[pjcala6]

I am moving to Pa. in a few months and I have an acre of land, some flat and some hilly . Which riding lawn mower should I buy? Any suggestions?

[thebriggsdude]

There's sears... good warranty,. would stay away from murray, theirs mtd but last time I looked, they looked pretty cheap. John deere... good brand... etc. also depends on what brand engine you'd like to use as well. You've also got snapper, simplicity... huskvarna if I'm spelling that right is good but its basically a ayp, which sears uses to make theirs. Own a new craftsman myself, done great so far. Murray though, briggs owns them, not too sure if they're going to keep making mowers, they weren't so great anyway when they went cheaper.

[Fr_Chuck]

Well how much money do you have to spend?

And how much time do you want to spend mowing?

They make a lot of great mowers that are high speed and also have the zero turn ability. The difference in the acre yard I have is about 1/4 the time of a standard mower.

As for as the Murry, I have one ( not using it now) but it lasted over 8 years and so basically it may not have lasted 15 but for the price it worked great.

The new one cost about 4 or 5 times the price but cuts the grass that much faster too.

And in the end, often you can hire it done, and considering wear and tear on mower, gas costs and your time, it is not a bad deal if you find the right person

[fredg]

Hi,
John Deere is know as one of the best, but expensive. Two of my neighbors have a Deere, and wouldn't buy anything else.
Murry is a cheaper model, but not as reliable. One neighbor has one, and spends much time repairing it; maybe just bad quality control on this particular one.
You really can't lose with a Sears riding mower, very dependable, and rated, some time back, by Consumer Reports as a "best buy".

[thebriggsdude]

Well if you search for murray, be sure to put the a in there... but they owed briggs some 40 million if I remember right, briggs bought them out, they are in lingo. Sears is a good brand, made by ayp owned by electrolux, but they are good, and sears stands by their warranty! John deere is a great one as well, actually have a guy that runs a lawn cutting buis, forget the number but it's a deere garden tractor, still has it after 7 years or so. Though any machine is going to have repairs done to it. I do have to say about murray, around the 80's they were good, own one from 1980 still going, stought little thing, they have since gone cheaper made, some will last and others will give you absolute problems, they are about on par with mtd's various brands... troybilt, cubcadet are they're little bit better brands. Only problem I have with the sears one I have, the hood creeks from the rubber pads. 3 or so neighbors own one of those small murrays, they seem to do good.

[Borewyrm]

A Wheel Horse of course!

[Curlyben]

How about the organic green method... Sheep ;)

[enzo906]

If your going to mow on hills, buy an expensive Hydro at least the GT series of John Deere or a mid Range Simplicity, the rest (smaller hydros) will fail it just depends when. Even the LX 280 was not recommended for constantly mowing hills.

I just replaced a John Deere L120 with a McCulloch 18.5HP 42"cut Manual. It cost less than half the money of the JD and does a better job for the same time spent and uses about 50% less fuel to do it. It may not be finished as well etc but who cares. I think they are called an LT2000 Craftsman. It has a very tight turn circle and I rarley need to reverse I just do 2 circles in an eliptical path around trees and then continue.

It has the same top speed of the JD LX280 I was going to buy but goes faster when I point it up hill and slower when I come back down, and even though the cut is only 42" I can get all 6 acres done in an afternoon. If I had a lesser slope I would buy the JD LX280 54", as It makes the mowing seem less of an effort, but at 3 times the price of the little Craftsman.

PS I tested all the brands (Husq, Murray, JD, Simplicity, Hustler, Toro, Cox, Greenfield, MTD, Cub and McCulloch by Electrolux) at my place and timed them etc and even cut grass with half of them before making a decision. As a former Machinist and Plant Mechanic I can tell you they all have their strengths and weaknesses (maybe not the Hustler I could not find a weakness there)

[rkim291968]

I recently bought electric lawn mawer mainly for environmental reasons. There are only a few choices so it would be easy for you to do research. If you are env. Freak like I am, you may want to consider electrical ones.

[thebriggsdude]

Husqvarna is electrolux (well ayp, which the own as well makes em) was that the 18.5 briggs intek? Good engine, step up from the I/C, pressure lubrication, and oil filter, does extend the life, rest of its basically a I/C. and a little bit of silicone grease on the pads, hood squeek will go away... and remember, craftsmans are made by ayp... parts are cheaper if you get them from a small engine shop...

[enzo906]

Yep it has the pressurized, filter B&S the Husky has the Kohler in Australia and a few other bits are different. Actually I had no Idea Electrolux was bringing the model in as they are in direct competition with Husqvarna. Luckily for me I held off buying for an extra week and saw the ads of the new McCulloch's, when I realised they were the Craftsman (AYP) and cost less than a Husky etc and tested it, I bought it. I was a bit worried that the B&S engine would be a let down but was surprised at how good it is. I always used Honda stationary motors (or recommended them) in the past. But the little 502cc thumper is economical, smooth, easy to start etc so I am very happy with everything... well maybe a better seat and a different paint scheme (Gloss Black Tractor and yellow deck and wheels).

[thebriggsdude]

Yeah I recently got the same 18.5 intek on the lt2000... great engine, only real problem with them would be that the valves will have to be adjusted when they get hard starting, just like any other engine. b&s recently redid a lot of their engines, the intek is a great engine... even used in commercial use, the I/C or industrial commercial has a large crank pin, large pto bearing, teflon coated bronze steel backed upper bearing, cast iron cylinder sleeve, intek is all that, with pressurized oil, with a oil filter to filter out most of the dirt. Wix makes briggs oil filters, haven't checked up on if it would be cheaper to order them from napa, most likely though. One thing I was surprised with the 18.5, being a single cylinder, I'm used to the rumble from synchro balanced briggs engines much smaller... and this is a huge on, their avs (anti vibration system) you can't feel it hardly... and I've had a 18hp briggs apposed twin cylinder, feels better then that...


Oh and huskys website, scroll down, (part of electrolux group) http://www.husqvarna.com/

[enzo906]

How are the valve s adjusted? Screw and locknut? Or shims? I would have thought they were hydraulic in that size motor, but then again all my motorbikes are now shims which is a pain, so I shouldn't expect too much from B&S. Filters - I get the genuine B&S which is identical to the JDeere I used to buy but $5.00 less as it does not come in a JDeere packet. I did have a list of filters with the same micron screen, PSI rating and dimensions, but they are not available where I am. They conform to motorcyle type 3 and 4 = Briggs and Stratton 49293 = 7-9 psi ¾ - 16TPI, od 75mm H 55mm Micron 28 . I don't remember who pasted this or where but basically,
type 3 & 4 = Recommended for High Performance MCycles
• Purolator PL10241 / PL20064
• Mobil1 M1-102
• Bosch 3330
Below are lesser quality filtering type 3 & 4
• AMSOil SMF 133/134/135
• Baldwin B1413
• Fram PH6022, PH6065A
• Hastings LF576
• NAPA 1348
• Purolator ML16822
• WIX 51348
• AMSOil SMF 108
• Baldwin BT223
• Fram PH6016
• Hastings LF157 / LF134
• K&N KN-174C
• Purolator L10241 / L20064

Any of those sound familiar?

[thebriggsdude]

http://faqs.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/faq...ted=1101860144
For the valve servicing, briggs actually has a page on it, pretty easy. As for the filters listed, would go with napa, for one, their filters are wix, wix makes a good filter, which briggs uses for their engines and they can order and cross reference them, just have them cross reference it to one that will fit and work on it. Don't use fram :) anyway, per wix's website, the briggs equipped with a oil filter/pressurized lubrication, takes a wix part number 57035, it looks identical to the briggs one, because it is. That is if you have a napa around there?