Lawn tractors....which one is the keeper?

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Thanks for all of the replies and comments guys, I appreciate it.

It seems that the consensus is to keep the John Deere. That is what I will do.
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To address a few of the comments I plan to buy a new Kubota when we finally do retire and I think that I will keep the lawn tractor for mowing duty because it's smaller and more maneuverable.

Hauling the tractor is not a big deal since I will be towing my trailer with other stuff anyway and adding the tractor is not a big deal.

The Craftsman tractor model # starts with 917.

I was actually leaning towards keeping the Craftsman mainly because I despise the hydrostatic trans but after reading about all of the issues with the Courage engines I will be keeping the Deere!
 
Originally Posted By: Bandito440
Just get a trail mower for your tractor!

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I love it!
 
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
If you've got a simple lawn, I'd probably keep the gear one. Complicated lawn, I'd sell them both and get one with a better HST...


I would generally agree with this.

The only issue is, both of the above transaxles are price-point units. The last good manual transaxle was the Sears GT unit with the between the knees shift lever and high/low range.

Tuff-Torq made some real good fender shift gear drives back in the 1990s. The rest are kind of junk.
 
Originally Posted By: tig1
Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
The John Deere hands down.

The Kohler Courage engine in the Craftsman is a very bad design. They have problems with plastic cam gears, blocks cracking, head gaskets, valve covers leaking, balance mechanisms breaking, oil leaks, etc. I've seen more of those blown up than any other lawn tractor engine.

The Deere has better parts availability and the Kohler Command engine, which is far superior.


You mentioned "block cracking". I have weld repaired two Kohler blocks for cracks. Here is a pic.



Yeah the metal is pretty thin in that area of the block where you welded. I have seen them crack there more than once. Nice welding by the way!
 
Just did my 150 hour service on my Craftsman 54 incher. Never even a hiccup here, had to buy a battery but that's it. Clean the air filter every 50 hours or so and otherwise it's gas up and go.

I changed the oil in the TT46 and will change it again now. Mowing a few acres of very mixed terrain. Engine oil is changed at 50 hours, using M1 15w-50 in both engine AND transmission.

It would seem to me the inherently "bad" quality of Sears has been greatly over-estimated IMO...
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8


It would seem to me the inherently "bad" quality of Sears has been greatly over-estimated IMO...


It depends on which Craftsman mower you buy. Their top of the line machines are pretty good. I've seen quite a few heavy duty Craftsmans with Kohler Command commercial engines, K66 trans, heavy duty decks, etc. The ones of the early 2000s seem quite popular around here, and they aren't that bad. The base model ones are lower quality as well as the newer ones with the Chinese engines and flimsy metal. Since yours has the 54" deck it is probably one of the better quality ones.
 
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