Lets talk ride-on lawn mowers!

[frapjap]

Alright- the house I'm renting has about half of an acre and costs ~$60-80/month to have it mowed 2x a month. At the moment I am paying someone but really hate paying a person for something I can do myself, but at this stage of getting settled, the time spent mowing that giant plot of land is time worth keeping to me. However, with Labor day on the horizon, I'm expecting this years lawn mowers to go on sale and would like to pick one up to start saving money on the lawn care service.

Since I know NOTHING about lawn mowers, what can ya'll suggest to me in regards of good brands, what to look for, maintenance, and your general (and detailed) experiences over your years of owning and maintaining mowers? Does adding an umbrella to your mower actually work, or is it a detriment to efficiency? Can you haggle on mower price like you can cars?

I'm thinking of a Troy-bilt, possibly a Deere, or Murry. My parents old Murry mower was given to use when I was in single digit youth age and I'm pretty sure that thing still runs. Other contenders would be an older stand up or rear engine Snapper from CL. I don't really want to buy used, but like cars, if they're maintained, they should be fine and seem harder than hell to kill.

[Heavy]

if your looking for something dirt cheap get a craftsman. they are super easy to work on and enough were built to rival what honda pumps out out for civics in a month. sears still offers a full catalog of parts for many models.

[nissangirl74]

"Nothing runs like a Deere!" Just kidding, their hype is way over-blown. Both John Deere and Cub Cadet are both WAY over-priced IMO, *unless* you need a mower with a really tight turning radius. Like zero. I personally don't think anyone really NEEDS that, it's just a great excuse to not have to trim around trees. I had a Murray riding mower. It was bullet-proof, super-simple to work on, and mowed beautifully. I mowed an acre twice a week with that thing for the better part of a decade. I will say this though, the blades do seem to be prone to chipping. Make sure you do a check of the property for limbs / rocks before you lower the deck and start cutting. If you don't have a way to sharpen the blades yourself, you're probably going to spend some cash at a machine shop / lawnmower shop once or twice a year.

FWIW, there are dozens of brands, some central to specific parts of the country. Murrays tend to be found nationwide. Parts are cheap. Repairmen are easy to source if needed. If we had grass, it's the brand I would buy.

[Kompresshun]

INB4ACE2COOLSAYSBUYADEERE

I haven't had good luck with my riding mower lately, but aside from the drive belt issues, it's been a good running mower. I have a older Murray with a 17hp Briggs and Stratton on it and it runs like a champ. I highly recommend buying used though, because you can get a nice used mower for half the price of a new one, if not even less. You can't haggle on a new mower either - the price tag is the price tag unless you buy it from a dealer and then you're going to pay wayyyy too much for it.

Essentially all mowers are fairly similar, no matter what anyone tries to tell you. A John Deere and a Cub Cadet may go through tighter inspections and may have been motors, but they're not worth the extra $$$ IMHO.

The important thing is look for something that has been well maintained. Check the drive belts and deck belts to make sure they're not worn out. Drive it and make sure it runs good, transmission works good, and that the blades engage easily. Make sure it's not leaking oil and other than that, you should be golden. If you are able to store it inside, the only maintenance you should have to worry about is the occasional spark plug, changing the oil, and replacing the air filter. Oh and expect to buy a battery every year, but you may get a couple of years out of it.

If you have a decent sized yard, i'd recommend buying something bigger than what you pictured. Those are typically the same price as a larger mower and the bigger the mower, the quicker you can knock out mowing.

[BusyBadger]

if your looking for something dirt cheap get a craftsman. they are super easy to work on and enough were built to rival what honda pumps out out for civics in a month. sears still offers a full catalog of parts for many models.

"Nothing runs like a Deere!"

"...and nothing stinks like a John", says this Hoosier.

Another option is to look for a local equipment rental company that has mowers and use it to test drive some different models, provided you can find some that aren't commercial grade.

[frapjap]

Thanks for all of the good advice on testing out the unit and to take a look at blades, drive belts, raising and lowering the deck, . Especially on Murry. My 'rents lasted forever so I'm partially biased to those machines. I'll probably take a peek at this one later in the week after researching it some more.
http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/for/3921540505.html




For sale is a Murry twin cyl. 21 HP Briggs and Stratton, with hydrostatic drive, 46" cutting deck with 3 hard bin grass catcher and headlights. The hood on the grass catcher is cracked as shown in pic. but works fine. It has a little surface rust and paint is warn a bit still looks ok and works great safety's all work the seat is NOT ripped starts right up. in the second two pics. in two of the pics. the mower is dirty with dust and pollen 500.00 BRO no low ballers this tractor runs and cuts great well worth the money.

[frapjap]

Becky, you're gonna love this- WalMart is the exclusive seller of new Murray mowers.

[Kompresshun]

Ray, I think you can do better than that for $500. I got mine with zero rust and in really good shape for $280 - it's an '02 model Murray 42" cut with a 17.5 HP Briggs and hydrostatic drive. No bagger, but I don't really care for them anyways.

That looks like a $350 mower to me, MAYBE $400 if you really like it. If it was rust free and cleaner, I could see $500. You'll see a bunch priced for $500-750, but typically you can find something much nicer for that kind of money.

[frapjap]

And this is damned close to what my parents had. Probably a tad newer. Briggs and Stratton is likely the reason our mowers ran so well.
http://boston.craigslist.org/nwb/grd/3918608157.html

[frapjap]

Ray, I think you can do better than that for $500. I got mine with zero rust and in really good shape for $280 - it's an '02 model Murray 42" cut with a 17.5 HP Briggs and hydrostatic drive. No bagger, but I don't really care for them anyways.

That looks like a $350 mower to me, MAYBE $400 if you really like it. If it was rust free and cleaner, I could see $500. You'll see a bunch priced for $500-750, but typically you can find something much nicer for that kind of money.

Thank you for the heads up and your frame of reference. It doesn't look like hes willing to negotiate and without a lot on the market to compare to, its hard to judge the going rate. I'm going to have to grab some local newspapers and check the for sale walls at the local liquor and grocery stores.

What do you think of this?
http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/grd/3924165494.html

[Kompresshun]

I would much rather spend $650 on that one than $500 on the other one. If the other one has that much rust showing, then it means it's probably been stored outside and probably will need attention to other things soon. I bet you could easily get that guy down to $575-600 on the nicer one too. I'd hit him with a $550 offer and go from there.

Just for reference, this is mine and it set me back $280. It looks nearly new and barely has any wear on it:

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Forrest Gump style Snapper FTW.

[Jesda]

How do lawnmowers rust? It's not like people use them in the snow.

Someone educate me on metals.

[nissangirl74]

It's very easy when you leave them sitting outside, uncovered in the rain.

Ferrous metal + H2O = Rust.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

A lot of paint surfaces get essentially sand blasted while you mow too, so the paint gets blown off pretty quickly.
People also don't clean off cut grass, which just sits there, decomposes, and collects water like Bex mentioned. It also has a funky PH which likes to d!ck with ferrous metals.

[Dattebayo]

It's not quite that simple. As ehow states: "Where there are three parts iron, two parts oxygen and one part water, you have rust."

[nissangirl74]

Massatwoshits = rust. \thread

[frapjap]

Massatwoshits = even s*** lawnmowers cost too much money. \thread

FTFY