Today most homeowner’s have a riding lawnmower. With today’s lifestyle and larger home lot, the riding lawnmower has become a necessity rather than a luxury. Common riding lawnmower styles include the rear-engine riding mower, the lawn tractor, the garden tractor, and the ZTR (zero turning radius lawnmower). Common consumer brands of riding mowers include Murray, Poulan, Weed-eater, MTD, Troybilt, and Yardmachine. Plus, there are many major brand name outdoor power equipment manufacturers such as Toro, John Deere, Simplicity, and Snapper.
Riding Mowers are Getting Bigger
In the eighties, common cutting deck sizes were between 28″ and 42″ with horsepower ratings between 8 and 16. But today the manufacturers have stepped up with common cutting decks between 38″ and 54″ and horsepower ratings from 12.5 to 27 horsepower.
Roughly 60% of today’s mowers have hydrostatic transmissions, while 40% use manual transmissions.
Larger cutting decks require multiple cutting blades. Decks sized 36″, 38″, 40″, and 42″ primarily use two (2) blades. Decks sized 44″, 46″, 48″, 50″, 52″, and 54″ primarily use 3 blades. There are exceptions to these rules so always make sure that you know how many blades your mower’s deck requires. (more…)