On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 04:11:16 -0800, muletrain wrote:
I'm going to buy a riding lawn mower for the upcoming year. I've been out
of the loop as far as brand quality ic concerned. I'm willing to pay up
to about 1500.00. A few questions I have:
1- When I last checked out mowers, John Deere used Kohler and Kawasaki
engines. Now they seem to be using B&S. B&S didn't have a glowing
reputation a few years ago. Has this changed at all? Do most major
brands use Briggs? Its all I seem to see.
2- If you don't want to buy a Deere, what is the next most reputable
brand?
3- Are the mowers sold at Lowes/HD different than the mowers sold at a
dealer?
If anyone can answer any of these questions, I would greatly
appreciate!! Thanks.
Good day Muletrain.
I can fully understand the stress that can be created when looking at
tractors. It took me a few years and a few costly mistakes to figure it
all out myself. $1500.00 dollars really isn't much now a days for a lawn
tractor (it's still a lot to me though !!).
When it comes to engines I'm a big fan of the Kawasaki. These engines are
found on many of the commercial mowers. If I'm unable to get a Kawasaki, I
would go for the Kohler. My commercial 37 toro uses a Kohler and now has
about 1600 hours on it with out a bit of trouble. B&S are o.k and tecumseh
are complete junk ( imho ).
With all that said, the tractors that you'll find at the big box stores
are the 'dumbed' down versions of the quality products that those
companies make. JD and Toro are the worst as far as that goes ( imho ).
The Toro's that you find at the big boxes are for the most part MDT's.
Lawnboy was bought by Toro and Toro turned the lawnboy into the consumer
line. They farmed out the work of building them to other factories (MDT
and the like). JD no longer makes a commercial line. They make consumer
mowers and commercial farm equiptment. My JD dealer wouldn't sell me a JD
commercial 21, he said "I don't want to warranty the damn thing in 6
months". I got a honda instead...
If I was stuck with buying a big box store mower, I would lean toward a
husqvarna. Second choice would be JD or cub cadet. Over all, look at the
mowers at the big box stores, then buy it from your dealer for the same
price. You will recieve much better customer service and if the mower
breaks, the big box is going to send it to the dealer to have it fix
anyhow. Cut out the middle man and shop locally.
I would also recommend a use commercial mower. It's very likly that you
could get a used 36 walk behind or zero-turn for that price. The quality
is much higher and it will last you many, many years as a home owner.
Good luck.
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