I've been using a wide walk behind, 34", for almost 13 years.  Takes me 45 minutes to do my yard.  My allergies have been fucking awful the past few years and I just can't take it anymore.  I have half an acre to mow.  If it's rainy, it's twice a week otherwise I have a fucking hay field.

I don't want to drop big coin on something completely overkill, but I also don't want to buy a box store pile of shit.  I'm starting to eyeball JD's and Cub Cadets from the 90's.  I found a real clean JD 175 Hydro w/ bagger for $750.

My logic is - if a 30 year old tractor was treated like shit, it's going to show it.  Anything new is going to be disposable MTD junk if it's under $2k.

So - anything to avoid like the plague?

I've got an old 165 Hydro.  All steel and easy to work on.  No power steering sucks but I can live with it.

Overall I really like it.

I didn't even know that was a thing.  

House I grew up at I was mowing 4 acres of grass with a 48" cub cadet that only ran with the choke all the way on.  We wanted that fucker to die but it never did.

Find a Turf Tiger II with low hours

My grandfather had a shitload of mowers. From an ancient old Case to brand new Husqvarna. He had a Honda from the 80's or early 90's. That was his favorite mower of all time. He liked it so much when it started burning oil he had me rebuild the engine. The engine was typical Honda - all good parts with ball bearings on the crankshaft in each case.

Find a legal citizen using one

I have to wear a dust mask or respirator while cutting.  Buy a machine you can still buy parts for and have local dealer support.

I prefer the older Craftsmans, old enough that there's two separate square headlights, all metal. 38 ish inch deck I think?

The new ones with all their bells and whistles may be nice, but at the end of the day all you really need is an engine, to run belts that run the drive and the deck and a cup holder. You can always add on a cup holder.

Avoid the JD 100 series like the plague...

Yes old stuff was made better. Not necessarily in the 90's.
New stuff is fine if you buy it and use it for what it's intended.
I would not buy anything 30yo and think it will just be reliable. That is a dream.
If you aren't handy or don't enjoy tinkering with things 30yo anything will be expensive to own.

Box store crap is a term created by people expecting more than you can get for $2k-$3k.
If you're just mowing half an acre of grass a $2-3k mower will last 8-10 years with little maintenance and can last as long as you want with good regular maintenance.
MTD has excellent parts availability.

My JD garden tractor was made in 1983. It spun a rod bearing, last winter, and I rebuilt it in the spring. I use it for yardwork (pulling stuff, trailering, etc) and plowing snow.

I use a 1998 Scag 52" hydro walk-behind for mowing.

Takes ~45min to do my yard w/ the Scag. About 2-2.5hrs w/ the JD.

What’s your time (and sanity) worth? How much does Jose want to come by every Thursday and burn it out in 20 minutes?


I grew up mowing 3 acres on an old rear engine JD. Had a 1969 model 140h3 for years in Montana, served me well but the deck system was a pain in the ass. Much smaller yard these days, I can push it with an electric mower in 20 minutes or so

Buy a used commercial zero turn. You’ll get years and years out of it, and parts will be easier to find

I've got an MTD from the late 90s, I change the oil every once in a while, replaced the main drive belt a few years ago, thing just keeps on going, but I don't beat the shit out of it. My ex BIL would have reduced it to scrap in one mowing season.


eta: My point being, even a cheap MTD will do good work for a long time if you just don't abuse it.

I have a mid-late 80s  JD 180 that has been treated like shit, and still works fine.

This is a good place to do some reading:

My Tractor Forum - lawn and garden subforum

I've got a Craftsman GT5000 from 2003 w/24 B&S that actually made by Husqvarna before they went to AYP (MTD) ownership. I do keep close watch on it with maintenance of greasing all zerks, cleaning out the air filter/prefilter religiously as we live on dirt roads and very dusty conditions of acrage in my area and changing the oil twice a season. I don't use it during winter. This is also the manual transaxle model, so it has better pulling power with the H/L range lever. I also use Rotella straight 30wt diesel oil as this motor uses solid lifters and Rotella diesel oil uses more zinc in it for hard wear surfaces like cams/lifters that get more of a beating compared with hydraulics lifters.

I also have a 1967 Cub Cadet 102 w/42"deck, but this mower is just for fun or antique parades. I've kept as original as possible, so it does have some paint/surface rust and a few scars from the 54 years of its usage. The old 10 horse motor does also need a rebuild as the piston rods have gone bad from previous owners not changing the motor oil frequently. One has to remove the deck to get to the drain plug for oil, so when I took over ownership of this antique, the oil looked and drained like old differential oil. Surprisingly motor still doesn't burn or smoke from bad rings.

The biggest rider I have is a 1990 commercial Kut Kwick w/ONAN 20 Performance engine w/48" deck, which many people don't know of as a mower. This mower was very expensive as a front deck finish lawn mower. It mostly sold to cities/counties due to their cost. I have the history of it from when new and in 1990 it cost a Veteran's Home in N.Carolina almost 13K. Once in a while they'll come up in auctions but with mine they only made 470 of them, so they're rare and very expensive to repair as they use many commercial/farm parts in their build. Just one deck mandrel cost $300 and the deck has 3 of them, so I keep them well greased and looked at. This mower also has 21 grease zerks on it. It uses the bullet-proof old 60-70's model Sunstrand 15 hydro trans system that Cub Cadet and JD once used on their mowers. It keeps me quite busy doing maintenance for it, but I enjoy it. I've needed to do a lot of cross referencing on it for some parts to keep the costs down and finding what companies of today make the part I need, like control cables for the transaxle. Surprisingly parts for the motor or electronics have been no problem to get.

If you stay with mower dealer's like Kabota, JD, Husqvarna, Scag, Grasshopper and such, you'll have good parts availability and maintenance repairs if you can or can't do your own fixes.

You purchase a mower from a box store like Lowe's, Menard, Home Depot or other home improvement, that JD name brand won't mean shit, as mower dealers won't carry parts or do warranty or maintenance work on them.

Nothing wrong in getting a 20-30 year old mower to use, but you need to know how that mower was maintained and CAN you do your own repairs, because many engines, depending on manufacturer, you might have to do valve adjustments, transaxle fluid changes (also is there one or 2 separate wheel transaxles to maintain) if you go with a zero turn, deck spring or idler pulley repairs for proper belt tension, deck rebuild of mandrel assemblies if bearing(s) have gone bad, as most nowadays are sealed units, so whole assembly has to be changed.

Find a nice use Wheel Horse and be done with it.

My JD LX188 was made in the 90's and has been an awesome mower.  The damn thing will not die, I've been looking at other nicer JDs but why until it is done.  I doubt I will buy another mower for a long time that doesn't have a Kawasaki motor.

My neighbor left one of those in his garage when I bought his house and I've been using it to mow both yards ( 2 acres) for 4 years. Steering is a little sloppy but yeah, do the maintenance and it'll run.

The old Sears "suburban" line was a really nice, amost indestructable lawn tractor.

Looks like a Bolens.

Sears Craftsman, 30 something years old.

Probaly who Sears contracted to build them.

Very possible. I know Monkey Ward used to use a couple manufacturers including Yard Man which used to be in Jackson Mi.

Our neighbor had one when I was a kid. He had all the attachments for it too! It was a very nice machine.

I bought a new John Deere LX-188 20+ years ago. It’s been great. Liquid cooled Kawasaki. It looks rough. It’s been through a tornado (took the hood) and a flood. Still runs great and is quieter than an air cooled. I’ve replaced tires, batteries, a fuel pump and a steering arm.

That would be my vote.

I had two, sold the mower, but use the other as a tug.

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Bought my JD mower last year for like $500. It’s the 135. Works great for me and the old timer I got it from was happy to get it out of his garage

Here's a tip. Wear a mask when cutting grass. I used to sneeze and hack all day, especially when mulching leaves.

Avoid anything made by MTD, spend the cash on an older garden tractor, not a mower.  One of my best friends who has passed swore by JD 317's.  My current is a Ariens GT17, it has front and mid lift hydraulics, and a hydraulic cat 0 3 point hitch, not to mention front, mid, and rear PTO's  Another favorite, I forget the model is a tiny diesel ford that is actually the same size as mine but an easy 3x the power with a 3 cyl diesel in it.  A friends father has one with every attachment under the sun for it.  I was really excited to look for one till I saw the prices.  Alternatively a new Kubota if you have the means.

For a 1/2 acre I would just find a used Craftsman in decent shape. They are cheap and will last a long time mowing 1/2 acre. Parts are also cheap and plentiful.

I initially saw this and thought I had one of those and it was a complete POS, then I noticed what motor and the 3 point.  Thats an actual machine compared to the one I had.  OP, one of the first things I personally watch for is hydrostatic drive.  I prefer that far above actual gears in this application.

John Deere 420 or 430, maybe a 650 which were built by Yanmar and last forever.  

Even the 316/318/322’s were good.  Always some in CL or Tractor House.

So you are looking at old decrepit 90's piles of shit?

People are literally giving away riding mowers on marketplace.  You can get a lightly used "pro-sumer" zero turn for like $1500 that is a few years old.  You know, a mower they still make parts for that isn't completely clapped out.

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I bought a 1993 John Deere SRX95, rear engine rider, 38" cut, 12hp Kawasaki cast iron sleeve w/pressurized lubrication, variator belt drive. I paid $125. for it from the original owner, it came with a grass catcher which I never used. I completely disassembled the mower and replaced all of the bearings, sheeves, tires, belts and new blades. Cleaned the carburetor, changed the oil, replaced the seat and repainted a few things like the wheels, deck and seat frame to make it look nice. I've been using it every season since 2010 without any problems. It's not real fast but cuts like a dream. I probably ended up with about $800. invested plus my labor.

Yep. Like this bad boy right here.
Low maintenance,  put some used tires on it last year that would hold air.
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Yeah, the Kohler Magnum 18HP is a horizontal shaft engine with a pressurized oil system, old school business for it's class.

That hitch is actually what is called a sleeve hitch. BTW, if you happen to see a part like pictured below in a scrap pile, grab it. It is a 3 point to sleeve hitch adapter, most modern garden implements like rototillers / spreaders and other ground engaging attachments use the sleeve hitch type, but with tons of older equipment with a 3PH this adapts to those and are rare.

They go for decent money on eBay. I got that one free and sold it 10 years ago.



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It is also important, when looking at equipment, especially used, to know a lawn tractor from a garden tractor (the GT being stronger and made for ground engaging equipment like a plow).

A GT will have real lug nuts / actual wheel hubs where as the LT will have just a center hub nut / splined shaft on the rear wheels.

This. But the allergies will find you regardless.

Bought a 2000 MTD based twin cylinder hyrdostatic mower back in 2016 for $40. It's needed a battery and starter.

Suburban? Blue or yellow? I want one, with all of the implements including the snowblower. The front end loader would be cool too.

OP: I see riding mowers for free all the time that likely need a carb cleaning and battery. A lot of 1990s Craftsman.

I use a JD 100 series... unpopular but it works.

won't be much faster. old mowers have smaller decks  vs the new stuff.

I mow with a 30 year old John deere 425. It's a bad ass mower, was $8000 in 1992, and I work on it often.

I have a John Deere Hydro 175 from the 80’s.  It still works great.

The Cub Cadets have a good reputation...but nothing “runs like a Deere”.
I really like the old GT series with the Kawasaki engines. Properly cared for they should last a lifetime.

Id be looking for a Kawasaki or Honda powered gas model or Yanmar powered diesel.
The OEMs will make replacement parts longer for more popular models. See if you can find sales numbers for the model you are looking at.

Im running a 2000 JD 455 diesel with 956hrs and had 3 issues since I bought it with 200hrs in 2001. Fixed them myself with about $15 in parts.
1. Rear PTO lead wasn't secured and was rubbing on the transaxle driveshaft until it wore thru the insulation and blew a fuse.
2. Engine ran rough, no power. Dumped fuel filter/water separator bowl and blew out filter.
3. Rear (front of tractor)main seal started leaking on engine. Easy repair and $15 new OEM seal.

The deck has needed a set of blades and belt, about $100 using non OEM parts.

They built a ton of GT series tractors. Next step up is the 325, 345 series. When they went to the X3xx they got a smaller transaxle but gained diff lock.

OP, look for a John Deere 318.  They have a loyal following for a reason.

Cheap, tough as nails and easy to service.  It has 2 spools of hydraulics so you can run a 4way snow blade in the winter or run a real Cat0 or cat1 3 point attachment.  


A power wash and a little paint go a long ways to making these things look nice.  Mechanically, most are GTG.

If you don't want a big box store mower, buy one from a dealer.  I don't see the attraction in old riding mowers, unless you're a collector.