OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Ride On Mowers Questions Ride On Mower Transmissions Manual or Hydrostatic trans

Hi all. Im looking for some advice at buying a ride on up to 38 inch cutting width,I have 1500 sqm and my dad has 1800sqm, both blocks are flat and have no obstacles.What we be the best for maintanence and reliability, manual or hydrostatic. I will have a budget of about $4k, any other suggestions will be gratefully appreciated.

G'day,
i would defiantly recommend looking at the cox range of ride on lawn mowers. they do not contain a manual nor hydrostatic drive system, rather a friction drive system which is basically 2 big clutch discs and a clutch cone (smaller, moving clutch disc). they are very simple and basically indestructible. the speed is regulated by pressure on the accelerator pedal, witch is a heal toe type set up. i have owned one personally for 2 years, but operated one with well over 1500 hours (yes you herd me)for years. i have probably put over 700 of those hours and its been a pleasure as far as cutting lawn goes. with a few basic tools and a little basic knowledge you can service them your self no problems. i could go on all night but i wont bore you. my model is the 1332 (13 horse power, 32" cut) i payed $3500 for it almost 2 years ago but the recession may have kept the prices down. the advantage of having a relativity moderate deck instead of the bigger ones is there is a smaller object to keep in motion so the disc essentially has more power making it easier to cut longer grass (i have cut lush couch well over 1 meter high no problem)
if the cox doesn't do it for you there is another Australian made machine called greenfield, which is similar but in my opinion not worth it for the extra money!
hope this helps!
any more questions on the coxes, or any other will be answered to the best of my knowledge
regards jay

Thanks jay for your reply and input. After doing lots of
research on other brands the cox 1332 has been on top of the list for a while,I would rather buy a quality aussie product and keep my hard earned dollars here than sending it overseas.
I believe that they now come with the entry level powerbuilt engine,are they any good or would the honda be a better choice.
As for boring me with info that could never happen. Excellent forum and keep the helpfull advice coming.
cheers big h

G'day,
mine has the powerbuilt Briggs and i have found it reasonable considering what else is out there. the only problems i can see with it are a air filter that doesn't seal properly and a non adjustable carby. it starts first time every time and i have never stalled it so there is plenty of power. the one thing i would advise is not letting it run out of fuel (as the diaphragm fuel pumps dont like that) and regular oil changes (more so than recommended just to be on the safe side). as to the Honda i dont really appreciate the newer ones over the old ones although the true original Japanese lines like the GXV750 or what ever they were may be a bit better, although im not sure whats on the cox. the only thing with the 1332 is they only have 4 grass height positions, wear as the Honda version and the 1532 have many more (although i get away fine with 4) the upper range models also greaseable kingpins and adjustable tie rods (tie rods dont matter so much, and it only took 20 minutes and a drill press to turn it into greasable kingpins).
i forget how many m2's are in an acre but i know that mine will mow 1 acre in no time compared to all others brands ive used.
so anyway theres a bit to think about
regards jay

Thanks again jay. I would like to know have you done anything about making sure that the air filter seal properly (nothing worse than a engine sucking in dust). If not do you or anyone know if B&S have done anything to fix this problem
cheers big h

G"day,
i bought it up at the first service and the shop i bought it from tried telling me 'its perfectly fine and thats how it should be' i then went to the engine and took out the air filter, wiped a finger full of dust strait out of the inlet manifold and replied "you have just lost a customer". so as promised i haven't been back since. (although they are not my normal mower shop anyway). so anyway when i got home i placed 2 shims under the locking tabs to take out some of the slack and it has been fine since. i have no idea weather its unique to my mower or not but i highly doubt it. in fact i had to do virtually the same thing to my briggs muncher. the problem with the ride on is its a snap on air filter assemble and the ridges that are meant to put pressure on the filter its self to seal it against the body dont, leaving a 2 mm gap for anything to get sucked in.
so i would be interested to see weather anyone else has had the same problem.
regards jay