new riding mower opinions

[phildidit]

i am looking for a new riding mower to cut close to my house. i was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or and experiences with new riding mowers. i was looking at ariens, cub cadets, husquvarna. i think i prefer the kohler engine but i just thought i'd see what yall had to say about it. thanks for any responses

[Bill Hudson]

Just my observation in the neighborhood. Seven new Cub Cadets within the last 2/3 years, five of the seven have been back to the dealer for warranty work. One had the engine replaced with less than 50 hours on the clock.

My '79 model CC 1450, bought used in '89, has run faithfully the last 22 years. I'm going to refresh the engine this winter and it should be good for another 32 years. MTD sure doesn't make them like International used to.

Bill

[phildidit]

i thou the new cc were made by MTD, the guy had home depot had no idea. if i could find me a good used CC from when they were made by international i would get one of those. i just dont want to buy junk or have something that i need to work on everytime i cut grass. my cub is good for the meadow, i was looking for something smaller for my wife to use close to the house. we had a 90's model bolens that became a money pit and i dont want that again

[TJG]

the best cut next to the house is a weedwhip. The John Deere's are good mowers. I've never operated one, but a lot of folks including the commercial lawn services like the zero-turns with handles rather than a rider with a steering wheel.
Todd

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

The current cub Cadets are made my MTD, so you may as well save money and buy an MTD, just different hood. They are not cheap, but have you looked into Simplicity or Ferris, either in a tractor type or ZTR, they are pretty good rigs.

[Daniel Barbee]

After a lot of research and reading reviews, we recently replaced our Craftsman riding mower with a John Deere 42" zero turn mower. (I can't tell you how much it pained me to buy a green & yellow lawn mower ) "After a month of mowing with it I can already say I will never be able to go back to a regular riding mower!

Although I really wanted the twin cylinder Kohler, I opted for the single cylinder Briggs & Stratton because I needed a 42" deck to fit through my backyard fence without going all the way around. It would be nice if the vibration was a little less but it's acceptable. I've never mowed with the twin cylinder so I can't compare.

The Craftsman mower it replaced saw 10 years of hard use and was holding up good but the hydrostatic transmission started slipping after mowing for a couple of hours. The Craftsman I had before that also held up for 10 years before the deck was so eat up I couldn't patch it up anymore. In fairness though, the property I had then was very sandy.

[Bigdog]

A few years ago (actually about 8 years ago) I replaced my 22 + year-old cub cadet with a JD LX 277 with a twin cylinder Kawasaki engine. It has been flawless since I bought it. Routine maintenance and blade changes are all it has needed.
The cheaper box store models are built a lot lighter than mine and even though mine is a "lawn" tractor not a "garden" tractor like the 300 series and 400 series tractors there is a significant difference between the 100 series and 200 series tractors.
I bought mine for mowing only and it has done the job well.

[Mr E]

Phil,
I know you aren't looking for anything this big, but I bought a 52" Scag before I got the cub fever. I has a 25 HP Kohler engine on it. All I can say for it, is that it loves to cut grass. Rides a bit rough, but is a grass cutting booger. No problems at all with the Kohler engine (air cooled).


Roy

[Rudi]

Phil:

I like BD bought my new lawn mower a JD L111 (a hundred series mower) from a John Deere dealer and it has a 20 hp B&S twin. It is much more robust than the similar models available at the big box stores. It is also much heavier. Not sure why but our new JD Dealer is aware of the difference. Wasn't cheap but it is a darn good mower. I am pleased with it. In 5 years I have almost 415 hours on it and it runs like a champ. The only problems that I have is with the powder coat finish. Not a biggie though. Good on fuel as well and with regular seasonal maintenance I am sure this one will last for many years unlike the MTD built varieties.

If you decide not to buy new then any of the original IHCC models would be excellent choices. Even though my 129 isn't operational yet I have had a chance to look it over and it is in amazing shape for a 40 year old machine.