Craftsman 20HP Garden Tractor

1999 Craftsman Garden Tractor
Model 917.273023
20HP V-twin Kohler Pro Engine
Hydrostatic auto transaxle
23x10.5 Rear Tires
Electric PTO
46" three blade deck w/mulching kit

Clearance Price: $1999.00 (Regular Price $2999.00)

Anyone have an opinion about this tractor? I cut about an acre of land with some minor hills and I want to be able to plow a 100 foot driveway. Yes it is not a DJ, but it is green color, so maybe I can just pretend it is a DJ and save a ton of green ;-)

I have the prior version, 18.5 HP with the 46" mulching deck. I find the tractor to be reliable and I work mine pretty hard. I have 6 acres in varying degrees of finish to deal with. The deck does not, nor ever did, cut very cleanly. In my opinion there is not enough blade overlap, thereby leaving noticeable strips or uneven areas between the blades. The blades are also a problem. Mine have a star shaped spindle...can't buy blades from anyone but Sears. The mulching blades are poor at lifting the grass, so I upgraded to a Hi-Lift blade. Problem is, there is so little clearance under the deck that is cloggs quickly in 2-week old grass.

You get what you pay for. I paid $2,000 for mine in '96. Having to do it again, I would have purchased a dedicated mower (landscape style). I've since bought two antique tractors which I enjoy; '59 Case 611B and a '58 Farmall Cub.

Good luck.

I use the hilift blades, and it's not the chute that cloggs, but the deck itself. The hilift blades force the grass to the top of the deck where is sticks and builds up in clumps. If the grass is super dry, no problem.

I've just never been very happy with the overall performance of the deck, especially compared to commercial landscape style mowers.