Hmmm, I see your quandary and feel your pain on this one. Let's see, subtracting 25% of .65 acres leaves .4875 or a half acre to be mowed. The "classic" wisdom used to be that you didn't need a rider until you were mowing over half to three quarters of an acre. a 30% grade will require a strong trans, and you've already discovered you're going to have to upgrade tires as the turf tires they come with are useless on grades. Another consideration is that the lower end units probably aren't going to have the best brakes and if a belt breaks going up or down..... It almost seems that you're going to be forced into buying a much stronger and bigger unit than you need. I've known folks who had similar situations who used a self propelled walk behind while wearing golf shoes (pegs) and it seemed to work OK, not that I paid a lot of attention. I have no personal experience with self propelled walk behinds as to their traction ability. Since they have solid tires you could easily add the screw in studs which are becoming more and more popular. Save a ton of money and get a good cardio workout every time you cut the grass!! Unfortunately one of those won't pull a garden cart or an aerator. I think if I were you, I'd be looking around for a used GT, personally I have a strong preference for the Craftsman 6 speeds, but there's a ton of folks who swear by the hydros on slopes as well. I like the manual trans as I'm comfortable taking it apart if need be, but that's just me. If you bit the bullet and drop $2500-3000, you'll probably get at least a 50" deck and have your mowing done in about ten minutes...:-). That leaves $3000 sitting in the shed 99% of the time. Not a wise allocation of resources. I think I'd be looking into a used machine, save more than half the up front cost, and if you're careful and test it out well before purchase it should hold up. Again, beating the "manual trans" drum, I'd be more comfortable buying a used manual than a hydro. Keep us informed, Good luck, Ev

Must of been lucky. Bought an MTD at Ace hardware (Ace Special Edition) with a 42" cut and 16hp Tecumseh. Aside from the normal problems of your MTD of that era IE having the grille mounts break off after a few years) it's been great, and it was only replaced as it was really starting to not work well on hills, and in the last year has been a case of "What's going to break next when I mow?". A key to remember is any NEW tractor in that range is going to be light duty. If you have more an acre to mow with it, a newer, higher end, used model is a probably a better option. You'll get a lot of life out of one though if you keep it well maintained. Take care of it and there is no reason why you should not get a good, usable life of about 10-12 years. one other thing to keep in mind; the chief complaints of many people on a mower it seems is the motor. That is the most important part of a mower besides the transmission on a Hydro equipped tractor. The engine is going to what will go wrong 9 time out of 10 on a mower, and is often going to be to blame for issues with cutting (due to lack of power) and reliability.

You definately need a garden tractor for your described needs for mowing slopes and snow removal. Anything less than, you will put too much stress on your tractors transmission and you will be buying again in a few short years or so. Next, definately purchase a Garden Tractor from a dealer for the support, repairs and parts. You will be spending some dollars on your purchase so you will want a dealer that will be there to stand behind your purchase. I would concur with the guys above with at least looking at the John Deere line. The current X500 line would suit you well. I have owned JD mowers. The dealer suppport is GREAT! You will not be disappointed. If you want to safe a few bucks but still have a great, durable and very reliable garden tractor, go with marineguy's advise and look into the John Deere GT series. JD sold these through 2006. Last year I was looking at the X500 series line but after much researching, I feel I could get what I needed from a newer GT series. I saved some money and got the attachments I wanted. Good luck to you!

Depending on the actual acreage you'll want to mow, a small used Yanmar/Kubota/Massey/JohnDerre sub-compact tractor with a rear, three-point mounted, rough cut rotary mower might serve you well for springtime cutting of pasture land in the foothills. There are numerous dealers in Bakersfield, Fresno, Stockton, Sacramento, and Redding that could find you a reasonable tractor w/mower setup for under $6000 that would last you a lifetime. Get yourself a good strong Stihl weed trimmer with a bicycle handle setup for mowing around the granite out-croppings and slopes too steep for mowing. Myself? I purchased a Husqvarna 2748GLS for my one acre lot in Tehachapi for $2900 and it took me 3.8 hours to mow my overgrown, gopher/ground squirrel infested lot on the highest deck setting (3.5"). I have a Stihl FS130 for trimming the slopped areas. Next year, I'll mow before the grass gets two feet high so I don't beat the poor Husqvarna to death playing catch-up. Seven acres of similiar land, or even three acres of similiar land would be reason enough for me to shop for a sub-compact tractor with a rough cut mower. !Remember to flag the sprouting oak trees to avoid mowing them off. They need all of the help they can get to replace the standing ancient oaks that make the California foothills and Sierra valleys unique. They estimate the tree in my front yard (a Oregon White Oak) to be older than Christopher Columbus. Good luck in your search; autumn and winter is the best time shop for used mowing equipment in California. Watch the Craig listings too.