How long will my ride-on mower last? A true story from the field.
I had been in business for about 14 years when John Deere released its first consumer-focused ride-on mower: the 100 Series. It was a big moment. This was the first time they had properly entered the consumer market under the John Deere name, and we were right there on the front line selling them.
Within two years, our mower sales had doubled our business turnover. It was a successful run.
One day, we were invited to Rotorua to meet the John Deere design team behind the series. It was a three-hour drive, so I rounded up my top salesman and two of our mechanics, and off we went.
The meeting itself was held in the smoko room at the local dealership. No boardroom. No PowerPoint. Just a couple of engineers from John Deere USA and a dozen or so Kiwi dealers having a yarn over coffee.
They ran through the changes coming up that year, and we told them how well our sales were going with these machines. Then, almost casually, one of the engineers said something that stopped us in our tracks:
There was a bit of stunned silence. Then: “Wait, what?”
They explained that these mowers were designed to cut two acres of grass, once a week, for ten years. That works out to around 50 hours a year. Times ten. 500 hours.
And when you think about it like that, it actually makes sense. It just wasn’t how we were used to thinking about machinery.
To be clear, the mowers do not suddenly fall apart at the 500-hour mark. That figure is simply their expected service life. And like anything, how long they really last depends on how they are used, how well they are maintained, and sometimes just a bit of luck.
Over the years, I have:
• Sold a 500-hour used mower to a customer who got another 250 hours out of it
• Seen 100 Series mowers reach 1,250 hours and keep going
• Heard of a 2,000-hour commercial model reaching over 6,000 hours with a couple of deck replacements along the way
There are even mowers out there with no hour meter at all. Who knows how far they have gone.
If you are handy with repairs and not paying workshop labour, you can often stretch the life of these machines well beyond their original design. But it is also worth understanding the choices made to keep costs down for entry-level models.
Some of these include:-
• 2-ply tyres instead of 4-ply
• Greased bushes in the front wheels instead of bearings
• Gauze transmission filters instead of spin-on replacements
• No transmission charge pump
• Plastic starter gears
• Drilled holes instead of bushings in steering and idler arms
• Budget vinyl seats
So how long will your ride-on mower last?
The answer is that it depends. But with the right expectations and a bit of know-how, you might be surprised just how far you can go.