Recommend a used lawn tractor for 1 hilly acre?

Here's what I've found within 200 miles on Craigslist:

John Deere 455 - $2,200
Cub Cadet 2166 - $850
Cub Cadet 2160 - $650
Honda 3813 - $800
Honda 4515 - $800

Comments, please? Do any of these seem particularly better or worse?

I have sent questions about them (hours, issues, etc.), but I haven't received any replies yet.


Thanks!

Don't forget to look on Facebook Marketplace too. I see a few 425's in Alabama.

The 455 you posted looks like a good price, but I would want to check it out really good. Looks a bit weathered. The skin on the 4xx series are a bit delicate, but they have good bones. Tt might be a good price if it checks out.

The 455 has the Yanmar diesel and it looks like it has the 60" deck. Would be interesting to know hours and if the gauges/dash lights work or not. Should have a temp and fuel gauge. Obviously, lots of things to check before you buy.

FYI: the 425 has the 20hp Kawi v-twin with horizontal shaft and the 445 has the same Kawi rated at 22hp but is fuel injected. All three series share the same cooling system and have the same hydraulic features (power steering, lift and 2 circuit aux).

Those cubs look like they're in good shape, but I don't know much about them.

Euclid said:

Here's what I've found within 200 miles on Craigslist:

John Deere 455 - $2,200
Cub Cadet 2166 - $850
Cub Cadet 2160 - $650
Honda 3813 - $800
Honda 4515 - $800

Comments, please? Do any of these seem particularly better or worse?

I have sent questions about them (hours, issues, etc.), but I haven't received any replies yet.


Thanks!

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First, when looking at used mowers, tractor data is your best friend http://www.tractordata.com/
Of the 4 you have found to date,
The JD is the only one that still has factory support, it will be the most expensive to repair but it should give many years of good service.
The pollycarbonate outer bodies get brittle & break off the mounting tabs but they are cosmetic only so you can run without them bit that makes them hard to sell.
The price is good

The Cubs will be the easiest to repair, they were commercial mowers in their day.
The electrics are a PIA to repair and are the weakest part of the tractor.
I have a lot of them in my service run.
The shaft drive is excellent the std blades will chop trees and the deck is the easiest to remove.
MTD adopted the Cub deck mount across it's entire range after they purchased Cub ( think it was the only reason why they bought Cub ).
The decks are the lightest & I weld reo bar around the front to strengthen them as my customers continually drive the decks into star pickets. bit rocks tree stumps etc which bends the deck back & fouls on the blades.

The Hondas will be the least likely to require repair, they are tough & bullet proof .
They have a much stronger deck that the Cubs ( and heavier ) blades are not as tough but there is a Gator replacement.
The only down side is mower parts, some of which ( throttle lever ) are NLA but if you are happy & handy with making a wrong parts fit, they will serve you well.
The water cooled engines have a very long life

bertsmobile1 said:

The only down side is mower parts, some of which ( throttle lever ) are NLA but if you are happy & handy with making a wrong parts fit, they will serve you well.
The water cooled engines have a very long life

Click to expand...

NLA means "no longer available"?

Thanks for all the good information!

Yes,
I have replaced 2 of them to date .
One was replaced with a generic pull out ( like a choke ) cables & the other with a push mower one bolted to the side.
Not too critical cause they have individual choke & throttle cables so just as long as the replacement can get to WFO bob's your uncle.

Cub no longer supports the old 2000 series and the spindles are becoming hard to find down here.
We could see a Stens, Rotary , Prime Line or Oregon pattern replacement.
However these are true commercial spindles so have tapered roller bearings that last for a very long time if you give the grease nipples a shot every month or so.
Most of the used ones come in with lazy work arounds for wiring problems like push button starters or toggle switch blade engagements.
Those parts are available but they take a bit of getting to.

All of them are good prices and all of them should give you a long service life if you keep the maintenance up.
The trouble is people buy them cheap then decide not to fix them because the fix is a large amount of money compared to what they bought them for.

Down here people will happily put a new engine into a low end mower that they bought new but refuse to do the same with a high end mower they bought used regardless of the fact that the high end with a new engine will outlast their new mower many times over.
I call that accountant thinking because it is all about the money and totally ignores the engineering.
Good for me because I pick up mower really cheaply and I can easily fix & sell with a new mower warranty, safe in the knowledge that they will outlast nearly every big box brand new mower.