Riding lawn mower

[Alchase]

The John Deere mowers at HD and Lowe’s “E” series, are notorious for front spindles breaking, and other malfunctions that make them basically throw aways.
They are not typical John Deere quality!

[fowl smacker]

I have a Craftsman YT4000 that I bought new in 2010.  46" deck and 24hp Briggs & Stratton motor, hydrostatic trans.  Change the oil once before each mowing season, changed the plug once.  I mow once a week 2 non flat acres (I have chains on year round).  It has been a great mower, true workhorse.  I even bring it down through our woods trail every once in a while to clear the underbrush and small branches.  I mulch mine, no bagging.  I'd buy it again.

[pup0025]

John Deere.  I now my yard every year with a 1975 Deere.

[dscubame]

Awesome thread as i am a lawn nerd at heart.
Spot on about the Home Depot and Lowe's John Deere.
X300 serious from a JD dealer is worth researching.  Mulching deck never to bag clippings again, puts the nutrients back in the lawn, a guy can't be happier.

[dscubame]

John Deere.  I now my yard every year with a 1975 Deere.

So cool!

[HntnFsh]

Awesome thread as i am a lawn nerd at heart.
Spot on about the Home Depot and Lowe's John Deere.
X300 serious from a JD dealer is worth researching.  Mulching deck never to bag clippings again, puts the nutrients back in the lawn, a guy can't be happier.

I have an X354 all wheel steer. Cut my mowing time in half. Love it! Always worth asking if they have a previous years model left over they would make a deal on. I saved $1400 from the price quoted by Washington tractor by doing that and driving to Sunnyside for a mower and bagger.

[KFhunter]

The OP has a $2000 budget,  that's not going to get him a used JD  X  anything....

maybe a used x300 but the ones I posted are heavier duty tractors. 

[BD1]

I have a JD x350 that I have had for about 4 years. I love it...never had any issue other that a leaky tire. Have done the called for oil changes myself. I did have them put on the mulching kit.  The machine has been a great investment. I do about an archer in total...I am very picky about my lawn and I think it looks pretty good 

[lamrith]

One thing to note on zero turns.  They can be awesome for speeding up your cutting chores once you get them figured out.  You do have to pay attention to how you turn them at the beginning as they can dig holes in your grass if you pivot on a tire.  Trick is to reverse one wheel and forward the other one.  They tend to ride pretty hard too, so if you have rough land they can beat you up a bit if you try and mow fast (which is what they are good at).  They are also typically pretty expensive and out of your $2k range unless you stumble on a used one and are quick about it.  Chances are you will not find a quality ZT in your price range however.  That said based on one year owning one now, I highly recommend going ZT if you can swing it.  i also HIGHLY recommend you go out and try a few of the brands of ZT if you go that direction.  Most private dealers will let you take one in a parking lot to get a feel for how they handle.  Full throttle (don't idle a ZT when driving it around as they need the RPM to cool motors) and see how it handles.  they take a little learning curve, but I have found the nicer ones will be smooth with subtle hand movement, a few were very jerk coming out of neutral regardless of what I did with controls.  You do not want jerky response.

A word of caution on mulching - online forums everyone swears by them, and I see it mentioned here.  Make sure you take a minute and think about how fast the grass on your property grows.  I know my property I tried mulching and it has been a nightmare.  From now until the summer drought starts around July 5th I will typically see 4-6" growth a week.  Just way too much clippings to try mulching and makes nothing but a mess and clogs up the deck.  Just something to keep in mind if you have a fast growing lawn like I do.  I would have to mow 2-3times a week at least to try and mulch.

another, commercial grade.   Simplicity makes Kubota mowers, so essentially this is a Kubota.

Not sure about that?  Kubota as a brand is very particular about their brand name and I have never heard of them outsourcing anything (other than maybe the small equipment engines: briggs, Kohler, Kawasaki), They make their own machines, mostly in Gainsville GA plant the last I heard.  Simplicity makes a ton of other brands, snapper, Briggs&Straton, Ferris as well as others, and they can make a very good unit, but never heard them associated with Kubota.

Kubotas are great units, they tend to have very good ergonomics and durability, but you pay for it.  I bought a Kubota back in 2004 I think it was, a T1560 with powered bagger which cost me about $4k total.  I did not take very good care of it and I just replaced it last year after 14 hard years mowing a rough, wet and fast growing 1acre lot.  That unit was just solid and kept on going until the motor was finally tired and the deck rusted thru.  I went to them 1st looking for a replacement, but ended up going Ferris for a zero Turn due to options/$ and Kubota did not offer a powered bagger in the units I was looking at.  The Ferris is fully suspended which for my property was important.

Usually around this time of year lot of places have sales and special financing, taking that $2k you have and financing another 2k over a few years might let you get into a rig that is a level or two higher end that will last you for decades.  I know I got 4yr financing with .55%APR on my Ferris in May of last year as an example.

[b23]

A word of caution on mulching - online forums everyone swears by them, and I see it mentioned here.  Make sure you take a minute and think about how fast the grass on your property grows.  I know my property I tried mulching and it has been a nightmare.  From now until the summer drought starts around July 5th I will typically see 4-6" growth a week.  Just way too much clippings to try mulching and makes nothing but a mess and clogs up the deck.  Just something to keep in mind if you have a fast growing lawn like I do.  I would have to mow 2-3times a week at least to try and mulch.

This is 100% true.  I mulch and it works great, but I also have to mow twice a week in order for it to mulch everything up so you don't see it.  If I only mow once a week the clippings are to long and they don't get ground up well at all.  Maybe for pasture type mowing it's no big deal if you see clumps of dried clippings all over the place but they also don't really decompose and break down when it's like that too.  If you plan to mulch and you want it to look nice, you'll need to mow every 3-4 days instead of waiting a full week.

Also, having had a ZT mower for a few years now I can honestly say, the only thing they do better than a conventional rider is mow faster and they can be more maneuverable.  I had a Cub Cadet rider before I bought my ZT mower and there is really no difference in how either one mows my lawn.  The ZT is definitely faster than my old rider and the ZT makes mowing my yard a lot more fun, but that's really the only difference.   

[Jharstad7182]

All great stuff thanks guys I more than likely will not be mulching. I went to homedepot yesterday and I just couldn’t find what I want. Everything looks so cheap and cheesy I’m pretty sure I talked the wife into letting me put my 2k down and finance the rest. I’ll have it payed of buy the end of summer. I’m leaning towards Husqvarna I’m not pay for the green paint kind of guy. Do you guys have a dealer recommendation. Oh and I’m not goin to buy used I always try to buy new I’m never good at knowing if something has been used and abused but I always now how I treat it thanks again

[lamrith]

A word of caution on mulching - online forums everyone swears by them, and I see it mentioned here.  Make sure you take a minute and think about how fast the grass on your property grows.  I know my property I tried mulching and it has been a nightmare.  From now until the summer drought starts around July 5th I will typically see 4-6" growth a week.  Just way too much clippings to try mulching and makes nothing but a mess and clogs up the deck.  Just something to keep in mind if you have a fast growing lawn like I do.  I would have to mow 2-3times a week at least to try and mulch.

This is 100% true.  I mulch and it works great, but I also have to mow twice a week in order for it to mulch everything up so you don't see it.  If I only mow once a week the clippings are to long and they don't get ground up well at all.  Maybe for pasture type mowing it's no big deal if you see clumps of dried clippings all over the place but they also don't really decompose and break down when it's like that too.  If you plan to mulch and you want it to look nice, you'll need to mow every 3-4 days instead of waiting a full week.

Also, having had a ZT mower for a few years now I can honestly say, the only thing they do better than a conventional rider is mow faster and they can be more maneuverable.  I had a Cub Cadet rider before I bought my ZT mower and there is really no difference in how either one mows my lawn.  The ZT is definitely faster than my old rider and the ZT makes mowing my yard a lot more fun, but that's really the only difference.

I agree 100%!  I was not able to do on a tight enough schedule to keep it under control so I got the brown clumps.

Making it fun I have found helps quite a bit.  I know since I bought the ZT who gets to mow the lawn is now a race rather than battle.
The advertisements will tell you a ZT will cut your powing by xx%, often that is exaggerated and will vary widely based on setup of your property.  Just so happens for me that my old mower was so tired we had to mow slower and our property is such that I can really use the ZT's ability to flip around on a dime as well as it's high cut speed to maximum efficiency.  It cut mow time by more than half for us.  That makes it easy to get home and mow it really quick after work rather than taking all night, or doing half one day half another.

I am still figuring mine out with regards to cut quality/finish.  The deck itself cuts beautifully.  But being fully suspended any angle to where I am mowing can get the mower body to lean over and end up with a deeper cut on the downhill side which makes for lips and ledges between cut lines.  I changed cut route a bit to avoid sidehilling situations and it helped stop that for the most part.

[Alchase]

We have burmuda grass here. Stuff grows like a vine. If you mulch, every time you or your dog walks on the grass you will track it all over the house. Makes a horrible mess, and the wife is not happy!
My zero turn cuts my lawn in 1/2 the time of my old mower, from 4 hours down to two hours.

[KFhunter]

I see you're right I can't find anywhere that say's Simplicity makes/made any of Kubota's mowers.  I seen some that looked identical in year past so I'm not 100% sure it wasn't true for some years.

It's a convoluted mess of who makes what,  for entry level mowers there's like 4 manufactures that's re-branded under many names. 

[HntnFsh]

The green paint is worth the money if you get the right mower. And especially if you search out the type of deal I did. Plus they had 0 percent interest  and 4 year 300 hr. bumper to bumper warranty. X354 will almost mow around a 5 gallon bucket. Rides better than a zero turn and bags crazy good without a blower. The Kawasaki motor is awesome. I mow the lawn at our church with an X304 with 1300 hours. Rough terrain and pretty steep in spots. Handles it well and only general maintenance. You could probably save about a grand if you dont want all wheel steer. But I wouldn't own another mower without it.