Lawn Tractor Info

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I only have a little over an acre of what used to be pasture for the horse, no hills, all flat. The yard I use the mower.
An acre dont sound like a lot until you have to mow ,rake and landscape it. I have an acre and the older i get the bigger the lot gets. Or seems to.
 
I agree- They say land is a finite item- I ain't so sure about that anymore -
 
Ordered the LT-50, no interest and free shipping. As far as a JD I bought a mower when I bought my Gator. Gator great, mower hit a small root, the same one I've been scraping for years, bent the shaft, no warranty at a week old.
 
When I was working with designers of mower decks, one of our tests included a simulated surveyor stake - a bar on a solenoid meant to stop the blades instantly. The idea was for pcs to not be ejected. Blades needed to be extremely hard to hold an edge, yet be able to bend without shatter. The entire system was also under some of the same constraints. Continuing to cut grass wasn't part of the criteria. We also did work on forage harvesters. There the simulation was of running a fence post into a corn chopper, with some of the same criteria - parts could not shatter and be ejected and injure someone. There the equipment was designed to continue to be operational, with nothing more than a change of cutting blades. Improved materials and heat treat processes made cost reductions possible. That and faster easier computing power for running analyzing software meant we were driven to use it to reduce costs.
 
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Blades were fine, shaft bent and thing shook like hell. Too costly to repair since warranty wouldn't cover it.
Think of a gyroscope. Ramp it up to speed, and the shaft axis insists on remaining stationary. Forcing a stop of the gyro on the other hand would create a large force insisting that the shaft axis move instead.
One alternative would be to have blades less stiff that would bend on impact and absorb most of the energy - but may also cut and hold up poorly, (or give way completely like on a brush cutter). They chose nicer cutting blades and passed the responsibility of avoiding obstacles onto the user.
 
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Blades were fine, shaft bent and thing shook like hell. Too costly to repair since warranty wouldn't cover it.

You can’t just replace the spindle on the mower deck? I would expect that to be under $100 on a consumer-grade machine.
 
You can’t just replace the spindle on the mower deck? I would expect that to be under $100 on a consumer-grade machine.
Many years ago on our last mower I hit a hidden rock in deep grass. After that the mower vibrated more and cut unevenly, scalping on the left outside. I pulled the deck and although everything was still in place and turning the left spindle was leaning at an angle. It had sheared one of the cast mounting feet. I bought a new one and replaced it in about 30 minutes. If I recall right the total cost of repair was under $30.
 
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I’ve got a poor man’s JD called a Sabre. 17hp and hydro and bagger. Bought it in 2001. All I’ve done is change both belts and blades once. Head gasket which developed leak between sump and combustion chamber. It smoked leaning one way only. It’s been a real good machine. This year I may have to buy the bags for it as they’re looking their age. I also have a New Holland TZ22DA I bought in 2007 for the big stuff. I have 2.2 acres
 
The Kohler engine is good. Just wish they had a locking differential option for smaller lawn tractors and a decent sized bagger.