Husqvarna lawn tractor informational thread

[Swamphunter]

Well here is the scoop.... I just blew up my old Craftsman riding mower after 13 summers of pure abuse. I picked out a bigger Husqvarna riding mower, 23hp x 48" deck and was all excited. I brought it home gassed it up, checked the oil and off I went rolling the lawn... barely. The dang thing had almost no power to pull the roller up a very small grade in my lawn! My Craftsman 20hp would hardly slow down doing the very same chore! The tractor was awesome, looked great but just had some serious lack of power issues for the size motor it had..... I returned it, and am heading for the John Deere dealership, but more than likely, just end up with another Craftsman...

[Ohiobucks]

Hmm. I've had a Husqvarna I bought form Lowes for about 4 years now with minimal issues, it's been a good one. Mine is a 22 hp, 54" cut. I had to replace the gas tank last year, but that was my fault. I found the battery was completely dead this past week (mowed for the first time this year), I tried to charge it with no luck. Bought a new one from TSC and works like a charm again.....

[TBow]

I've never had a riding lawn mower before, but I just ordered my first one last week and will be picking it up from Sears Wednesday. It's a Craftsman 26 hp, 54" cut. The engine is a Briggs & Stratton, but I would have preferred the Kohler 26 hp. Had I bought the exact same unit in the states, it would have came with the Kohler, but the Canadian version was the B&S. All the research I did however, pretty much put the B&S and the Kohler in the same ball park. Scheduled maintenance seemed to the kicker in keeping them going problem free.

I did a lot of research on the internet before opting for the Craftsman. In units of under $3K, most are built by 2, maybe 3 manufacturers. Even the John Deere in that price range are not really a true John Deere. You'll have to lay down $7K to $13K to get a real JD. The cheaper JD models got poor reviews from all the checking I did.

The two that seemed to come out on top in that price range were the Craftsman and the Cub Cadet. You really can't beat Sears for warranty and price, so that's why I opted for the Craftsman. I actually could have gotten the model I wanted in the states cheaper than in Canada, but I chose buying at home in case warranty issues arose.

I was checking sale prices every day for a few weeks before taking the plunge. Sears has their unit on sale plus a couple other incentives such as cash rebates and/or 10% reduced price for no term payments. Before taxes, the Sears unit rolled out of the store on both sides of the border for around $2600 give or take.

TBow

[Tominator]

Have to agree with Tbow. Those little John Deere's really aren't a JD. When I was in the market, even a bigger JD didn't have a JD engine in it. I want to say it was Japanese thing, a Yanmar? Don't really remember. I ended up going to a Kubota, but I use a tractor nearly every day for various jobs throughout the year.

[Shaun_300]

I'm in the same boat Ken. My old early 90's Rally 12hp is on its last legs too. Starter is shot, barely will roll the motor over. Gonna have to start it with my impact gun on the flywheel soon. Leaks oil like a siv, right onto the muffler, so every 20 seconds or so you see a poof of blue smoke. Burns oil too, has a constant little bit of blue smoke coming from the exhaust all the time. Sounds like the valves guides are shot, ticking, adjusted them twice now. The deck is pretty well euchred. Time for a new one. We're looking at the MTD Gold from TSC, it has the 17hp Kohler engine, 46" cut, all the bells and whistles.

My boss has a cub cadet with a blown rear end and he said I can have the engine, think it's a 17 or 18hp. I'd put it in my Rally for at least the summer if Dad doesn't want to get a new one yet. I could try and fix the deck up on it and it'd probably be ok. We'll see what happens.

[Strut10]

The dang thing had almost no power to pull the roller up a very small grade in my lawn! ...

Sounds like an engine with bad compression or a slipping transmission to me.

[HUNTINGMAN]

I know two diffrent guy that have husquavarnia mowers,one is a zero turn the other a bigger ridding mower. Both have had them for about three years now,the zero turn has had starter issues since the guy had it and the other was in the shop a couple weeks ago getting the motor rebuilt. Oh yea,my neighbor had one also and was allways working on it.

[Swamphunter]

I just went back to Sears and bought a Craftsman. Bought a 21hp 46" cut hydrostatic. My father has had a couple of them and mows 4 acres with em' and has had good luck. My other Craftsman lasted something like 12 or 13 years and only finally gave in because I ran the oil too low and burned up.

[wtnhunt]

Craftsman I had had a 15 hp kohler and it ran plenty strong up until I gave it away to my sister in law and her husband.