Looking For Suggestion - Buying a New Riding Mower

mzdrati

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  • / Looking For Suggestion - Buying a New Riding Mower
I'm entering year 12 with my trusty Craftsman / Kohler DYT 4000 riding mower.

I perform regular maintenance, I keep the mower clean, and I have 2 sets of blades so I always have a set that has been sharpened to swap in. It has rewarded me by having been perfectly reliable the entire 11 seasons (although it does blow grey smoke when I engage the blades these days). My lawn is about 1/2 acre of flat grass (and other plants, unfortunately), and I cut it once a week, at the highest setting and I bag the clippings since this mower has never been good at mulching. I store everything indoors, and do not let the mower get wet, and do not cut wet grass.

Anyway- I realize nothing lasts forever, and that very likely my reliability streak will come to an end at some point. A wealthy friend of mine bought this mower on a whim thinking that he'd cut his own lawn, (LOL) then realized it's still a lot of work so he parked it in his shed for a few years before deciding to roll it to the curb with only seven hours on it. The mower would not start, and although I'm somewhat handy, I did not realize that mice had eaten through part of the wiring harness, so I had the mower serviced 11 years ago and it's been running really well ever since.

I'd like to start doing research on riding mowers so I know what to look for when the time comes, and don't feel forced to rush into a decision. I am self-employed and am on a budget but since I maintain my home and machines (cars, appliances etc) myself, I am looking for a good reliable machine that isn't the most expensive, but also not the least expensive either.

Looking at the manufacturers, it appears that there are very few left, with most of them being manufactured by MTD under one name or another. As a child in the 80's I grew up pushing a Toro mower and snowblower so for nostalgic reasons I always am sort of partial to Toro products (but that is not a good way to select a quality product). I read taht MTD manufactures Toro as well.

I know I can always have my DYT 4000 repaired / rebuilt if / when it dies, and if that is a path I should consider, please let me know that as well.

I look forward to any advice experienced members of this group can provide.

Anthony
NJ
 

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  • / Looking For Suggestion - Buying a New Riding Mower
If it runs good, you keep it maintained, I'd keep it.

You can easily get another 5 years out of the way it's operated / maintained...



If looking at Toro's, apparently some "Toro made engines" are made in CHINA..

I'd make sure it's a Briggs, Honda or Kohler, something you can get parts for and has a proven track record..
 

mzdrati

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  • / Looking For Suggestion - Buying a New Riding Mower
Thanks so much for your reply, Scott.

Once things start breaking down, I have a feeling that my local repair center will steer me toward whatever they want to sell me, so I am trying to get a feel for what machines are considered disposable these days so I can avoid them.

Anthony
 

tom3

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  • / Looking For Suggestion - Buying a New Riding Mower
One thing to beware of, and I harp on this a lot, is the hydrostatic transmissions that are non-serviceable. These are throwaways with a useable life span of 300 hours or so and a replacement price (today) of about $700. They are in about everything sold in the Lowes/Homedepot type stores. See them used for what looks to be a really good price, but the truth comes out when it get hot and won't go. A geared transmission might not be near as handy but much better in the long run. Look for an engine with a sleeved cylinder bore(s) too, I'd guess most are these days though. As always you get what you pay for in a new machine.
 

cpurvis

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  • / Looking For Suggestion - Buying a New Riding Mower
You can pick out the mower with the highest quality engine, hydros, and deck, expecting it to last 20 years.

But when the manufacturer decides to no longer make spare parts available, you have a piece of junk unless you're a good scrounger.
 

tom3

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  • / Looking For Suggestion - Buying a New Riding Mower
That was the nice thing about Sears, parts available just about forever and easy to order.
 

7394

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  • / Looking For Suggestion - Buying a New Riding Mower
That was the nice thing about Sears, parts available just about forever and easy to order.

That was not my experience w/Sears. Last lawn tractor was a 2008, it had a Dana 6 speed transaxle. Thing I did not know was that Dana sold the rights to use their name on crappy chinese transaxles.

Mine started leaking at the axle seals. Of course just out of warranty. So I tried to order seals. Sorry, the complete transaxle is no longer being produced & there are no parts.

I filed a complaint with the BBB against Sears, since the mower was just out of warranty & yet no parts for the piece of poop transaxle. I thought the Dana was a good thing.

Anyhow the BBB agreed with me & Sears wanted to cut me a great deal on new mower. I refused & said I need heavy discount on a Peerless transaxle & certain brackets. Well they agreed, so I converted that pos dana to a Peerless that was super. And after the conversion, I sold off that rider to get a Toro Zero Turn & have NEVER looked back.

I will NEVER own another sears rider.
FWIW: Newer from Sears does NOT mean better.. Beware.
 

BlazNT

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  • / Looking For Suggestion - Buying a New Riding Mower
So I rarely answer these but feel compelled to answer this one.
MTD makes the lowest grade mower in the business. That includes all the brands they sell. Their commercial line is the only thing worth buying.
Husqvarna is getting out of the low-end market altogether.
Toro does not make a rider anymore.

So you better start saving now. The only thing that will last any amount of time is a GT lawn mower. It is made with better and stronger parts. Starts around $3000. In the John Deere line, it will start around $5000.
 

bertsmobile1

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  • / Looking For Suggestion - Buying a New Riding Mower
Blaz has nailed it.
Because people can no longer tell schite from clay any more they buy domestic ride on by price & colour.
Because they all read The magic Pudding as children they all think they can get quality for nothing.
They are all wrong.
But the mower companies pander to this and reduce the price every season.
Tractor style ride ons are basically finished.
The rear engined ones will stay around for a while because they suit smaller yards.
After that it will be garden tractors only and even they are not up to much now days.
It is all the little cost cutters like no adjustments on any of the linkages, non serviceable transmissions etc that spell the end.
Just finished repairing a YTH 2842 Husky, top of the line with the fabricated deck $ 2356 ( Aus) for transmission rebuild, 3 new deck spindles, a belt , a couple of pulleys, new fan gear & steering gear & new drag links.
The mower is 7 years old with 850 hours on it and while the 2 acre block is on the side of a hill, the owner mows 3 times a week in summer and at least weekly the rest of the year so it has not worked hard.
The same machine used by a commercial customer was toast after 5 years & 1100 hrs.
His bill would have gone way over $ 3000 so he polished it up & sold it.

ZTR's are a lot easier & cheaper to make and because they are still sort of new, command a much higher price but even then there is a big difference between the domestic & commercial machines
Put a new belt on an RTZ husky and it would come close to being the biggest pile of puss I have ever worked on.

So if your mower is really in good nick, take the time to replace all of the plastic bushes on the controls, the bushes in the wheels & steering and in particular the two in the middle of the front cross member.
When you have it out drill & fit a grease nipple to the bolt so you can keep it lubed as AYP did not bother putting one in, in fact I think JD is the only mower that has one & even then it is near impossible to get at.
On your deck, replace the tension arm and its pivot bush ( buy a spare ) and it should run forever.

Pull the transmission, invert it and change the oil, don't forget to grease the axel before you put the rear wheels back on so they will come off easily.

You will be much better served putting $ 1500 into fixing your old mower than spending $ 5000 on a new one.
Keep an eagle eye on Muligans & the Surplus Centre as they regularly have run out trannies really cheap and with a spare sitting on your shelf you will be fine till petrol mowers are banned outright .

The white smoke when you engage the blades is either piston rings worn or a head gasket going south.
The gasket is about $ 10 and 1-2 hours to replace.
The rings you just live with as it is rarely worth re-ringing these engines & for most oversized pistons are not available.
Around this time of year I used to buy a pallet or two of surplus engines as you can get them for as low as $ 500 against a retail down here of $ 2500 but Briggs has lost the plot & I can no longer guarantee customers parts for their mowers so I now repower either with Kawasaki or Chinese engines.

So you can ferret around for replacement engines & trannies & keep you old Craftsman running for another 10 years for a lot less than replacing it with a new mower that will be lucky to go 5 years.
 

mzdrati

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  • / Looking For Suggestion - Buying a New Riding Mower
Wow! Great information, Blaze. Can you elaborate about GT? Is that a manufacturer or a particular model of another manufacturer? I never heard of it, and I'd like to research it a little.

Bert- that's a LOT of information. Thanks SO much for the education! I was not aware of the current state of the industry. Sad that it's so difficult to buy a quality machine these days.

I really appreciate all of these replies. Thanks very much!

Anthony
NJ
 
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