# Brand New....



## Dunk (Mar 19, 2004)

Me and to lawn tractors. I'm a Marine Surveyor. I do boats, but in the last few years I bought a small lot and need some kind of a lawn tractor. Last riding mower I was associated with was 45 years ago and it was a 3 wheeler with a pedal you had to hold down to keep the rollers against the rear wheels to drive it. In fact the old man took the blades off it and made the drive rollers bigger to make it faster and my two younger brothers and I used to ride it around a track we wore into the ground at bottom of the property in Pa. We were 5-8yrs old and we completely wore out two 3hp briggs engines running the crap out of that thing...

Anyway I don't know crap about lawn tractors. My property is mostly wooded with some grass around the house and strip about about 100ft wide 200ft long down to the work sheds. The rest of the 3 acres are wooded old growth, but loaded with ground cover and brush/weeds. I'd like to clean it up some.

So I started looking at these Lawn Tractors. Deere, Craftman, Husqvarna and MTD's or whatever. First thing out of the John Deere guy is you don't want an "100" series tractor..and was thinking stretching things and going for a L120, but why do I need an auto trans?? Looking to spend 1500-2000 and reading whatever I can on these pages and others I came up with this one. http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/prod...vertical=LAWN&com.broadvision.session.new=Yes 

I want a V twin instead of a single thumper and that one has a heavier mower deck. 10ga vs 12ga. Plus I figure 3 blades will grind things up better. 

Is that Craftsman a decent tractor?? or should just bite the bullet and buy the Deere??


----------



## Dunk (Mar 19, 2004)

*Thanks..*

Forgot to say thanks for any help...


----------



## Ingersoll444 (Sep 17, 2003)

Welcome Dunk!!! First of all there are a LOT of boat people here also, so wile you may be new to tractors, I am sure a lot of us will be picking your brain also,  


Now to tractors......

If you are planing any woods work at all, I would bypass the LT's, and look to the garden tractors. They are just built a little tougher, and can take the rough ground better. Now stepping up to a GT will raise the cost a little, but in the long run you will be ahead of the game. A lot of people on this board have and are happy with the Sears GT5000's, also wile some will say other, the JD G100[or whatever it's called now] realy does not look bad. Any thoughts of used??? If you open THAT door, all kinds of great tractors can fit into that budjet. I'm a big fan of the Case/Ingersolls, but the JD 300series is awsome,[find a 318, and you hit gold]lots others out there, and I am sure others will jump in with there ideas.


----------



## Neil_nassau (Feb 23, 2004)

Welcome over here Dunk.......I know you from the Florida Sportsman boards,although I mostly stay on the NE Florida board.

Cub's shaft drive tractors start with 2000 series (hd hydro with shaft instead of belt),3000 series is drive shaft to rear end AND drive shaft to deck.Both decks have Timken bearings,44"48" or 54". Awesome tractors that will LAST.
Message or email me for more info.


----------



## Live Oak (Dec 22, 2003)

Dunk, welcome to Tractor Forum! :friends: :cheers: Great to have you aboard! My opinion may be a bite bias'd as I am obviously a Deere kinda guy. I have a 4410 and an F525 and am VERY satisfied with both. I would say bite the bullet!   

You mentioned cleaning up some brush and wooded areas? What kind of brush are you talking about. Depending on how thick and overgrown; a rotary cutter might be in order to cut it down first and then you can keep it down with a GT mower.


----------



## Argee (Sep 17, 2003)

Welcome to TF.com Dunk....I'm kinda partial to the Craftsman GT5000, If you want more bang for the buck, then the GT5000 is the way to go IMHO It's a garden tractor first and a great lawn tractor second. From it's ability to accept ground engaging attachments to the 48" 10 GA. deck, it is pretty heavy duty and ready to work. Sears offers a great 2 year warranty which they stand behind solidly. And the best part......it's under $2500....Now that's a great deal...with what you save in $, you can buy attachments for it....like a JB jr.:lmao:


----------



## Neil_nassau (Feb 23, 2004)

How's THAT for three different answers ! :jumpropeb 

ctually....like boats,the dealer is VERY important. Maybe not the potentially life-or -death of offshore boating...:skullmad: 

BUt if you want to have a tractor a long time.............go with something dealer supported .:friends: .....whether its yellow,green or something else. We routinely sell parts for Cubs way over 20 years old....and the shaft drives are still built tuff. Just check the WEIGHT of any tractor.That tells you how much STEEL is in that Baby.btw its not just the Gauge of steel in the deck......but the quality of it.:thumbsup: 

Good luck on your choice!


----------



## jodyand (Sep 16, 2003)

Welcome Dunk glad to have you aboard :friends: me I'm partial to Cub Cadet myself so that make two for Cubs:lmao: 
Jody


----------

