Riding Lawn Mower

[gator]

Do they no longer make regular riding mowers? All I can find in the stores and on the web are 'lawn tractors'. What I want is the 'old fashioned' riding mower, the kind with the rear engine and no hood out front.

George

 

[mkepke]

Hmm..most of what's sold in the store are "riding mowers" - but in the lawn tractor form factor. The big diff is that they are not designed to use attachments.

Anyways, try looking for "zero turn" mowers. There are lots and lots of them out there.

-Mark

 

[Ken Weaver]

They are hard to find, been looking myself. Murray went out of business along with their Wal-Mart, Lowe's and HD line. John Deere doesn't make them either. Only one I've found is Snapper for $1,000 - $1,200. My area dealer is having a sale this weekend only, cheapest model down to $900.

 

[JohnsonMBrandon]

I was going to say what you are looking for is a snapper? Any reason you want that type of mower and not the other type? Just curious?

 

[DaveO]

I agree, I only think that Snapper make residential rear engine riding mowers. Now if you want to high dollar most of you top quality "zero-turn" commerial mowers are rear engine, but some of those caost as much as a good used car.
Dave

 

[Bryan S]

Is this what your looking for?

http://www.snapper.com/rear_engine_riders.html

I have had Snappers, good mowers, well built, and will not knock them, but after having just bought my 2nd Deere (1st one 16 yrs ago) I would not go back. Gets the job done so much faster.

Should be a Snapper dealer near Raliegh.

 

[gator]

I was going to say what you are looking for is a snapper? Any reason you want that type of mower and not the other type? Just curious?

Just a medium sized yard on a grade so I don't want to push a mower. The "tractor style" doesn't have the turn radius that the rear engine mower has and you can't get in as close a quarters as you can with the style I want. And I just want to mow, not pull trailers or rollers or whatever.

Mine is 17 years old and will make it (I hope) through this year but next spring I will be looking to buy.

George

 

[Ken Weaver]

My "tractor" style worked fine until the LOML insisted on redesigning the flower beds over the past few years. Now the 42" wide cut tractor won't navigate the turns and curves because its too big. While I use a walk behind, there are time the knees are screaming too bad and the rider is real welcome. The rear-engine mower is much better navigating without the expense of the "zero-radius" turning types.

FWITW - I did argue about the lawn designs, but she supported my tool purchases so I guess there's a trade off.

 

[Travis Porter]

The JD I have (L130) has a tighter turning radius than they used to have. I think they now make them where the real wheels turn some to do an even tighter radius.

 

[gator]

And with the rear steering, the price goes up significantly. I paid $600 17 years ago and now the cheapest 'lawn tractor' is about $1100 and all options raise the price even more. All I want to do is cut my weeds to an equal height so that from a distance it looks like grass.

George

 

[Travis Porter]

Can't argue that. Best time to buy one is the end of the season used. They depreciate faster than a car.