Lawn Tractors

[BRN]

Hi all,

I am strongly considering purchasing a Husqvarna 2148 or a Craftsman DYT4000, which I understand are essentially the same tractor. Does anyone have any experience with these brands as far as reliability is concerned. My feeling and from what I've read on the web is that these tractors are a cut or two above (pun intended) the MTD brands (all perhaps except for Cub), but slightly less than John Deere, Simplicity and maybe Toro with regards to reliability and longevity. Is that anyone else's experience?

Is there any reason I should not purchase one of these tractors? My price range is 1500-2000.

If there's a better newsgroup(s) I can ask this question in,please let me know.

Bart

[dadiOH]

Just a comment...Sears tractor parts are dear. Very dear. For example, = a drive belt is now more than $40. I can get the same thing at an auto = store for $10 or less. So, although I have a Sears tractor I would = never buy another. Not if I had to get parts from Sears.

--=20 dadiOH _____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.0... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

[Eric Tonks]

My experience: John Deere, expensive to buy, well engineered, parts available even for 20 year old models. When you buy parts for older models you find that the part has been re-engineered and improved -- and still fits. Also the resale price stays high. Sold a 22 year old JD mower for more than I got for my 12 year old car that cost much more new, than the mower.

Just a comment...Sears tractor parts are dear. Very dear. For example, a drive belt is now more than $40. I can get the same thing at an auto store for $10 or less. So, although I have a Sears tractor I would never buy another. Not if I had to get parts from Sears.

[Roy]

IMHO a Crapsman is much lower than slightly than a Deere is. Same for the CUB and Simplicity, Crapsman is not even in the same ball game. Odds are if you buy a Crapsman its probably a MTD / Murray product, which does not necessarily mean its bad, as Cubs are also made by MTD / Murray as are Troybuilt. You can buy a Crapsman or Stanley, or Yardman or MTD and all you will ever have is a mediocre wanna be L & G tractor. Never get out of it what you could if you sold it as you would a Cub, Simplicity or Deere. I bought 180 JD back in 1987 for

2100 bucks and just sold it last year for close to 1000............and it still ran like a champ and had 99% of everything on it original, never used oil and ran like a champ. I bought a new JD GX335 and have since cut my mow times down better than 50% with a bigger deck and more comfort. Check out the Limited Edition John Deere with the 20 hp IC B & S engine and 40 some inch deck nice sized machine which will fall into the catagory of what your looking to spend and get a decent tractor you can always get parts for usually in stock at a dealer instead of having to maial order junk and wait on Sears. You won;t go wrong with a Deere, Cub or Simplicity. Husky unless they are the top of the line is not any better than the tractors sold at Wally World, its justs a basic tractor by all standards. Visit my website: expressed are those of my wifes, I had no input whatsoever. Remove "nospam" from email addy.

[JJ]

Craftsman tractors are made by AYP (American Yard Products, whose parent company is Electrolux, the same parent as Husqvarna), not MTD. So some Sears tractors have similar models in the Husqvarna line.

MTD brands are White, Troybilt, Huskee (not Husqvarna), Yard Machines, YardMan, Bolens, etc. MTD owns Cub Cadet, and low end Cubs (from Lowes for example) are MTD junk painted yellow, but high end Cubs (from a dealer) are still decent.

Murray is made by Murray.

I don't disagree with your advice (I have a JD LX277), but with the poster's price range of 1500-2000, he's not getting high end anything, except maybe getting lucky on a used model. The JD L100 series might be the best way to go, if the local JD dealer will service it (if he buys it from Home Depot).

[JJ]

Take a look at the Tractor forum at

for some good info.

[mark dunning]

The "box store" tractors are not the same as the dealer tractors. The manufacturers have to reduce costs to meet retailers demands for lower prices, so they actually build a cheapie model for Sears Walmart and the like.

The dealers get shafted with the service and repair work on the box store failures.

If I was buying new, I'd go to a dealer and get a guarantee and a deal on repair and service built into the price. The dealer will then sell you a quality model, 'cause they will not want repair headaches

Mark (not a dealer) Dunning