It all boils down to clearly identifying your needs and matching those needs to mower features. My property has a few hills, one is a bit steep. I also wanted to potentially to add a snowblower in the future as my current walk behind is 23 y/o, and my driveway is 80' long and on an uphill incline. My original plan was a new XT1 LT50 seemed a good fit. Once I started researching youtube vids I grew concerned as to all the hydro trans problems. Started to dig deeper and the LT50 has the K46 trans, which is fine for flat mowing but not an adequate feature for my needs IMO . I'm speculating that many of the trans failures are from overheated fluid either from fluid leaks or overheating from hilly terrain in hot weather. I'm sure lack of fluid changes plays a role in the failures as well as the TL200 and K46 trans are by Tuff Tork definition "non serviceable" when in fact the units are , but the trans assembly needs to be removed as there is no drain and fill plugs for a fluid change. The K58 and above trans have drain and fill plugs for easy maintenance. There's nothing wrong with buying a mower larger than you think you need. I only have about 3/4 to mow and I ultimately went with a 54" deck and it substantially lessened my mowing time vs, my old underpowered Craftsman 42". I ended up buying new from my local Cub dealer, and I took the cash that I was going to use for buying the LT50 model, put that to the 54D model , and financed the rest through the Cub's 0% / 36 month promo. I was also considering the Husqvarna TS354XD which was pretty much the same as the Cub 54D. The husqvarna had no financing promo and a high interest rate. What I know now, if I were to consider used, I would look for a XT2 50"+ with K58 or K62 trans. Again it's all about matching your intended application to features.
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