I need to buy a riding lawn tractor/mower,but I don't have alot of mony right now.

I don't want to spend much more than $1200(not counting the friggin tax[rolleyes])

I've heard people like the kholer engines more than biggs & stratton.I looked at them myself and the kholers do have bigger filters all round.

Any held or tips you can give me would be much appreciated.

Thanks fella's.

Cub Cadet?

-HS

My small john deere LX 188 cost me $5000 with tax included. Good luck finding a decent riding mower for $1200

[img]http://www.jonesimplement.com/images/lx178.jpg[/img]

"Nothing runs like a Deere"

I bought a Craftsman 900.00 and it lasted ten years, thats good in my book. Would have lasted longer but it was time to replace it, I did, with a John Deere, the cheap home owners type 1000.00 has been going 3 years now no problems.

i own eleven john deer garden tractors. they are among the best, imo.

a good used deere can be had for $500 and up, depending on size and age/usage. they are ultimately rebuildable and the john deere parts supply is the best in the biz...although, like most other implement parts they are not inexpensive.

the older kohler, cast iron singles and twins are also about the most rebuildable air cooled engines you can buy. they may or may not outlast the equivalent breaks & scrapem'...er...briggs & stratten. too much is dependant upon care and maintanance with aircooled engines to generalize beyond the statement that both will last if well looked after. the newer kohler magnum and command series are very similar to the b & s commercial series.

now, for a story:

a guy at work bought a 22hp kohler powered tractor from sears about a month ago. last week, while using it for the 3rd time, one of his front wheels fell off. guess what? no bearings! the wheel rides on a plastic bushing. the bushing, wheel and spindle were all ruined (to be replaced under warrantee). i believe he paid $2800 for that tractor.

Yes, cheap beer is much better than a Sears tractor.  [beer]

Ooohh, you said [b]Deere[/b].

I don't know anything about those except to say that I like their paint job.

-Nick Viejo.

When it comes to engines, sure you're comparing apples to apples. Some of the Kohlers come with spin-on oil filters, some don't. This is just a guess on my part, but I'd bet that some of the cheapest Deeres also lack an oil filter.

My biggest bitch about the Sears mowers is the cheap assed steel they use in the blades. If your yard has any sloping or even slightly rocky areas the blades bend like straws. Not bad mind you just enough to throw them out of balance and you get that weird looking stripe where one blade cuts lower than the other. Aftermarket blades if you can find them are $27 for a set of the standard 42 inchers.

I ran a 10hp Ford mower into the ground. Took me twelve hard years to do it, but I did. I'd buy another Ford tomorrow if it wouldnt cost $6600 to replace it.

I guess it's kinda like the old Fram oil filter commercials.......pay me now or pay me later. Do you spend big bucks and use it for 10 years or go cheap and replace it in 3 to 5?

Yeah I see your point.

I'm starting too think that I should just suck it up for a year and wait till I refinance so I can afford a quality machine.

My back yard has moles and is pretty ruff.I have this feeling that the $3000 Sears special with plastic sleeves instead of wheel bearings will rattle itself apart after a season or two.

I bought the Scotts 17.542 last year, same as the Sabre, same as the new Home Depot Deere. So far, so good. The cut and mulching is very clean.

I bought a John Deere L120 when Home Depot had their one year no payment - no interest deal going in April.  So far it has been an excellent buy for $2100.  I have 1.5 acres of yard to cut and done it four times and it works great. Had no problems with it.  I later read that consumer reports also rated the L-series line pretty highly.

Don't think you'll be able to get much for the money you want to spend.

Save your coins until you can afford a quality machine...Deere.

As far as sales tax goes, drive down to Oregon and don't give the "gift tax" to the state of WA.

We have a large lawn, and own two John Deere's. The Deere is the best way to go. Our neighbors have a Wally Mart Yard man special, and have had a ton of problems with it

In the winter we break out our International Cub Cadet, it was built in 1968 with a Kohler 10hp engine. The engine has never been rebuilt, and runs like a top. It's the best damn tractor we ever owned! Since the new Cub Cadets are made by MTD and not international, we passed them over.

Ok lets try the good, the bad, and the ugly. First tractor was a 1960 Deere 110 Kohler 8hp. Lasted until 1990 with 1 rebuild. Thats the good one.

The next was a 1990 12hp Deere that lasted 6mo before it took a crap. It was replaced for a little extra cash with a another Deere (can't remember what size). It lasted until 1994 and it took a crap. It was replaced with 1994 Deere 385 17hp water cooled Kaw jap engine. It lasted until 1998. Those are the bad ones.

Walked into Home Depot one day and saw this ugly orange thing on sale. Priced out the biggest thing they had, a Kohler 25hp Scott w/54in deck, power bagger, and some other little tricks. The whole thing was $3000, or less than 1/2 the cost of a Deere with the same stuff. Told the guy I liked it but I was really a Deere fan, then he told me that they had just got these in and had not had time to finish putting them together properly. Long story short, the damm thing is a orange Deere. Every piece of it is stock Deere except the color. Even the video is for a Deere. Been using it to this day mowing 3 1/2 ac once a week and it is going strong. Thats the ugly part of the story.

With the exception of my first little 8hp, this ugly orange Deere clone has outlasted and out performed the rest if the green models for 1/2 the price.

Guess you just have to take the bad with the good and live with the ugly.

edit to add:
Neighbor has same size property and goes through a Craftsman a year