Budget Buster... riding lawn mower

[sam_gordon]

Ugh... Needed to mow the lawn for the first time this season. Mower wouldn't start. Not a surprise, had the problem last year. Went to Sears and got a new battery (still had original from 8 1/2 years ago). Also picked up oil filter. Had some flat tires.

So, in order to jack it up so I can take the tires off, I have to get it from the basement garage to the "front" garage. Figure while I'm doing that, I'll also change the oil. Put in the new battery in, it starts up, I proceed slowly across the lawn and just as I get to the driveway... BAM! Hole gets blown in the engine.

Since it's Sunday, I can't call anywhere to get replacement engine estimates so I look it up online. $500 for the engine. I figure if that's online price, a local shop will probably charge $600-$700 for the engine and probably another (at least) $200-$300 for the labor (they need to come get it and bring it back to me).

So we're at $800-$1000 (estimated) into an 8 1/2 year old mower. Brand new mowers are between $1K-$1500.

Of course this comes on the heels of putting $750 into my car for wheel bearings, and our final payment for renting DVC points is due in a couple weeks. I'll have some "extra" income coming in, but not until the end of May... right when we go on our trip (still have to pay for DDP, rental car, and souvenirs).

When it rains, it pours. Anyone have some tips on shopping for a riding lawn mower? We have an acre lot, and very little of it is level.

 

[2Tiggers]

We just had to buy a new rider also. We were nursing our old one all year last year... just didn't feel like it was worth putting anymore money into.

We shopped around. We ended up getting a Cub Cadet at Tractor supply. It was a little pricey but we had had a husky from TSC, and had it for 12 years. We thought that was pretty good. It was one of the cheaper ones they had at the time.

We wanted to upgrade a little so we went with the Cub Cadet this time. We have always been happy with the models from TSC, so why change things now.

Just a side note... cub cadet owns husky.

 

[kelly1218]

Have you tried Home Depot?

If you have their credit card they are always running the no interest for XX amount of months. Then you can pay it off when you get the extra money in a few months.

 

[scbelleatheart]

I love my Grasshopper. 20 years old, zero turn, and we can do 5 acres in about 2 hours. 15 minutes around trees and shrubs. Biggest expense was sharpening the blades. I wil never have a mower unless it is zero turn.

 

[BSil]

Not sure where you live, but the landscape/lawn cut companies are literally giving away cuts just to bring in business this year. My in-laws have about an acre, some flat in the back, whole front is a hill, etc. They got a price of $35.00 to cut, weed-whack, use the blower to clean up. If you can get into it for that type of money you can take the year off, and deal with the mower next season. Really when you figure in the cost of gas, and the time it makes sense. If I didn't enjoy cutting the lawn and working in the yard as much as I do, I'd probably sign up myself.

As for replacing the tractor. Do not buy at Home Depot. They don't sell the real products from those big name brand companies. I bought a John Deere (or so I thought), years back at the Depot. When I finally went to buy some parts that were failing on it, I couldn't even get them at the John Deere store. I was told that this is really not one of their models, but a "special" product produced for Home Depot. Needless to say I stopped buying power equipment at Depot from that point on. As for Cub Cadet, I have a Zero Turn monster deck, that I bought at a local mom and pop shop. I have had nothing but issues with it since I owned it. I have read a ton of good things about Cub, but this is my last one. Recently when I needed a simple walk behind for the edges of the lawn, I just went back to Sears, and got a Craftsman. At least I know I can call Sears anytime, and get it serviced, even 10 years from now.

 

[riley2008]

Ugh... Needed to mow the lawn for the first time this season. Mower wouldn't start. Not a surprise, had the problem last year. Went to Sears and got a new battery (still had original from 8 1/2 years ago). Also picked up oil filter. Had some flat tires.

So, in order to jack it up so I can take the tires off, I have to get it from the basement garage to the "front" garage. Figure while I'm doing that, I'll also change the oil. Put in the new battery in, it starts up, I proceed slowly across the lawn and just as I get to the driveway... BAM! Hole gets blown in the engine.

Since it's Sunday, I can't call anywhere to get replacement engine estimates so I look it up online. $500 for the engine. I figure if that's online price, a local shop will probably charge $600-$700 for the engine and probably another (at least) $200-$300 for the labor (they need to come get it and bring it back to me).

So we're at $800-$1000 (estimated) into an 8 1/2 year old mower. Brand new mowers are between $1K-$1500.

Of course this comes on the heels of putting $750 into my car for wheel bearings, and our final payment for renting DVC points is due in a couple weeks. I'll have some "extra" income coming in, but not until the end of May... right when we go on our trip (still have to pay for DDP, rental car, and souvenirs).

When it rains, it pours. Anyone have some tips on shopping for a riding lawn mower? We have an acre lot, and very little of it is level.

No advice on the mower. My husband LOVES his zero-turning-radius mower. (He never did show me the receipt and I don't want to know. It was his splurge when we bought our home 1.5 years ago.)

I can say I feel your pain about when it's raining....our upstairs AC died earlier this week. Okay, we had the money to replace it. Now is as good of a time as any. Then as we got involved it that, our hot water heater that is less than 4 years old also went out. (Of course the warranty is only good to the original owners!) And now our downstairs AC has quit today. (It had coils, compressor and a fan replaced in September.)

We live in south Texas and we need our AC. We're in a drought again, so hhmmm... (I have a mower! - trade a mower for an AC?)

 

[moongirl]

We purchased our Wheel Horse tractor used for $500 from a repair shop 13 years ago. It is now about 25 years old. The local repair shop always has a variety of used lawn equipment for sale (some of it is on consignment from the owners of lawn care businesses - good stuff!) and they know which equipment is good quality. The guy who tunes it up for us periodically offers to buy it from us every time as "they just don't make 'em like they used to."

Also, my in-laws had their lawn tractor engine blow and ended up selling it for parts on ebay.

 

[Marionnette]

Not sure where you live, but the landscape/lawn cut companies are literally giving away cuts just to bring in business this year. My in-laws have about an acre, some flat in the back, whole front is a hill, etc. They got a price of $35.00 to cut, weed-whack, use the blower to clean up. If you can get into it for that type of money you can take the year off, and deal with the mower next season. Really when you figure in the cost of gas, and the time it makes sense. If I didn't enjoy cutting the lawn and working in the yard as much as I do, I'd probably sign up myself.

^This!

After going through 2 mowers in 16 years, we decided to go with a lawn service instead. The cost for a single season is way less than buying a new mower, maintenance and paying for gas, saves my husband's time off for better things, and does a better job in less time than we can do it.

We figured that the number of cuts that it would take to break even on the purchase price of the mower was somewhere around 3.5 years. And that didn't include having the engine serviced, the blades sharpened or thegasoline consumed.

 

[Bete]

just rated like the top 20 tractor mowers in their recent issue. Your library should have a copy. Get the best rated one for the money you want to spend.

We just bought one in late March from Sears. I switched to them; because, repair work is done at your home with them. Now, if you do your own repairs then this is not a real issue. Our mower was rated 6th in consumer report. We got it for cheaper than what was stated there; because, we bought on a sale. This tractor is advertised right now in the Sears flyer this week. For it's rank in consumer reports it was a cheap tractor. The model number is 28856. You do have to pay extra for a mulch kit for it for around $50.

Sears is easy for parts, too. You always have a choice to repair it wherever you want.

 

[Debbie7452]

Where are you at? We retired our broken down Sears Craftsman last year because of transmission and other issues, but I think the motor works. You are welcome to that old heap if it would do you any good! It was 9-10 years old and used hard in its sad life. Model # 917.272246 I wasn't that impressed with Sears anymore. The replacement blades they were selling were junk after three cuts and that was the "heavy duty" ones. The quality vastly deteriorated about 2 or 3 years ago. We went for a Snapper Pro but it wasn't very budget. We just wanted it to last. I hope it does!

We have 2.5 acres. I don't think anyone around here cuts lawns for $35, especially big ones. That would be tempting if it were true.

 

[Bete]

doesn't sharpen blades anymore; so, I can understand the current blades are not as good. Instead, they replace blades, now; so, they can have an inferior blade to times past; since, they are not sharpened. Don't kind yourself about this; because, everyone will be replacing blades and cheapening them. No one sharpens blades anymore (dying art); so, this is why this is getting to be the way of the future.

Now, if you are willing to pay $3000 or more for a tractor than I suppose you would get better blades. The $1000 to $2000 tractors are not in the same category.

 

[Debbie7452]

doesn't sharpen blades anymore; so, I can understand the current blades are not as good. Instead, they replace blades, now; so, they can have an inferior blade to times past; since, they are not sharpened. Don't kind yourself about this; because, everyone will be replacing blades and cheapening them. No one sharpens blades anymore (dying art); so, this is why this is getting to be the way of the future.

Now, if you are willing to pay $3000 or more for a tractor than I suppose you would get better blades. The $1000 to $2000 tractors are not in the same category.

Yeah, I hope we got better blades now...

We always replaced our blades due to heavy use, but when chunks are missing after three mowings you know something is up. I asked about it at Sears when I was buying them (3 blades at $20-30 each) I was told to bring them back if I wasn't happy. Three cuts later we took them off and tried to take them back. They laughed at me and told me they would give me a 10% discount off another set! I was loyal to Sears for 20 years, but this was the end of our lawn tractor relationship. Maybe TX grass is too tough...

 

[Bete]

Yeah, I hope we got better blades now...

We always replaced our blades due to heavy use, but when chunks are missing after three mowings you know something is up. I asked about it at Sears when I was buying them (3 blades at $20-30 each) I was told to bring them back if I wasn't happy. Three cuts later we took them off and tried to take them back. They laughed at me and told me they would give me a 10% discount off another set! I was loyal to Sears for 20 years, but this was the end of our lawn tractor relationship. Maybe TX grass is too tough...

you are not mowing rocks? That will dull a blade in a hurry and it will definitely ding the blades. We actually went around our yard for a few summers to pick up the rocks. We built new where it was previously farming land and there were a lot of rocks. There could be other reasons for this problem, too. If you crank the speed high I can see that having an affect on your blade wear. A mulcher may help out, as well.

If you pay more for a tractor you expect more, but many of us have a limited budget to spend for a tractor.

 

[sam_gordon]

just rated like the top 20 tractor mowers in their recent issue. Your library should have a copy. Get the best rated one for the money you want to spend.

We just bought one in late March from Sears. I switched to them; because, repair work is done at your home with them. Now, if you do your own repairs then this is not a real issue. Our mower was rated 6th in consumer report. We got it for cheaper than what was stated there; because, we bought on a sale. This tractor is advertised right now in the Sears flyer this week. For it's rank in consumer reports it was a cheap tractor. The model number is 28856. You do have to pay extra for a mulch kit for it for around $50.

Sears is easy for parts, too. You always have a choice to repair it wherever you want.

I'm looking at the 28852... the 56 has 3 more HP (21 v. 24), but the 52 has a larger deck (46 v. 42). The 56 is $100 more.

Where are you at? We retired our broken down Sears Craftsman last year because of transmission and other issues, but I think the motor works. You are welcome to that old heap if it would do you any good! It was 9-10 years old and used hard in its sad life. Model # 917.272246 I wasn't that impressed with Sears anymore. The replacement blades they were selling were junk after three cuts and that was the "heavy duty" ones. The quality vastly deteriorated about 2 or 3 years ago. We went for a Snapper Pro but it wasn't very budget. We just wanted it to last. I hope it does!

We have 2.5 acres. I don't think anyone around here cuts lawns for $35, especially big ones. That would be tempting if it were true.

We're in Kentucky. While I can do some basic maintenance, changing an engine is beyond me.

 

[kmacht]

You might want to consider putting in another engine if the rest of the tractor is in good shape. Based on your description of what happened I would guess that the sears tractor had a briggs and stratton v-twin engine. I have had two of these throw a rod and punch a hole in the case. They are extremely sensitive to oil. The cause is usually from people not draining the gas at the end of the season from the tractor. If the float and needle in the carburator is stuck slightly open the gas tends to slowly drain from the gas tank, flood the carburator, get dumped into the top of the cylinder, and eventually mix with the oil. Once that happens the oil is useless and the crank siezes to the connecting rod and it snaps. It is always good to check the oil before starting the engine each season. If the oil seems unusually high on the dipstick it is a good chance that gas mixed in with it.

Keep an eye out on craigslist for a similar tractor. Look for one with a blown transmission. Any tractor with any size V-twin briggs and stratton motor should be a direct drop in replacement. You can usually find them for the $100 to $200 range. Swapping the engine is a simple matter of removing the 4 bolts that hold it to the frame, disconnecting the fuel line and throttle cable and then removing the engine. It really is a simple operation. If you can change oil and blades on the tractor you should be able to do this. Just take some pictures of both tractors before you disconnect anything so you have a reference on how it all goes back together.

Keith

 

[Debbie7452]

Ours was a Kohler engine...you mean it might be worth something?? Who knew.

 

[sam_gordon]

Update:

Called shop #1... a straight engine replacement (mine is no longer made) is $1050 + shipping & tax. They have another engine that MIGHT fit.... $480. $40 pickup/delivery service and $60/hour, they say it should take an hour.

Called shop #2... a straight engine replacment is $1150 + shipping & tax. I didn't ask how much their labor is, because that doesn't make financial sense.

The mower does have one other problem that I've been "living with" for a year or two... one of the rods that holds the deck to the front axle broke off, and so the deck won't level.

Keith- I will go look at Craigslist for another similar model. Our engine was a Briggs & Stratton.