Howdy,
Ok, the land where my shop will be currently has grass on it that needs to
be mowed... :-)
We're moving into our new house in April. Its a two acre lot, all grass
that needs to be cut. The push mower I've currently got isn't going to
cut it... :-)
Lawn tractors seem to be all over the map in terms of features, prices,
brands, etc.
What do I actually care about?
The area is flat and pretty open (a couple trees to go around, but by and
large its unobstructed). I'd assume that means I want as wide a cutting
path as I can afford... Standards seem to be 42" and 48"... Any downsides
of one over the other?
There are different transmissions available it seems, fully automatic,
some sorta hydro thing, and manual transmissions. My only criteria for a
transmission is that I want low maintenance. Are any of these
significantly better than another in that area or another area?
Horsepower... Presumably more is better, but there are Briggs motors,
Kohler motors, and Kawasaki motors mentioned a lot. Again, I don't care
about anything other than having enough power and maintenance costs.
Attachments... Mostly I'm really, really hoping that I can just do a
mulcher setup and not have to deal with grass clippings. I'm not an anal
lawn freak. How much do I care about being able to use a bagger system?
What other attachements are good to have? Would an attached snowblower
work as well (or nearly as well) as a plow on my truck? (I don't
currently own either). Will a lawn tractor actually move through the snow
well enough for real snow removal? The new house is in Ohio and while we
don't get hammered like some places in the US, significant snow does
happen.
Anything else? Any brands that are particularly good to use or bad to go
with? Any reason I should or shouldn't get a Northern Tool chinese lawn
tractor vs. a John Deere?
I'd appreciate any advice. Obviously I want to spend as little as
possible, but I also don't want to be wishing I'd spent a bit more at the
end of the summer either.
Thanks!
Mark
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