Buckshotmckee

I was just wondering if anybody out there has any suggestions/recommendations about riding lawnmowers. I'm getting ready to buy one in the next few days. I've been looking @ the John Deere L111 model. Any thoughts? Thanks Tye

P.J

"L" is the indicator for Lawn, "LT= Lawn Tractor, "GT"= Garden Tractor, "X" = you better be J.P Gotrocks to even look at it.
If possible at all, look into the "better" grade of Deere's, the ones at Home Cheapo are about the same as your average MTD (sears, western auto, yard machine,etc.)
Not to dump on your plans, I know the prices are crazy on the J.D's.
I bought a GT245 (20 HP Kawasaki, 54" full hydro) cost me $5,600 in '03, sold it about a month ago for $4,400. Look at the rear end on the L, the deck, etc. It would be fine if you are cutting .75 acres or less, but I would consider a "real" Deere, or maybe a Cub (again, not a New style mass production one, but a quility one).
What do they get for the "L" 's?
Heres one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

BigBlue

We have a JD mower. I don't remember the model but it's pretty darn nice. Very easy to operate, cuts great, rides great, steers great, and will spin the tires on dry pavement.

IA_James

I love my JD. Best 50 bucks I ever spent. I have an ancient JD 111 that I bought from a guy that didn't run. 38" deck, 11.5 HP Briggs I/C engine. I've only got 1/4 acre lot though, if I had more than that I would probably get a real mower. I've got an atual 111, not L111 or whatever the new ones are.

MnTom

Hey James, If you want to use yours more come up to my house. I have three Sears mowers with 44" cut each and with all of them going it still takes two hours to get my yard mowed!!

herb

i bought a new Cub Cadet last year for 3300 dollars GT3820 Model i think. driveshaft-- 22 horse Kohler 50" deck. looked at the deere's but this looked like a better deal so far so good

doomgaze

The Home Depot Deere's are just rebadged Scott's mowers. In other words, not worth it. If you are set on Deere go to a dealer. We own an early 80s model and it still runs like the day we got it.

You also cant go wrong with Cub Cadet. The GT1554s are very nice. They are selling like hotcakes this year. 27HP, 54'' cut... quite a beast. Only $2800, too.

Ohio Joe

It's ironic, I just bought a JD today, used GX345 20HP Liquid cooled, 54" deck, almost 700 hours for $3500.

apache

Hey Buckshot, them boys with the goats who cleaned out Arroyo grande creek work cheap. I hear the county paid $800 a day for them. I`ll lend you a few for cheaper, just keep your truck out of sight seriously though we demoed 4 units from a JD, Toro, one from Power house, and ??? the sit on with the 2 sticks to steer for $11K lasted 2 minutes and the belt blew off it when the blower plugged. The others were so,so. We ended up with a JD from Cal coast in SM for $5600 or so. Its was the best of the bunch for the money and worked best in thick wet fesque lawn. it gets used every week for 4 hours or so. Lawn is blown into a chute then into a trailer being towed. It even has a beer holder. The only issues have been the idler pulleys on the decks have lost bearings. The news pulleys were $12 or so.

pappyman

I have a JD LX255 with a 48" mowing deck.....its been used and abused and keeps coming back for more it will take down 2" sapling trees
I bought it from a JD dealership as a demo model and consider it the best mower I've ever had
To clear overgrown brush areas I will mow with the deck up then re-mow with the deck down to clear the overgrowth works better then a Bushhog

BNH4221

FWIW -

I looked at the JD's. Not the Home Despot junk, from a dealer. Really nice but a little pricey for me. Cub Cadet too. Great stuff but sorta pricey.
Ended up with a Husqvarna 1542XP. Nice Kawasaki 2 cylinder motor - very smooth and quiet. I have approx 1 acre to mow, no heavy work. Never a problem except the mice that ate the spark plug wire. Replacing that was no fun.
Might be worth a look.

Really wanted a Kubota but the wife said only one diesel in the family.

Steve

Buckshotmckee

Thanks for all your help guys! As you usual you guys are always so help full. I've got less then a 1/2 of a acre to mow so I don't need anything monsterous. I may end mowing the church yard with my new toy, 3/4 of an acre? I looked at the cub cadet, craftman, and mtd and they see to be identical, just difernet colors and badging. On those mowers I noticed that you have to shift the automtic? The deere has a hydra-static drive that I like. I have really tried to buy from the JD dealer but the tell me to go to Home Depot because I'll save money. I'll save $100.00 on the tractor and $180.00 on the trailer. So it looks like I'll be going to Home Depot tonight to get my new mower. Here's what I'm getting.

http://www.deere.com/en_US/ProductCa...20Series&tM=HO

I was looking @ the warranty, and these things have a 2 year warranty, home service included, and a 3 year, 2000 hour powertrain warranty. whatcha guys think? Tye

Geico266

I have a JD F920? Its a front mounted 72" deck. I can cut my 1 acre yard in 45 mins. The engine runs sweet! Its a 3 cylinder Yamahra (or something like that). As you can expect it really has the torque when the grass is high. Kinda pricey, ($10K) but its the last mower I'll ever buy, and it will be worth a ton when I sell it. I hope.

I like Deere stuff because parts are so easy to get. You can get anything.

Any suggestions on bombing this baby?

scarecrow

you mean there are other companies that make tractors besides john deere..........

signature600

YEAH, RIGHT! JD J/K, any "Real" Deere isn't all bad, but the cheapo models are trash!!

The Home Cheapo (I like that) Deere's are built by MTD, or they were last time I knew. Cub Cadet is owned and built by MTD, and their quality has went steadily down the tubes since that takeover.

We (thank god) don't stock lawnmowers anymore....there was a time when we sold 100-150 mowers a year, talk about headaches. We have sold Deutz-Allis, and Agco-Allis, and now AGCO mowers...all built by Simplicity, which is a very high end companies. They can even be a bit higher than Deere's for certain models (you've got to pay for quality, you know )

Just to help whoever you buy your parts for anything from, please, at least know the model number on you mower or equipment.

You would be really surprised of the number of people, mostly lawnmower customers, who come in here asking for parts, who don't know their model number, and get mad at us when we can't get them the right parts.
Then they wonder why we won't price them a new lawnmower after they tell us they want something good, for $900-$1200, and we laugh and tell them we won't sell them one, to go see TSC or Wal-Mart. Our cheapest model is ~$2300, and that's for a 12hp, 38" Deck...but it will last a heck of a lot longer than a Wal-Mart or TSC brand

Whoops, now look what you've made me do
Chris