There is one other lawn tractor that is not mtd, American made, and bullet-proof. That's an Ingersoll (NOT ingersol-rand), formerly Case. You'll pay 6000-8000 dollars but it'll be the last one you'll ever have to buy. Mine's 26 years old and still runs every day. Try looking on ebay for one. You can usually find good running examples for 2 grand. Think about it. For the same money as a crap tractor you'll replace in 3 years, you could own one that will last 30.

 

"I am disappointed to the point of never, NEVER, buying anything John Deere makes ever again."

Wow, that is a loaded statement. John Deere didn't build it. They just allowed their name to be put on it. I hate to repeat what was already mentioned, but you bought a bargain basement lawnmower with a great name, hence the cheap price. I purchased a John Deere LX 176 in 1997. To date it has never seen the repair shop. I have put 3 sets of blades, 3 sets of belts, 1 battery, and changed the oil in it 6 times. I paid $3200 dollars for it, but I got $3200 worth of lawnmower. For the first 3 years I owned it I was cutting 3 acres a week of bahaya and sand. Since then less than an acre. It still looks like brand new, and the deck has not one single thin spot, or ding from where I bush hogged the brush between yards, the first day I got it. Wife even ran over the edge of an I beam, with it on accident, took a chip out of the blade, but did not bend the spindle. Like the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. That being said, if it has a briggs in it, its not top of the line. Deere's best riders came with the Kawasaki, next models down came with Kohler. Several now come with the briggs in them, but they don't make the full line of LX series anymore either.

Ryan