Styling, Safety, and Interior:
As far as styling goes, it’s a mower. The paint scheme only comes in one color- John Deere Green and Yellow. Driving around this bad boy says you own one of the most highly regarded tractor brands in America, but also that you might be rooting for the Green Bay Packers. Its probably no coincidence that this mower was assembled in Wisconsin and was given these colors. A long, downward sloping hood hints at aggressiveness before it meets two headlights for those evenings that you’ve rushed home from work and the kids are screwing around and you couldn’t finish the yard as quickly as you wanted to. There is a gentle swash with the company logo along either side of the hood, and a small, but readable sticker that suggests you might have some ponies under the bonnet. There is also a sweet staggered wheel setup that makes it look like a funny car dragster, ready to pop those skinnies in the air on launch.
The seating position is fairly natural for looking down at those peasants using push mowers while you pilot this beast around your yard in leisure. The foam seat is very supportive, even after a two hour mow and your legs are comfortable while you rest your feet on the floor boards, very effective at keeping the soles of your shoes from turning green. All of the controls are easily in reach and the steering wheel is placed very ergonomically, a little above your lap. There are a multitude of safety options that you probably don’t need and will eventually defeat, such as the engine kill switch in the seat. Others include the parking brake, and mowing deck lock.
The Mow:
Pushing in the clutch and turning the key lets the 16 air cooled horses loose from the 1 cylinder Kohler engine. The engine roars to life, but isn’t deafening or tiring to your ears; just the right exhaust rumble to let you know its ready to work for you. After disengaging the parking brake and easing the throttle up to “rabbit,” you put the forward arrow pedal to the metal and the Deere jumps off the line, momentarily accelerates, and then sets into a smooth cruise to allow you to survey your land. When you’re done screwing around and are ready to get down to business with a beer in your hand, pushing the left clutch to drop the cutting deck and the engagement stalk for the belts gets the blades turning with fury. I originally started with a 2” cutting height, but soon found that the natural bumps and contours in my yard were letting the blades bottom out and cut into the dirt and bog down the mower a little. This height may be more effective for a smoother yard, but mine is anything but. After an adjustment to 3”, I experienced no more issues while still maintaining a satisfactory grass cutting height. After determining your cutting pattern (rows, circles, etc) you’re all set to proceed with yard supremacy. I started with gradual arcing turns, but soon found that the turning radius could be very, very tight. Factory stats on the John Deere website state a 1.16 foot turning radius. If the rear tires didn’t have tread on them, this bad boy would perform some pretty sweet stationary donuts. At some point, I realized that I did not know how much gas was in the tank and wasn’t interested in running out and pushing the mower back into the garage in defeat. So, I did what any man would do. I finished my beer and rode it to the gas station on the corner of my street. $3 worth of 93 octane later, I pulled out of there and went back to the yard.
I mowed the yard and drank my beer in peace, easily avoiding the rocks which I marked with yard paint the evening before the excursion. As I approached a less maintained part of the yard, I was confronted with some small twigs and the occasional thicker twig/branch hybrid. I previously removed the biggest stuff from the yard, but left some of the smaller pieces of organic material to play a game similar to “Will it blend?” Things that I learned you can chop with this mower:
- Twigs and small branches
- Styrofoam & paper cups and cigarette boxes
- Big Mac Box
- Shingles (oops)
- Very thick brush
- Bird carcass
- Garden hose
Thankfully the last one did not wrap around the blades and instead was shredded to pieces.
My yard also features a moderate 4-5 foot hill with a quick drop that is sparsely covered with grass thanks to a crappy landscaping job after a new septic system was put in. It was on this hill that I decided to test the true limits of the mower and was fearing the worst of tire spin while trying to trudge uphill without much grip. With the blades still engaged, I rode up the hill with ease, no straining what-so-ever from the Kohler engine or tires. Riding downhill makes you feel like V-tec kicked in, yo. After general ups and downs, I decided to get cocky and make an off camber turn while going downhill and then traverse the slope. I was fully prepared to jump from the mower in the case of any instability. With the throttle mashed going downhill, I turned the wheel hard right. The front wheels stayed on track, the rear wheels pushed, and the turn ended up being pretty uneventful and very controlled. I successfully performed this maneuver several more times with a tighter and tighter turn with a steeper fall line. I rode away very impressed. With the thirst for another beer growing, I finished the rest of the yard with ease, took a victory lap with the blades disengaged to allow maximum airflow to cool the engine before putting her up for the night.
Takeaway
Overall, the LT160 is a pretty fantastic purpose built machine. This is the first riding mower I’ve bought with my own money, and hopefully the last for a long while to come. I walked away very impressed about how efficiently it cut and how effortlessly it handled the various terrain in my huge yard over the course of two hours. Overall, I’d recommend this Deere to anyone with a large yard, too lazy to use a push mower.
Nice looking mower. Sounds like the only mod needed is a beverage holder, though you've clearly mastered one handed steering.
