Buying New Garden Tractor

[WHwest8597 85]

If you were to buy a Garden Tractor today, what would it be?  I'm looking to use it to cut 1 to 1.5 acre.  Want a bagger and a plow for snow.  Yard is not flat.  There are some hills, but nothing my 314-8 can't handle.

[ebinmaine 67,422]

I think you're going to find that most of us are probably going to be biased towards older tractors and Wheelhorse in particular.

 

That said,

I mean this in all possible seriousness.

Not a joke. Not trying to be funny. Not trying to be influential at all.

I absolutely positively would NOT go buy a new garden tractor.

I have Wheelhorses here and I just would not go buy anything else.

 

I would only increase my available attachments.

 

I would rather have extra Wheelhorses and fix them as needed then spend several thousand dollars on something that is new and is just not going to last.

Just my two cents.....

Edited June 25, 2018 by ebinmaine

[slammer302 2,155]

I like my 520xi just fine. But if i were to buy something new it would be a compact tractor.

[JAinVA 4,619]

In this day and age you can buy a liquid cooled, diesel powered garden tractor.With 1 1/2 acres of grass to cut these newer machines will last long enough that parts probably won't be available,years outIf you have very deep pockets then the some of the brands that competed with WH are out there. If you don't mind working on your own equipment then I for one would never recommend buying any new garden tractor.  

[MarkS 122]

Just my . If you spend $1500 on a good shape older tractor (Like a Wheel Horse ) you will have a well built, very capable machine for years and years to come. If you spend $1500 on a brand new tractor, you will most likely end up with a cheap Chinese mower that will work great at first, but not last nearly as long. And on that note, you can get a great Wheel Horse for much much less than $1500. As far as a specific model horse, just go with whatever model offers the attachments that you would like to use.

[clueless 2,987]

18 hours ago, WHwest8597 said:

If you were to buy a Garden Tractor today, what would it be?  I'm looking to use it to cut 1 to 1.5 acre.  Want a bagger and a plow for snow.  Yard is not flat.  There are some hills, but nothing my 314-8 can't handle.

So you have a 314-8, why are you looking for a new GT?

[pfrederi 17,723]

To be a contrarian.  When we moved out to the boonies 18 years ago all I had was the Lawn Ranger.  mowing 2.5 acres and more just took too long.  No time to buy and fix up used WHs we bought a new JD GT 235 in June 2001 from the local JD dealer. Wife likes it as it is hydro and easy to get on and off.  Since then the only failures, a belt to the deck and an idler pulley.  The battery is JD original and still working after 17 years.  Engine is a JD labeled B&S.  No problems starts instantly.  I do not care for the need to pull  the PTO knob when you back up or the blades shut off, but I guess that is true on all new stuff. It wasn't cheap $4,600 plus tax.  But that is now down to about $271/yr.

 

Be careful I have looked at the Big Box versions of JD and they are not built nearly as stoutly. 

[bds1984 1,429]

On 6/26/2018 at 1:06 PM, pfrederi said:

To be a contrarian.  When we moved out to the boonies 18 years ago all I had was the Lawn Ranger.  mowing 2.5 acres and more just took too long.  No time to buy and fix up used WHs we bought a new JD GT 235 in June 2001 from the local JD dealer. Wife likes it as it is hydro and easy to get on and off.  Since then the only failures, a belt to the deck and an idler pulley.  The battery is JD original and still working after 17 years.  Engine is a JD labeled B&S.  No problems starts instantly.  I do not care for the need to pull  the PTO knob when you back up or the blades shut off, but I guess that is true on all new stuff. It wasn't cheap $4,600 plus tax.  But that is now down to about $271/yr.

 

Be careful I have looked at the Big Box versions of JD and they are not built nearly as stoutly. 

 

My parents bought a GT235 with a 54" deck new in 1999; they looked at the 520xi's, but those were out of their price.  It has been a very reliable machine and even after mowing nearly four acres at a time, it still gets the job done.  There is no hour meter on it, but my guess would be it has over two-thousand hours on the clock now.  She is starting to get a little tired, but after all the lawn it has reliably cut, I have no complaints; I'd really love to pull the heads and see what the cylinders look like.  The no mow in reverse was disabled before it had even cut its first blade of grass; we just leave the PTO engaged and mow.  

[Digger 66 3,478]

On 6/25/2018 at 5:41 PM, ebinmaine said:

 

 

I would rather have extra Wheelhorses and fix them as needed then spend several thousand dollars on something that is new and is just not going to last.

 

 

Couldn't have said it better myself 

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

I'm sure Simplicity (Legacy) still makes a decent "garden" tractor as well but those "Tuff Torque" transaxles are not quite the Eaton and Sundstrands of yesteryear, but most any of the older name brands are 100% better than most of what you can buy today unless you step up to a sub compact or smaller compact from Kubota,Kioti,Mahindra, and Deere or similar, Jeff.

[midpack 862]

My GIL has a Kubota. seems like it's always got some issue or other. regular maintenance is $$$ too... of course he has it picked up to get the maintenance done so that could be part of the cost

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,496]

John Deere still makes good garden tractors, i.e. the X500 series and the X700 series. On some of the X500 series models has a differential lock on them, while some of the X700 series are 4WD and diesels.  In both series power steering and hydraulic are available on certain models, while the X700 series has a limited category 1 hitch as an option.

[EricF 589]

I'd probably lean toward a basic JD X700, if I were buying a new GT. (And had plenty of money burning a hole in my pocket...) You don't have to go for all the options either, to get a good, robust machine. Though it's a bit more complex in terms of the electrical system with modern safety features, and a fair bit of electronics too.

[DennisThornton 4,769]

I would at least look at a 4wd Mahindra with FEL and optional backhoe. 

Then I would take that money and buy several WHs and attachments! 

[Lee1977 6,656]

You will have to get in the $10,000 range to equal my old C-120. I payed $2,200 for it new with a 48" deck in 1977 that $9,381.78 in todays money.  I may have spent that much on it in the last 41 years but that's only $228.83 per year.