Ride-on mower: 4 acres to mow, budget £3k max; what to get?

[nicholas mayhew]

hi there,
i have about four acres of land, comprising just over 1/2 acre of lawn, nearly 1 acre of well kept paddock (mowed regularly), and sheep pasture of say 3 acres - the grass has been kept low by their grazing but needs topping; it also has steepish hills and can be a bit uneven in places.

with £3k budget, what should i get, and will it be any good?

i have lloked at various manufacturers' websites but none really say "if you have this sort of land try this" etc, only telling me HP of the engine and other technical stuff. even more infuriatingly, i can find no price lists n their sites at all, and can only conclude they are bashful about how expensive they are, which fills me with suspicion, or that it's a "if you have to ask you can;t possibly afford" mentality, which makes me want to scream!!

can anyone shed some light in my very dark garden shed?!

kind regards,

Nicholas

 

[Thermo]

at that price range there are quite a few that you could choose from. Have a look for some local garden machinery retailers that deal with trade/agriculture etc. Most will offer good advice and even a site visit to look at the land and give advice.

 

[nicholas mayhew]

Thanks Thermo.
I appreciate your input, but what i am after i suppose is what would you get if it was your £3k you were going to spend??
Kind regards,

Nicholas

 

[Thermo]

have a look at mountfield or westwood websites. Also worth having a look at the more expensive ones to see what you can pick up second hand. If you went for more of a tractor type one, then you can add various attachments to it such as a trailer, aerator, roller etc that turns it into a bit more than a ride on mower.

 

[W_Axl_Rose]

With 3 grand I'd be looking at a used John Deere X540 with low hours on the clock, 4 and a half foot cutting deck and from a reputable dealer/source. I think they're approx roughly 4.5k new but was sourced for 3.9k if my memory's correct. (the 320 i think at the time started at 3.2k so 3.9k was a very good deal. if people aren't forthcoming with a price on first enquiry they're probably on the steep side. our final quotes ranged from the 3.9k it was purchased at to 5.2k so there's plenty of slack to take advantage of)

That's speaking from experience all of which to date has been very positive (touch wood). mainly on an 8 acre estate with varied terrain including plenty of lawns, rough areas, longer-cut areas, cut meadow walks, hidden dips, planted obstacles, pig pasture etc. (the coffee mug holder is worth it's weight in gold.)

There are other makes and models out there but this is my most recent experience so can't give you a comparison. i can't even remember what the last two i used were (not owned). they were ok, did the job but nothing to write home about. this one just feels solid, runs like a dream and is very reliable. fuel needle barely seems to go down either.

hope that helps.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Ebay is your friend!

 

[Sureitsoff?]

one make comes to mind and only one Countax

 

[oilman]

Approach a local farmer. They have all the kit and will do the job quickly for a reasonable sum.

 

[MFCGMFC]

John Deere or Toro are trade standard makes

Toro seems to be a little cheaper than John Deere from new so a triple deck ride on could be easy to pick up second hand, we recently souold ours for £1100 but it needed a good service

only thing i would say is make sure whatever machine you buy, it gets regular service as one of th oil pipes came flying off ours mid-cut lol

John Deere make excellant multi purpose tractors and mowers but are dearer than toro

Both companies make great machinery for most budgets

I recently saw a rotary mover mde by John Deere for £15k! it'll do 11,000m2 per day, i'd want it to make my dinner, tea and take me to work!

imagine walking behind that for 11000m2 a day!

 

[merlin50]

http://www.abbeygardensales.co.uk/subprod/honda-ride-on-mowers-0001673.aspx

 

[Burnerman]

Check out the spares situation.....John Deere - not the quality it should be. Spares excellent.
Honda - great but mega bucks. Countax - often use the Honda V twin motor, a real gem.
Hydrostatic transmission is a must....
Countax can be awkward to work on cutter and deck wise but the spares situation is good.....I think I'd go for them. I think they are more upmarket than Mountfield or Westwood. I have a Mountfield tractor myself and its great - but it likes TLC. It has a B&S 14 hp side valve engine.
I'd avoid MTD - good enough product but not particularly well made, and some Tecumseh spares are poor to get.
John

 

[digdilem]

1 acre here, half lawn, half paddock.

Had a husqvarna LT120 for the past 6 years, done pretty well. Engine still superb, battery starting to fail, wings getting some rust (I never clean it).

Does need a new cutter belt every year, which is about 40-50 quid, but was by far the cheapest. Bought it new from local agricultural dealers for under a grand.

Will buy another Husky.

Had westwoods before, which are solidly built (i just cut up the one with an angle grinder - despite being parked outside for 6 years after about 20 years of use, very little rust) but they are very pricy.