[Uncle Jaque]

Ahoy from Maine! My American Legion buddy who knows a lot more about this stuff than I do recommended this forum as a resource to help us pick out a lawn tractor to meet our needs - so here we are! (He's a member of the mytractor forum but i don't know his UN) We live on about 2.5 acres on a wooded hillside, with about a half acre of it being lawn. In the spring and summer I usually mow the lawn about once a week or so in installments, as I picked up a dose of rice paddy rot in Korea back in '68 which ruined the circulation in both feet and has caused painful lesions and break downs over the past 10 years or so which tempted the VA to amputate on one occasion. When it gets bad I can hardly walk and we have to impose on my Son in Law to mow for us or the lawn turns into a hayfield. When I can push the mower I like to, as it's about my only form of exersize. Wife offered to buy me a riding mower a couple of years ago but I held out as I wasn't quite crippled enough to justify the expense. At the beginning of this month a painful spot erupted on my "good" foot, which soon deteriorated into a festering, burning crater. I'm treating it with "natural" remedies since nothing the Doctor gives me for it seems to do much good. Can walk, but it hurts to. It's becoming obvious that if my push mowing days are not over, then they are going to be on hold for a while! A couple of weeks ago Son in Law came with his JD and mowed both lawns for us in about 45 minutes. It takes me the better part of 8 hours to do it by push, dumping out the bag or raking up the hay. It's time for fat gimpy old man tractor! In casual conversation and internet surfing, it seemed as if our options (limited by fixed retiree income to $2K or less - which everyone tells me will only buy a "junk / Throw-away" tractor) are between Cub Cadette or Deere. I'll be inquiring in the forum for other options / suggestions etc.. So that's where we're at. Where should I start in here? Thanks - UJC

 

[bwdbrn1]

Welcome to the forum Uncle Jaque. You've come to a good place for some advice, and thank your buddy for pointing you in our direction.

Sorry to hear about your ailments, but you can thank your son-in-law for coming to your aid, and I guess thank him too for bringing along the JD and helping you make the decision to get a rider. Walk behinds are good for trim work too, so you could still get it out to use.

Being retired myself, I can appreciate the budget restraints, but there's lots of good used John Deere and Cub Cadet tractors out there that you can pick up without breaking the bank. We can thank those companies for building good products. Dealers might have good used ones, and of course, there would be the bonus of buying from a dealer, so there'd be someone to go back to if there were problems. Craig's List is usually full of good stuff to pick from.

I suppose the first place to start in your search is to kind of decide on what all you might want to do with your new rider. Will you just be cutting the lawn with it, or do you think you might be adding other attachments to it. Since you say you live in Maine, I would guess snow removal might be something you have to do every now and then too. So, you might want one you could put a snow handling attachment, like a blade or snow blower on it.

 

[Uncle Jaque]

Thanks. We do thank Kyle - a lot. He helps out with a lot of things around here despite having two frisky little ones at home and a full time job. We hire a guy to plow our driveway in the Winter. I have an old Ariens 5hp snow blower to do around the edges, but if the snow is wet and heavy as it often is it plugs right up tight. Being retired even if we get snowed in for a day or two it's usually no big deal, although "Grammy" goes to take care of the grand kids a couple of days a week. If I need to haul a cord of wood or drag a tree trunk out of the woods I use my '89 Toyota RAV-4. It often simulates a tractor quite well. If I could get a mowing deck rigged up to it I'd use it to mow the lawn. Kinda wishd Toyota had put a PTO on it. If we have to buy new I'm thinking the basic level JD D-100 with the no frills crank-n-yank tranny. I don't think I'll beat it to death too soon on a half acre (if that) lawn, despite some grade and embankments to deal with. My buddy suggests that I look at a Simplicity - a decent tractor with a superior deck that follows ground contour rather than hangs from the tractor. Any feedback on those? If I can find a decent used rig will probably go with that - if the dealer has them reasonably priced. I'll pay a few bucks more from a dealer than a yard sale or craig's list special, .... up to a point.

 

[Uncle Jaque]

I notice line breaks and paragraph spacing ain't happening in this forum for me.
do I have to use HTML or some other code to make my posts look civilized? [p] of course I could just experiment and figure it out I suppose.

 

[Austen]

Welcome to MLF, Uncle Jaque!

I am sorry to hear of your ailments as well, good for you for making the best out of life in despite of them though.

It sounds like you are somewhat concerned about the longevity of the new lawn tractors. Have you considered an older GT? If you can find one that has been well taken care of and is in good shape, they have the ability to hold up quite a bit longer and take more abuse vs. a lot of the newer LT's of today.

Regarding your posts, they look fine to me. You can use the HTML code if you would like.