Who knows riding mowers?

Your friend:

Anyone have opinions on the Husqvarna?

I have a nearly identical situation to ZW, except only 1.25 acres to mow. I'm away a lot, and Mrs. Rex handles the yard.

I have a different reason to consider the Husqy. Lowes sells the John Deeres, but right around the corner from our house is a great lawn mower shop that I feel will give her better service if I am out of town. I know I'll pay a bit of a premium to buy from them, but it might be worth it. It's the kind of place that will even pick up and deliver.

The cheapest rider they sell is $1500. Base level 42" Husqy (no hydrostatic trans, etc.). Lowes has an MTD for $799, a John Deere D100 for $1500.

Opinions?

In reply to SVreX:

I'd recommend Husky. I have a 12 y/o 42", 15 hp Kohler, hydrostatic, electric engaged. Original belts, regular maintenance, replaced rear tires once. Well built, no problems. Cut little less than half acre.

SVreX wrote: Anyone have opinions on the Husqvarna? I have a nearly identical situation to ZW, except only 1.25 acres to mow. I'm away a lot, and Mrs. Rex handles the yard. Opinions?

Check out the Kubotas. They have a large single cylinder motor that vibrates a bit. You'll never get Ms. Rex off the mower.

fasted58 wrote: In reply to SVreX: I'd recommend Husky. I have a 12 y/o 42", 15 hp Kohler, hydrostatic, electric engaged. Original belts, regular maintenance, replaced rear tires once. Well built, no problems. Cut little less than half acre.

To clarify the ^ Husky, meaning Husqvarna, not the old Bolens. Easy to operate and maintain too. Only had one issue over 12 yrs., engine shut off starving for fuel, found the fuel tank cap vent was plugged, removed the baffle, been OK since.

If I let the grass go over a day or two, my 87 y/o dad will sneak in while I'm out working and cut the yard, he likes that tractor too.

I do the maintenance for my neighbor's 24 HP B&S Intek powered Husqvarna tractor. It has a hydrostatic drive and seems to be a nice tractor overall. I really like the V-twin engine. It seems to be much more powerful and relaxed than the single-cylinder thumper on my Deere.

fasted58 wrote: If I let the grass go over a day or two, my 87 y/o dad will sneak in while I'm out working and cut the yard, he likes that tractor too.

Your 87 year old Dad is totally invited to my house to see my overgrown and undertrimmed lawn. I'll even let him stand there and yell at kids to stay off of it after he's done, AND supply him with a lawn chair if he wants.

I see what you did there

spitfirebill wrote:

SVreX wrote: Anyone have opinions on the Husqvarna? I have a nearly identical situation to ZW, except only 1.25 acres to mow. I'm away a lot, and Mrs. Rex handles the yard. Opinions?

Check out the Kubotas. They have a large single cylinder motor that vibrates a bit. You'll never get Ms. Rex off the mower.

Zombie thread guys, canoe deleted 

Well since the thread is back up anyways, I will add this. Just switched back to Deere from Kubota. The Kubota was a nice tractor but the mower deck/linkage just wasn’t quite up to the same level. The new Deere (x380) has some extremely solid linkage and deck. Deere knows what they are doing on those.

If money was a larger factor the Husky seemed like a good value. Still, reliability is king, and the Deere deck/linkage, Kawasaki engine, and overall robustness of its design brought me back to green.

Jcamper

Funny it should come back now.

Just over 300 hours and I'm replacing a few bearings in the deck of the JD. It's been trouble free since new and starts no matter what the weather. Wife is very happy with it.