New Riding Tractor Recommendations

[jrc1]

Can anyone recommend a good lawn tractor in the 46" to 48" cut range. I don't want to spend any more than $1500 but want a good dependable mower. Main purpose of this mower is a backup for my main mower which is a Hustler FasTrak 48" . It is in the shop right now and I need another mower soon. Been checking the papers for used but haven't found anything I'm mowing about 2 acres. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[RetiredGuns]

That's a decent budget for a used tractor. I just sold my 9 year old Cub Cadet for $700 on Craigslist. Guy saw the add, called me and bought the mower all within 30 minutes. 2 acres is a fair amount to cut on a slow tractor, but you should be able to find something for that price. You try Craigslist?

 

[jrc1]

Yes I've been watching Craig's list every day, but the quality of mower being listed isn't very good. It's hard to find a good used mower and I'm not quite sure what I should look for as far as warning signs go. Uneven cut would be easy to see but what about the engine. That's some of my concerns about buying used.

 

[jrc1]

I stopped by Home Depot this afternoon and looked at their Ariens A20VA46 46inch 20HP V Twin with Briggs and Stratton engine. A new one is $1399 but they had a few refurbished new ones for $980 with full warranty. Is this a good deal and is this a good mower? This mower has a 4.5 out of 5 review on the Home Depot website. Any idea if this is a good deal. I'd appreciate any feed back. I just need a dependable spare rider. Thanks

 

[jrc1]

Just to let everyone know I went back to Home Depot this morning and got that 20HP V-Twin Briggs and Stratton Ariens 46" automatic lawn tractor. When the sales clerk looked the SKU number up it said new mower and it was $1399. I said no that the sales clerk had told me yesterday that it was a refurb. and was $980 with full warranty. I called the dept. manager to the front desk and he looked at the mower and said it is new, a lady had bought it and brought it back two days later not used. He said she didn't know what she wanted. I reminded him the clerk yesterday said $980 and he looked it up and because it was a return (even though not used) the price was $909. I said great that saves me about $70. I always use a 10% off Lowes coupon at both Lowes and Home Depot and that gave me another $90 off. I don't figure I did bad getting a brand new $1399 mower for $819. I have to say it mows real good, but it's not as fast as my Hustler Fastrak. This will be a spare mower for me since my Hustler is in the shop and I've got yards to mow.

 

[RetiredGuns]

I'd say you did pretty darn good. That's about the price for 1 ZT3100 transaxle.

 

[mk3wagen]

Just to let everyone know I went back to Home Depot this morning and got that 20HP V-Twin Briggs and Stratton Ariens 46" automatic lawn tractor. When the sales clerk looked the SKU number up it said new mower and it was $1399. I said no that the sales clerk had told me yesterday that it was a refurb. and was $980 with full warranty. I called the dept. manager to the front desk and he looked at the mower and said it is new, a lady had bought it and brought it back two days later not used. He said she didn't know what she wanted. I reminded him the clerk yesterday said $980 and he looked it up and because it was a return (even though not used) the price was $909. I said great that saves me about $70. I always use a 10% off Lowes coupon at both Lowes and Home Depot and that gave me another $90 off. I don't figure I did bad getting a brand new $1399 mower for $819. I have to say it mows real good, but it's not as fast as my Hustler Fastrak. This will be a spare mower for me since my Hustler is in the shop and I've got yards to mow.

If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the 10% off coupon for Home Depot? TIA