# Help me Choose! Ariens or JD



## balmoralboy

Please tell me which one you would go with and why:

History/Reason for Purchase: My Yard Machines 12.5HP/42" deck model blew the engine yesterday. I bought it used at about 10 years of age and have used it for mowing for about 5 years. Between mowings, it sits outside, but at the end of September it goes in the front hall until May 1. 

Prior to that I had a Husquvarna fake zero-turn which kept forum readers laughing as I posted about it's adventures. I think it's biggest problem was it was designed to ride on anti-scalp wheels which didn't work that well on a rough lawn like mine.

Purpose: Mowing about 2 acres of lawn. Front third has a number of oval garden patches, patios for picnic tables, etc, but is relatively flat except for the front edge which has a tilt up to the sidewalk. This year I altered the slope of that to allow me to mow it with the Yard Machine. The back two thirds has some slope but is near-flat, but is recently recovered field and has a lot of roughness. One end is wet, the other drains very well and there isn't a lot of grass growth in August.

The last couple of years May and early June have been unbelieveably rainy and at times by the time I get my spring startup maintenance done and get mowing the wetter end can be well above knee high. So the Yard Machines has cut miles while bogged down the last few years.

Choices: 
1. Ariens 2046 46" Deck, hydro, 20HP Kohler: Price $1500

2. JD 130 Price $2000, 22HP Briggs, 42" deck, Hydro, trim pack with Bumper, tall seat, cruise

Both are landed at my door, which is a bigger sacrifice from JD as he is 40 miles away, while Ariens is 1 mile away.

My initial thoughts are the JD should be better, and more power is always good, but $500 is a big difference in a $2000 purchase. I'm not sure which Kohler is in the Ariens, but if it's the Courage with the plastic camshaft that's a mark against it. Resale on the JD is going to be better, in fact in five years time the JD will still be worth $500 more and will sell quicker to boot.

Part of the reason for going with hydro is so that I can more easily get slowed down in heavy mowing to keep the blade and engine speed up. The larger deck is an attraction for the Ariens because about a third of my mowing for half of the season is full throttle through thin grass.

Your comments please and why.


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## Country Boy

Just so you know, the Ariens machine is actually a Husqvarna tractor with Ariens decals on it. The current Ariens tractors, value push mowers, and tillers are all Husqvarna units. That said, the Ariens tractor is pretty nice. Does the model you are looking at have an electric PTO clutch? Reason I ask is we sell Ariens at work, and our 46" tractor has a 22hp Briggs and an electric PTO ($1499), whereas the Home Depot units are 20hp with a manual lever to engage the deck. If yours has the lever, you can have issues with the belt if you don't throttle it down to idle and quickly snap the lever into gear. I just had to replace a belt for a customer with the same machine as you describe with the manual lever because the belt had several burnt spots on it. He was engaging the deck with the engine at wide open throttle and slipping the belt in the process. You don't have that trouble with the electric PTO. 

I'm not totally familiar with the John Deere units, so I can't really say much about them. Just realize that John Deere has their premium units that they only sell through dealers and their bargain basement units that they sell through Home Depot and the dealers. Some of their cheaper units are built by Husqvarna because they have virtually identical controls, and the sheet metal is the same. Not all are, but some are. I get a lot of brands coming through my shop at work, and its always fun to play the "Who actually built this?" game.


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## balmoralboy

Thanks for looking. Based on comments on another forum and looking at the units, I bought the JD 130 and mowed half the yard last night.


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## dangeroustoys56

Id keep after the JD maintence wise - replacement parts wont be cheep . I wouldve just swapped another motor on the MTD - unless the chassis/deck was worn out - that wouldve been a cheeper alternative.

Id suggest getting a waterproof cover for the new tractor since it sits outside.


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