blades sharp! Obviously, I need to repair or replace it, which is why I'm here. I need the experience of a large group to make a decision about my next mower. I live on a hill, only about a half acre, but the Simplicity is dangerous on the side hills, and the driveway can be a bear in the snow! My neighbor helps me all the time by plowing my driveway, but his four-wheeler really only scrapes most of the snow away, and he may move in the next few years. I have a large, walk behind two stage blower, and a small single stage snow blower that will clean down to the asphalt, but walking up and down the hill twenty-one inches at a time is getting old.
I have been looking at front mount mowers, thinking I could mow in the summer, plow and/or sweep snow in the winter. I am assuming four wheel drive is an obvious requirement? Do they work well? I checked on used smaller ones, looks like a Kubota GF1800 (4WD) would run about three grand with just the mower, and be about as large as I could fit in my shed.
Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.
I currently have an old, beat up Simplicity Regency rider with a 38 inch deck. It has a knock, smokes a bit, the transaxle smells hot when I'm done mowing, and it floods the crankcase with gas if I leave the tank full! However, it still cuts great if I keep the blades sharp! Obviously, I need to repair or replace it, which is why I'm here. I need the experience of a large group to make a decision about my next mower. I live on a hill, only about a half acre, but the Simplicity is dangerous on the side hills, and the driveway can be a bear in the snow! My neighbor helps me all the time by plowing my driveway, but his four-wheeler really only scrapes most of the snow away, and he may move in the next few years. I have a large, walk behind two stage blower, and a small single stage snow blower that will clean down to the asphalt, but walking up and down the hill twenty-one inches at a time is getting old.
I have been looking at front mount mowers, thinking I could mow in the summer, plow and/or sweep snow in the winter. I am assuming four wheel drive is an obvious requirement? Do they work well? I checked on used smaller ones, looks like a Kubota GF1800 (4WD) would run about three grand with just the mower, and be about as large as I could fit in my shed.
Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.