Lawn Tractor vs Garden Tractor

In this video I talk about the 4 main differences between a true Garden Tractor and a Lawn Tractor.

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[mountaineer]

It’s quite amazing your knowledge and skill set at your age. I’m glad to know there are young people out there like you, keep on saving and sharing !

[Thequailfamil]

I have a 1990 Wheel Horse 520h. Best tractor I have ever owned. Still going strong today!

[MichaelTJD]

Great video Norman. I can think of one more important point that needs to be considered when talking about lawn vs garden tractors:

40+ years ago, people went to their John Deere, IH, Wheel Horse, Bolens, etc. dealer to buy a machine that they could use around their property to do any job they needed without having to pay the price of a farm tractor. Garden tractors were just that - a small farm tractor. Garden tractor manufacturers focused less on lawn care, and more on other tasks their tractors could handle (snow removal, digging, PTO-driven attachments, log splitting, brush-hogging, flail- or sickle-bar mowing, etc). Many of these attachments are rare and hard to find today because they lost popularity among homeowners. With the advent of commercial mowers (like the zero-turn) within the past 25 years, the focus has shifted away from landscaping and yard work (tractor work), and more towards lawn care. Back then, if you ordered a garden tractor new, the mower deck was optional.

Today, most lawn/garden tractors come standard with a mower deck, and it seems pointless to buy a tractor WITHOUT one. The modern lawn and garden tractor manufacturers try to sell more "lawn mowers" than tractors. It's become a multi-billion dollar market, and all the manufacturers want a piece of it, so they try to sell as many "cheap" lawn tractors as they can. As a result, people go out to their local big-box store intending to buy a machine that will just mow their lawn once every week or two, and won't be doing any other significant jobs around the yard (most people will hire a company to do landscaping, hardscaping, and other contractor work, rather than doing it themselves). 40 years ago, nobody cared about whose lawn had the nicest stripes or the straightest lines in the neighborhood.

[dbx]

Norman, that was the most simplistic and informative information I have ever came across regarding differences between garden tractors & lawn tractors. I found it be very helpful. Thanks for a great video.

[morganwilcox]

Thank you for explaining this. I get tired of people thinking my vintage cub cadet IH is just a little riding mower. Good video👍

[_sears]

Another easy way to tell between the two is use use of bolts to hold the rear wheels on garden tractors versus one C clip or cotter pin to hold the rear wheels on lawn tractors. Great video Norman!

[davelambert]

Thank you Norman never to old to learn something new I've been looking at my old Dayton tractor as if it was a true garden tractor now I see the difference I have three lawn tractors a Troybilt & Lawnchief & Sears the differences I notice is the weight and the rear axle is a little bigger with bigger rear wheels I'm looking for a carburetor for the Dayton to get it back up and running it may not be a true garden tractor but I like it do to it's old like me and I enjoy keeping old things running

[GJSolo]

Incredible! Thank you for explaining this to those of us who are completely clueless!

[Theupermann]

Great video. You made a lot of great points! I have had to explain this exact same thing to many people also. I don't think people release that the old garden tractors are like miniature farm tractors. They were meant to do some serious work like maintaining large estates, small farms, and golf courses. They also had a lot of cool attachments available like front loaders, sickle bars, mott mowers, generators, plows, graders, etc.. Todays tractors are really only designed to be a lawn mower. You should make a video about vintage attachments from Danco. That would be interesting. Keep up the good work!

[mnmadmike]

I have Broken it down into four class's for home owners. Lawn tractor Yard tractor garden tractor utility tractor.
Lawn tractor is purely to mow, light weight and usually only offer mowing decks and bagger. Yard tractors offer mowers blowers and may tow a small cart on occasion while still being a light weight. Garden tractors do all above plus engage ground with options such as tillers post hole diggers and push blades with possibly hydraulic and multiple more robust pto and attachment points. Utility tractor basically a small general purpose farm tractor that can accept a bucket and back hoe but still have mower and blower option.
I love these type videos keep Them coming Please. That Simplicity is Sweet!!!

[PaulieDetmurds]

Entirely agree with your comparison. Good vid!

[dominique]

Salut Norman,
Merci pour tes vidéos, vivement les beaux jours que je puisse bricoler à nouveau mes MF1200. Tes vidéos sont pour nous passionnés un vrai plaisir. 😉

[MultiRedneck]

Thank you for the share man, it was very interesting

[kenjett]

Good information something that was an expensive lesson for me to learn.

[nathanbottjer]

Great video Norm!! I put your video on a playlist on my channel. This is one of the best ways to explain the differences.

[armurano]

Thank you for this. I am no longer at the crossroad not knowing which direction to go.

[kennethcochran]

Hey Norman comment yesterday about my fathers 122 cub cadet . Along with buying the tractor he bought the rotor tiller, snow thrower and I believe the mower deck is a 54 inch he also bought the extra granny gear and the hydraulic lift. He told me it was around 1400.00 for everything in 1966. I remember the day he and his third cousin brought it home in the back of a ford pickup I was 6 years old

[brianphilbrook]

Love my 112. I have to put some new seals in my axle and input pulley. The one thing I don’t like is the variable speed drive on it. I’d rather it had more gears instead. I used it to pull a bush hog I built and had to use the clutch to find a happy speed because one was to slow the next one up was too fast and it just stretched the belts to the point it’d hardly move itself.

[workingcountry]

I've got a Ford YT16.
Very sturdy. It's heavier than a modern "garden tractor" but not as heavy as other 1980s garden tractors. I'm considering full restoration if its able to plow a garden or run a rototiller.
Love the oposed twin Koehler on it

[dalelutter]

Hi Norman thanks for the great videos on garden tractor I do have ten garden tractor John Deere, Bolin, Wheels Horse, Case . Thanks Dale