Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Riding Mowers for 3/4 acre

Avoid the Chub Cadet, if you want details I will elaborate.

This is a Simplicity cut......

JD338

I've got a Poulan Pro that I bought at Sears 14 years ago. Its got a 42" deck and a Kohler engine and our yard is an acre. Except during the winter, generally mow 1-2 times a week for the last 14 years and the only thing other than blades that I've replaced is a pulley on the deck and the drive and deck belt twice. Oh, and the battery once. As long as it has juice from the battery, it cranks right up every time, even after sitting outside during the winter months.

If I remember to do it, I change the oil and air filter once a year. It's even survived my boys using it, ha.

Steve... You are a condo guy. You ain't well suited to mow a lawn. Just pay a local kid to mow it and don't worry about it. You'll be doing the kid a favor and saving yourself some cash. Besides... Teenagers need beer money too.

I gave one of the belt-chewin' pieces-o-schidt away, and helped the poor SOB load it up.

You don't need a 6K ZTR with rebuildable pumps to mow an acre. The cheap answer is a $1600 big-box "tractor" like a Deere from Lowe's. The middle ground is to pay a little over $3K for a smaller/42in ZTR with non-rebuildable pumps like a Hustler. You pays your money and you takes your chances.

NICE!

Riding mower for 3/4 acre?

Hell,...I mowed 3 damn acres with a 19" push mower from K-Mart when I was a kid,...when I wasn't trying to eradicate Kudzu with a 2 dollar grubbin' hoe from K-Mart.

About once every 10 days I'd go fishin' and just take the ass whuppin'.

Bart, I guess you missed the part about me buying a house in January. If I was still in the condo I would let you come and cut the grass.

That's the first plaid lawn I've seen in awhile.

Wheelhorse and older Sears SS 42" decks have 3 blades and give a much smoother cut over the twin blade 36-38" decks. With the extra blade, you can typically go a bit faster.

Been mowing over an acre for 30 years with a 1968 Sears SS12, 1969 Sears Suburban 12 and the past 3 years, a mid 80's vintage Wheelhorse, 14 horse. All with 42" decks.

I put several hundred hours per year on lawn tractors at work for more than a decade{about as much in one year as the average homeowner will in 10}. We had top of the line JD's {X540's} With liquid cooled Kawasaki engines and one shaft drive 2000 series Cub Cadet with air cooled Kohler. Not only did the Cub break down alot less often and require much less maintenance, it did a MUCH nicer job of cutting the grass.

I got to get my yard mowed soon or I'll forget where that damn transmission is. Those things are hell on bush hog blades.

i have a simplicity regent 22hp 44" cut. nice heavy duty tractor. my boys killed an $2k mtd troybuilt in about 7 years. going on 5 with this one and it still runs and cuts like new. we do about 2 acres of grass and lots of trails. it ws $3k delivered with a triple bagger.

Simplicity should own the lawn tractor segment, but JD is king of marketing and name recognition. No comparison in the way they cut.

Aint no damn way I'd piss away $7k on a 42" go cart mowin tractor just because it's green or orange


I get one of them $300 murry riders that some hard on his luck GI is selling cause he has to go to Korea.

I run that sombitch hard, rocks and stumps get 3 or 4 years out of it

Pssssffffft, pick up another in the trader adds

Thanks for all the input. The other reason I am getting a rider is that i have a number of oaks and I do not like to rake leaves every 4 days when fall comes.

Bought a 50" Cub Cadet when we bought this place in '06. I've had to replace the battery, the belt, the starter and had to weld up the deck once (That was a fun stump I didn't notice till I went from full speed to a dead stop).
I don't think that's too much for a 8 year old mower that I have admittedly beat the hell out of. It still cuts lawn nicely even though I've been known to use it to beat back the blackberries that I've been at war with since it was new.

I bought a Sabre(by John Deere) in 1997 to mow my 1 acre yard. It has a 42" cut and a 16 HP Briggs. It still has the original drive belt and I changed the deck belt for the first time this year. I'm on my 4th battery now and the 3 of the 4 tires have tubes in them. I broke the key off in the ignition one time and had to replace it. Other than that it has been gas, oil, plugs and air filters. Not bad for a 17 year old mower!

I have quite a few hours on a Cub Cadet with a Kawasaki and 54" deck. No complaints and its been used hard. Its taken more abuse than a mower should.

Back when I spent a lot of time in equipment dealers' lots and showrooms, the JD Sabres (and the Scott's-branded mowers) impressed me with the amount of iron one got for the dollar: thick decks & heavy frames+axles. Dunno if they still make either one, but I'd certainly price one out against others in the "lawn tractor" segment. I always figured one would have to spend quite a bit more than those mowers, to really get more durability.

FC