Husqvarna lawn tractors anyone? 2348

[Ryan Browne]

We do a fair amount of mowing on the 20 acres my dad owns and the adjoining 20 my wife and I just bought. We've been using a 42" Craftsman with a 15.5hp Kohler for years. It did a fine job, but I'm kinda tired of putzing with it. Recently it stopped running and I'm considering a replacement rather than repairing it. A friend of mine offered me his Husqvarna 2348 today for $350. It's on pretty good shape. Used, but not used up. I'm wondering if it's worth owning.

The new property came with a 2017 Toro mx4200, which is nice, but honestly I don't think my dad will ever really like a zero turn. Also, having a second mower will be handy many days when there's lots of mowing to do. Yes, I'd personally prefer to have neither of them, and get a bigger diesel zero turn, but the Toro was free, and this husky looks pretty cheap for what it is. Even if I sold the Toro I'd be a few grand short of a used diesel mower, so it's just not in the cards for now.

So, anyone got any experience with these husky tractors? It's got a 23 HP Briggs and Stratton, which I'm hoping will be a big step forward from the 15.5. I know it's not a commercial unit or a garden tractor, but I'm hoping it'll keep me happy for 3-5 years until a heavier duty mower makes sense. I'd very much appreciate any thoughts on the subject.

Thanks!

 

[S Sidwell]

Don't know about that model but I've got a Husqvarna Fast Tractor, YTH24K48 which I've enjoyed using over the years, cuts fast and has lots of power. It has a Kohler, 24hp engine, 10 year deck warranty.

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[S Sidwell]

Orange deck is the good one, gray deck is the cheap one, not as strong, standard blade shafts and has no grease fittings.

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[Ryan Browne]

Yeah, I think this is the cheap version of your model. Guessing it's got the gray deck and it's not the Kohler, unfortunately.

 

[S Sidwell]

They stopped using the Kohler engine about 3 years ago and switched over to Briggs, Briggs was cheaper for profits.

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[S Sidwell]

My neighbor has the gray deck model, second season cutting. Don't think they've had any problems with theirs yet. Has drive speed selector on fender instead of foot control and a manual blade engagement and no arm rests. I've got about 175 hours on mine so far with only a start switch failure this year and the front deck adjuster snapped where the factory drilled a hole for a cotter pin. Never figured out why it has a cotter pin there, has no function. That broke while under warranty.

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[tp2177]

I got a Troy built horse xp a few years ago as a return from Lowe’s for $650 with 20 hours on it. Probably 300-400 hours on it now. Other than my starter going out but still mostly functioning, it’s given me 5 years of good work. granted I only mow 3 of my 6 acres but it has done some mild bush hogging lol. I say that because I’m sure they are very similar mowers and even though I wanted a commercial I didn’t turn this down and it hasn’t let me down so far. Hoping to get 5 more years out of it till I can decide between a tractor or a big zero turn.


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[S Sidwell]

If you take care of your equipment and do proper maintenance, they last a long time. Anything that moves, metal to metal, metal to plastic, will last longer also with a little lubricant, even the lowly deck gauge wheels will last a long time.

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[Duce]

Had a 2348 with a 3 bag grass catcher on rear and worked well. Sooo many leaves, went with a cyclone rake and both worked well together. Never had a problem with the mower, ran good. Sold to a friend and he is still running it. Switched to a 5424S zero turn, because of amount of trees in yard. If it's in good condition $350 sounds like a very good price. Have mowed with neighbors Ferris, Cat diesel, 72 inch cut and that is a completely different mowing experience. Have to like that 4 wheel independent suspension. He purchased his used from a local golf course.

 

[Ryan Browne]

Had a 2348 with a 3 bag grass catcher on rear and worked well. Sooo many leaves, went with a cyclone rake and both worked well together. Never had a problem with the mower, ran good. Sold to a friend and he is still running it. Switched to a 5424S zero turn, because of amount of trees in yard. If it's in good condition $350 sounds like a very good price. Have mowed with neighbors Ferris, Cat diesel, 72 inch cut and that is a completely different mowing experience. Have to like that 4 wheel independent suspension. He purchased his used from a local golf course.

Thanks! Yeah, looking around on Craigslist you can't really get much for under $700 it seems, so I figure I'll buy it, run it for the summer and if I don't like it for whatever reason I shouldn't have much terribl getting my money back out of it.

We grow vegetables for a living, and use two small diesel tractors. Other than chainsaws, a leaf blower and a string trimmer we have very little gas equipment. If our mower was diesel too, I'd almost never need to lug around gas cans. Off road diesel tends to be about $.50/gallon cheaper than e-free premium, and I can buy 50 gallons at a time in my transfer tank and then it's super easy to fill the tanks on equipment. I did recently consider a 60" mid mount mower for my smaller compact tractor, but decided against it. I'm sure it'd be a nice setup, but they wanted $700 for it and then it has very limited resale value in the future since it would only fit a small number of similar tractors. Also, it would sort of limit what I could do with that tractor while the deck is mounted. I'd rather not mess around with installing it and removing it several times a year.

So, I'll keep dreaming of a nice dedicated diesel mower and hope that this Husky does a good job for a few years in the meantime.

 

[boltonranger]

My experience is that the YT is a good Machine, if you don’t bag and have inclines consider wheel weights. They’re lighter in the rear than my MTD/White 46. Sometimes the Husky will spin the wheels a bit too easy in soft turf but not a deal breaker. A very capable, comfortable machine.

 

[old guy]

Ryan, I have a yth2442ls I bought new about 7 years ago, it has the 24 horse kawi. in it. I got it to blow snow with but it came with that good welded 42'' mower. It was the smallest tractor I could get with a locked diff. in a Husky and as an old offroader I wasn't going to blow snow with a one wheel wonder.
There's only 106 hrs. on it now but it has been a very good machine.

 

[Ryan Browne]

Ryan, I have a yth2442ls I bought new about 7 years ago, it has the 24 horse kawi. in it. I got it to blow snow with but it came with that good welded 42'' mower. It was the smallest tractor I could get with a locked diff. in a Husky and as an old offroader I wasn't going to blow snow with a one wheel wonder.
There's only 106 hrs. on it now but it has been a very good machine.

Thanks for the input Jon. I'm happy to hear that people are getting good results with these machines. Also, sorry I didn't get back to you earlier this week. Time got away from me. Glad to hear that you'll be making lots ofof sawdu up there. How long until you make the move?

 

[KYsawman]

I have a husqvarna 2348. It is a 2005 model the first owner blew the engine up, didn’t put oil in it. The Briggs 23 got replaced with a Briggs 25. It has 1200+ hr and still runs good. Mine has the cheaper gray deck. The wife mows with it and I run a newer husqvarna M ZT61 zero turn. We mow eight acres, seven of it is paster land, it is rough on mowers.

 

[S Sidwell]

We put anti-freeze and water mix in the rear tires, solved the problem with tire spin and has good traction on an incline. Will also backup the hill without spinning and didn't slow the mower speed any.

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[tp2177]

We put anti-freeze and water mix in the rear tires, solved the problem with tire spin and has good traction on an incline. Will also backup the hill without spinning and didn't slow the mower speed any.

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How much do you put in there? Do you put it in there and then fill the rest up with air? Never heard of that being done.


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[Ryan Browne]

How much do you put in there? Do you put it in there and then fill the rest up with air? Never heard of that being done.


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I don't know how typical it is in the lawn tractor world, but filled tires are very common for AG and utility tractors. In the old days people used water and calcium chloride, which prevented freezing and added weight, but was corrosive. Now, people use sugar beet juice, which is super heavy, non toxic, and non corrosive, but fairly expensive. DIYers will use windshield washer fluid or RV antifreeze, unless you live where it never freezes hard in which case you can just use water. You can buy a transfer pump and a Schrader adapter pretty cheaply. Also, a tractor dealership would be able to fill them or tell you which tire store does. The norm is to fill them just over the top of the rim. You need to leave enough air above that to act as a cushion, since water doesn't compress.

 

[tp2177]

Thanks I’ll definitely look into that. I spin a good bit in my front yard


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[S Sidwell]

We just broke down one side, made a 50/50 mix and layed the tires on it side and filled them up. We have the tools to fill up tractor tires but the time we got them up, we were done. Don't use straight water, any missing paint on the inside of the rim will rust.

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[old guy]

Thanks for the input Jon. I'm happy to hear that people are getting good results with these machines. Also, sorry I didn't get back to you earlier this week. Time got away from me. Glad to hear that you'll be making lots ofof sawdu up there. How long until you make the move?

Will actually be moving this weekend.