My grandfather after he retired from Cat as a mechanic, opened his own small
engine repair shop in 1980, and at the time B&S seemed to be the best.
Since then, the small engine market has gone through a revolution, and has
become dog eat dog competitive and each manufacturer now makes outstanding
engines. Honda engines have been considered until recently as the best, and
I've used them, and love them. Quiet, smooth, powerful, durable, but
EXPEN$IVE, but they were put in everything till
Kawasaki engines began to prove that they were every bit as good, if not
better, and cheaper. Just think Intel -vs- AMD. And well when John Deere
selected a Kawasaki engine over all the others to power its top of the line
Flag Ship riding mower in 2004, many others have started to make the jump as
well especially in the back up generator market. They are really starting
to make a huge show in the market. Kohler engines are top of the line as
well. I see a lot of them in water pumps and so forth. Tecumseh the arch
rival to B&S makes a damned good engine now. The 8hp Tecumseh engine In my
John Deere TRS-26 has now survived 8 North Dakota winters proving itself
worthy by starting and running in -30'F and below temps, usually starting
on the first or second pull. Yes I said "PULL", might one day slap a
starter on it, but haven't needed one. Now that's also with fresh gas, new
plug, Mobile-1oil, and starting it for a 5 minute test run twice a week
between snow storms to keep everything lube, primed, and ready. My only
complaint is that it has got to be about the loudest damned 8hp engine ever
made. Tecumseh pretty much rules the snow blower market, just take a look
at any brand of snow blower you find, chances are it has a Tecumseh engine.
The B&S Vanguard series engines are very very durable and tough. There is a
lot of them running in propane powered floor polishers in the janitorial
industry, and they can survive horrible abuse.
Of worthy note, the 3.5 B&S that is in my 1987 20" Murray is still running
flawlessly over all these years, and I've yet to overhaul it, and man have I
cut some grass with that engine.
Onan is another brand that you will find in riding mowers and other
equipment.
Kubota engines by Linamar are pretty good as well.
In making your choice, you won't go wrong with the Kohler powered LT160.
I've seen Kohler engines running non-stop except for daily oil checks &
service for weeks outside pumping water. As for Kawasaki engines, many in
the industry now considered them to be the very best, but I still think that
title belongs to Honda.
"WORSS" wrote in message
.. .
I am also looking at Deere tractors. I am buying a house with 1.4 acres and
was thinking of the LT180. However, the dealer is telling me to buy the
lower cost LT160. The LT160 and the LT180 appear very similar except the
160 has the Kohler, single cylinder engine and the 180 has the Kawasaki twin
cylinder engine. he also told me the bagger for the 180 is almost twice the
amount of money that the one for the 160.....any idea why? What do you
think about the engines?
Bill
"Oscar_Lives" wrote in message
news:dOI8d.186682$MQ5.118480@attbi_s52...
"JB" wrote in message
ink.net...
Here's my problem: I've got a home on 3 acres. About 3/4s of an acre is
zoysia grass. Nothing's level; it slopes and undulates. So much so that
I
can't see mowing it with one the larger decks (bigger than 42") or one
without anti scalp wheels. There's about another acre that's flat but
with
surface tree roots and lots of little rocks. It's never been seeded and
it's mostly weeds and such. I mainly just mow it to keep it cleared. The
rest is wooded and I occasionally swing through there with a mower to
keep
the underbrush beat back. I'm also needing a mower with a bagger because
there's a lot of leaves that fall on the zoysia grass. (I don't really
care
about bagging them on the rest of the property.) My thinking is that by
not
going above a 42" deck then I also won't have to buy one of those more
expensive power assisted baggers.
I've mowed the lot with a neighbor's LX255 (5 year's old, single
cylinder,
15 horsepower) It did an OK job but it lugged a little going uphill
through
thick zoysia so I'm thinking more horsepower and 2 cylinders would be a
nice
improvement.
So, in looking for a 2 cylinder John Deere with a 42" deck, I'm looking
at
an L120, LT180 and an LX 280 models. Home Depot is currently discounting
the
L series tractors by $200 - 300. When I talked to the JD dealer about
discounts for the LX he said that they really didn't have a slow sales
period and offer discounts but he could drop it $50 to 100.
Here's my question: Would you buy the cheaper L tractor, (about $2,000).
Or,
invest in the LX version? ($4,000). Is the LX twice as good? Last twice
as
long under similar care and conditions?
TIA
John
Get the best one you can afford.
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