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Re: lawn tractor advice needed

To: Mark Andy <mark@sccaprepared.com>, shop-talk@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: lawn tractor advice needed
From: David Cole <dgcole01@bellsouth.net>
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 18:39:44 -0600
Here is a good site with lot's of good info on riding mowers:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/tractor/
I bought a new rider at the end of last summer.  Did lot's of research 
first.  Some names that show up over and over as good values are Sears, 
White, Husky, and J. Deere.    They seem to fall into 3 price ranges.  I 
wanted a mid range range since my old was a low priced Murray and I managed 
to get 10 years from it.  Figured a step up should last even better.   The 
best mid range ($1200-$2000) mower seemed to be the Sears Deluxe Lawn 
Tractor Series.  I bought the DLT 3000 with a 42" deck, manual trans and a 
Kohler 20 hp twin.  Caught it on sale for ~$1300.  It was also available 
with an auto trans for $200 more, but I figured the manual was simple and 
less to go wrong.   The DLT 3000 is available in several different 
versions.  Some with B/S engines, some with Kohler.  They also have a Honda 
engien on one version.

I would have liked a J. Deere.  A real one, NOT the budget version sold by 
Home Depot, but I couldn't see spending double the price for a mower that 
most likely would not have double the life span.

Later,
David Cole



At 02:14 PM 3/12/2004 -0500, Mark Andy wrote:

>Howdy,
>
>Ok, the land where my shop will be currently has grass on it that needs to
>be mowed... :-)
>
>We're moving into our new house in April.  Its a two acre lot, all grass
>that needs to be cut.  The push mower I've currently got isn't going to
>cut it... :-)
>
>Lawn tractors seem to be all over the map in terms of features, prices,
>brands, etc.
>
>What do I actually care about?
>
>The area is flat and pretty open (a couple trees to go around, but by and
>large its unobstructed).  I'd assume that means I want as wide a cutting
>path as I can afford...  Standards seem to be 42" and 48"... Any downsides
>of one over the other?
>
>There are different transmissions available it seems, fully automatic,
>some sorta hydro thing, and manual transmissions.  My only criteria for a
>transmission is that I want low maintenance.  Are any of these
>significantly better than another in that area or another area?
>
>Horsepower...  Presumably more is better, but there are Briggs motors,
>Kohler motors, and Kawasaki motors mentioned a lot.  Again, I don't care
>about anything other than having enough power and maintenance costs.
>
>Attachments... Mostly I'm really, really hoping that I can just do a
>mulcher setup and not have to deal with grass clippings.  I'm not an anal
>lawn freak.  How much do I care about being able to use a bagger system?
>What other attachements are good to have?  Would an attached snowblower
>work as well (or nearly as well) as a plow on my truck?  (I don't
>currently own either).  Will a lawn tractor actually move through the snow
>well enough for real snow removal?  The new house is in Ohio and while we
>don't get hammered like some places in the US, significant snow does
>happen.
>
>Anything else?  Any brands that are particularly good to use or bad to go
>with?  Any reason I should or shouldn't get a Northern Tool chinese lawn
>tractor vs. a John Deere?
>
>I'd appreciate any advice.  Obviously I want to spend as little as
>possible, but I also don't want to be wishing I'd spent a bit more at the
>end of the summer either.
>
>Thanks!
>
>Mark






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