Garden tractor woes

[ayrabz]

I dunno whats normal before they start to go…this one is 9-10 yrs. old. Husquvarna 24 HP . good engine (can’t recall right now if it was Kawasaki on our model or Briggs/Stratton) …ANYWAY. at its turn in for servicing multiple things needed work, but the biggie was the engine was pretty ‘loose’ under that hood. all bolts missing except for one in oil pan/part of engine. Total bill would be about $800.

of course I"m taking a day or so…to know if I just tell em to dump it and start looking (one comparable would cost me around $4K everything included) and I WONT buy from the box stores…only from a dealer no matter what brand. but I also may just start hireing someone to come mow the turnouts if thats better too. I have a lot to think on. I ‘think’ I’m gonna tell shop to dump it. and I’ll pay zero turn lawn mower man thru this summer or at least a month or so…and then see if I want my own again, or what. All I know is I hate change. hate. hate. hate it.

[2DogsFarm]

I’m no expert, but my Yardman riding mower was not new when it came with the farm in 2004.
I beat it up mowing my ~3ac of pastures as well as another ~2 of lawn.
Had to replace belts at least once a season, bent the spindle on front wheel assembly twice & blunted blades annually.
I finally sold it 2yrs ago & hired the mowing out. I was through crawling on the ground to replace belts & was not going to spend for a lift.
Got back the hour spent on lawns, 2 if I did pastures the same day.

Neighbor who works as a landscaper does the lawns 2X monthly.
For what I pay, I could buy a decent zero-turn in a little over a year, but why?
Life - for this Old Lady - is too short.

He is also my hayguy & brings his tractor to bushhog the pastures once a year, usually late Fall for free

[fourfillies]

Just a commiseration. I’ve been limping along mowing 5 acres of pasture with a 1997 JD lawn tractor that is about in the place as yours but still running. Lots of repairs, just not up to the task. I just bought a small used Massey Ferguson and mowed with it yesterday. Not my first “tractor” but its different and I’m very tempted to get on the old JD and mow instead. I too hate change. But I also worry the JD will die for good in the field. I’ve tried for two seasons to hire it out but its hilly and “lawn guys” won’t touch it for fear it’ll tear up their zero turns whilst my local farmers aren’t interested in “just” 5 acres to mow. My herd loves the grass and it keeps my hay bill pretty low but such a pain! And, the price of the new to me tractor would have bought A LOT of hay (but at least it got me a FEL).

[Jarpur]

Did the repair shop give you an estimate of how much life they thought your garden tractor would have left, after the repairs?

Ours needed a significant repair at about the same age, and the shop told us that the manufacturer was real proud of the parts; with OEM parts, the bill would be $1,300, but they could make it work another way (guy explained to me how he would make do) with non-OEM parts for around $800-900. Estimate was that this repair would buy us another 2-3 years with the tractor.

We went with the second suggestion, and it’s now been over 5 years, so a pretty fair deal, IMO, and way less expensive than replacement.

[baybrio]

I would hire the work out - if you can get it done for a fee you can live with. Just getting my time back from mowing would be worth it for me. I tried to do just that, unfortunately my situation is like fourfillies.

@fourfillies

I’ve tried for two seasons to hire it out but its hilly and “lawn guys” won’t touch it for fear it’ll tear up their zero turns whilst my local farmers aren’t interested in “just” 5 acres to mow.

The other problem is finding a good repair place for my older equipment. Pick up/drop off $100 and two weeks wait, repair $$$$ and a month for them to get to it after it’s in the shop, or use the place that broke three things they couldn’t fix. So frustrating.

[Simkie]

Curious where you purchased. We always hear that the machines sold at big box stores are just inferior to those available from actual dealers. Wondering if that’s the case here–a machine really built for tooling around a suburban backyard once a week instead of a small farm.

At that price, I’d ditch it and find a beefier used machine in good repair. I think we paid less than your repair price for a JD S240 that had been turned into the dealer for an upgrade.

[ayrabz]

I’m very much leaning toward dumping it and trying to pay someone else. And see how it goes…I can ALWAYS say it didn’t work out and purchase again…another possible is the guy who does/will mow my little turnouts said he’d be ‘glad’ to pick it up and review it for a second opinion…He does know the shop and the people there and also told me he agreed with they’re good people and he wouldn’t at all fear they were out to cheat me(nor do I) but one of their mechanics (and they do not sell garden tractors there at all) that worked on it, his honest opinion was it probably wouldn’t be worth it to him, since its going to keep having things go wrong at this stage/age. I"m not interested in used—I could get someone elses headache and certainly still have the servicing costs. And Simkie, I purchased from a dealer and will not use the big box stores for that very reason.

[baybrio]

@ayrabz

I’m very much leaning toward dumping it and trying to pay someone else. And see how it goes…I can ALWAYS say it didn’t work out and purchase again

Smart.