Opinion

[canesisters]

I have an old one from Sears. Don't know whats printed on the side of it cause the paint faded away long ago. It's incredibly loud. The seat is covered with a folded up towel so the bolts don't poke me in the butt. It's LOUD. It leaks oil so bad that I laugh that I'm out in the field spraying for skeeters. It's LOUD. Something has gone wrong and whenever the motor is on, the blades are turning - been checked over by a half dozen folks - no one knows why it's doing this. IT'S LOUD! The deck is hanging from little pieces of chain in a couple of places 'cause the mounts rusted away. IT'S L O U D !!! But it goes out into that pasture with woody/brushy/WAY overgrown grass/weeds and takes it all down. Sometimes we have to go around 2x - but it does the job. It does make a little bit of noise though, but otherwise it's been a workhorse of a mower.

 

[897tgigvib]

Oh, Cane...Is yours very loud?

My john deere is orange and black...

 

[Smart Red]

Personally, I love my first Simplicity. Bought it used for 11 years and mowed, towed, and plowed snow with it for another 30+. It is close to 40 years old now but in the shop for repairs. I'm itching to get it back soon. Such a work horse. It was easy to use and easy to change attachments.

Bought a new Simplicity a few years back. Nothing simple about it! It does work well, but putting equipment on and off is more than this old lady can handle. Not useful to me to have the snowblower attachment if I can't attach it myself. . . or the tiller. . . or even the mower deck.

One good point. . . DH says it runs VERY QUIET. I wear ear plugs.

 

[seedcorn]

Personally, I love my first Simplicity. Bought it used for 11 years and mowed, towed, and plowed snow with it for another 30+. It is close to 40 years old now but in the shop for repairs. I'm itching to get it back soon. Such a work horse. It was easy to use and easy to change attachments.

Bought a new Simplicity a few years back. Nothing simple about it! It does work well, but putting equipment on and off is more than this old lady can handle. Not useful to me to have the snowblower attachment if I can't attach it myself. . . or the tiller. . . or even the mower deck.

One good point. . . DH says it runs VERY QUIET. I wear ear plugs.

That old of Simplicity is a tractor with gears and a real transmission. New ones are belt driven. My dad had one-believe they were made by Allis Chalmers. Indestructible.

 

[catjac1975]

We like our John Deere. We had bought a used one that was a money pit. We got the smallest lawn tractor that the dealer sells. It is bigger than the best at home depot. They said the motor goes 20-25 years and the HD model goes 12 years or so.

 

[Fred]

While I like JD farm equipment, most if not all of their small equipment is built by Chinese. It's a MTD with JD green paint.

That's not correct.
A low percentage of JD parts are manufactured in other countries.
However, they are entirely built here, in America, by John Deere.

Yes, a JD will cost more upfront (but costs less in the longrun!).
Best overall value comes with well maintained quality equipment.

Buy the best John Deere or Toro you can afford.

Fred

 

[seedcorn]

While I like JD farm equipment, most if not all of their small equipment is built by Chinese. It's a MTD with JD green paint.

That's not correct.
A low percentage of JD parts are manufactured in other countries.
However, they are entirely built here, in America, by John Deere.

Yes, a JD will cost more upfront (but costs less in the longrun!).
Best overall value comes with well maintained quality equipment.

Buy the best John Deere or Toro you can afford.

Fred

In small equipment and in parts, Chinese. Go to any JD dealer and looked at the "made in" tag. Many farmers are upset that JD parts are Chinese but OEM are built here or other non-slave countries. John Deere builds 0 of the smaller tractors. Check it out.

Do agree that maintained quality equipment is best investment.

 

[Fred]

majorcatfish,

I see now your original post is over a month old.
What did you decide on?
If buying new, and haven't got one yet, JD is currently running an excellent sale on their x500 and x700 series. $500 off!
The basic x500 would be plenty for the situation you described without being overkill.


seedcorn,

Serial plates on all JD riders will read "Deere & Company, Moline, Illinois".
"Made in U.S.A."

If you have one, or see one, that doesn't say that,.....call the cat....somethings fishy.

John Deere lawn/garden tractors are built in Horicon, Wisconsin..

Fred

 

[Mapdoctor]

I have a couple of friends that both got Husqvarna ZTRs four or five years ago. So far, no major issues except the occasional deck pulley going bad.