If you're looking for a REALLY good deal, here it is: Scotts S2048 Look closely, it's a 1st cousin of the GT235, painted reddish-orange. For that reason, it will sell for a fraction of its actual value. This tractor will take a tiller, sleeve hitch, or any other ground-engaging attachment the GT series would use. There are only two minor differences that I know of: no zerks on the spindles, a tuff-torq K-62 vice K-71 transaxle, and rumors of a sligthly lighter weight LX style frame (not confirmed). The K-62 in on the border between ground-engaging and lawn tractor service, but it does have the upgraded 1" axles of the K-71, and as you can tell by the two holes drilled at the top of the back plate, this IS a garden tractor, intended by John Deere to be used with a sleeve hitch. Not sure where upstate your are, but this is in Connecticut, worth the drive. Here are some other links: http://www.epinions.com/review/Scotts_S2048_Yard_Tractor/content_35989524100 http://www.deere.com/en_US/scotts/pdfs/010001.pdf http://www.tufftorq.com/prodcomp.asp -Chris Here is a link that might be useful: wolf in sheep's clothing

Looked at the GT245 today - very nice rig. Concern is the 20HP Kawa. You can see that the inside of the right front wheel is blackened some I assume from the running rich condition. Not sure where this is going to take me. Looks like the GT245, GX255, and the GX335 all used the 20HP air-cooled Kawa potentially with this issue. Disappointing that these engines had problems, seeing and operating one of these - they are nice piece of equipment. Some of what I read seems to indicate it could be caused by the wrong air filter - air filter for internally vented carb installed on externally vent carb will cause them to run rich. See other bulletins though on having to re-jet, etc. which cause lean running issues.

I agree with everyone that said the 54" deck is better if you have no storage or access issues. I have a GX335 with the 54" deck and mulch kit in its third season mowing 2-3/4 acres with steep hills and lots of trees and have absolutely no issues even though my property is far from flat. In fact it's just mowed former pasture. Since I mulch 100% of the time, I removed the discharge flap and can trim on either side of the mowing deck. The locking differential for the hills was the reason I switched from a Craftsman with a 48" deck that could not climb those hills and I can't be happier. It also cut my mowing time by around 1.5 hours.

messmaker & marineguy: Thanks for the compliments. While I wouldnÂt exactly call it "low maintenance", I think youÂd be surprised at how little time it takes us to do the entire 2-3/4 acre yard. In the spring we have to do it once a week, but as we get into summer the growth slows and that interval gradually stretches to every two weeks plus. WeÂve averaged 21 mowings per season in the 5 years weÂve been in this house. In the fall and winter, the grass stays green but doesnÂt grow any, so we donÂt mow at all from the beginning of November until probably the middle of March. As I said earlier, we use two tractors and honestly, it takes my wife and I about 5 or 6 hours to do the entire yard including trimming and cleaning the tractors and equipment. Everything is set up so we donÂt need to do much trimming with the weed whackers except around the house itself and one small section of hillside too steep for the tractor. Both tractors are set up to mulch so we donÂt need to pick up any cuttings. Most of the trees are evergreens so thereÂs not much leaves to worry about and for what leaves there are, I use a backpack blower to blow them into the barked areas. The bases of most of the trees are barked and there is a 6" strip of dirt so we can mow around them without the need to trim. The same is true of the seasonal pond (it fills up in the winter, dries up in the summer), the gravel paths, planter areas and the pasture fence along the back stretch of our property. I hit all those strips of dirt with Roundup in a backpack sprayer twice a year and that takes care of the trimming. Although it might look smooth and manicured in the photo, itÂs really just fairly bumpy mowed former pasture after we cleaned out the blackberries and brush. None of the field was smoothed with machinery and we only seeded the bare spots with pasture mix. And none of the yard is irrigated at all except by Mother Nature. I do occasionally walk around the yard with the backpack sprayer full of a selective weed killer to control dandelions and such and once a year we fertilize a relatively small area directly behind the house that we use as our back yard.