Wheelhorse vs Simplicity

[leeave96 488]

I had a chance to put up some hours on my Simplicity Landlord DLX with 50 inch deck and my Wheelhorse 520H with 48 inch deck and foot control.  It was great in that I used one tractor right after the other.

 

The Simplicity is a GREAT machine.  The one I have I transplanted a 14 hp vs the 18 hp which had a broken rod.  The Landlord was considered a garden tractor by Simplicity, not sure the year of mine, but I'd say around 1990ish.  The deck is 50 inch and underwent some repairs too.  The Simplicity will lay down some stripes and cuts the grass great.  Nothing like a ground supported deck.

 

The Wheelhorse I was using is a 1992 year model 520H with Matt's foot control, steering reduction, swept forward axle and gear reduction steering.  The deck was a 48 inch side discharge.

 

While I really prefer the Wheelhorse tractors, I've got other makes and model tractors because a few years ago I thought I'd see what the fuss was about other color tractors.  I've also taken on much more mowing chores over the last few years.  In addition to my house, I mow (off and on) two Church yards and a camp with a LOT of grass.  I also mow the yard of an old house my Parents have downsized out of and are selling, as well as their present house once in a while.  I don't do all this mowing by myself, my two Boys get a lot of seat time.  Bottom line - taking on these other color tractors helps keep the Wheelhorse tractor hours down.  While I like to run my Wheelhorse tractors, I don't want to run them into the ground.  I'd like to pass them onto my kids one of these days with a fair amount of life left in them - so I'm glad to run the other color tractors, see what they are all about and the Simplicity Landlord is one of these tractors.

 

Used the Simplicity for camp mowing duty this morning.  The grass was about half wet from a night before rain and a couple of weeks tall.  The tractor did great, but sometimes the 14 hp engine let me know the going was tough.  I couldn't detect any belt slippage and the tight turning radius and foot pedal controls made the tractor very nimble.  Being camp mowing duty, I didn't try for stripes - just knock the grass down and live another day.  Biggest problem I had was that the rollers across the back of the Simplicity are in some ways a mine field.  You got to be careful not to snag the rollers on a root!  I've got a rule with these old tractors.  Once they start - they don't stop until I get them back on the trailer, else bad things could happen.  While I was mowing, after about an hour and half, my Brother stopped by and I turned off the tractor.  When I got back on it, the tractor started just fine, but the electric PTO wouldn't engage at all.  I've had this happen before and after everything cools, it works again.  Bottom line - camp duty mowing was over for the day.  No electric PTO on the 520H.

 

Once back home, I unloaded the Simplicity and loaded the mighty 520H and headed for my Church.

 

I pulled the tractor off the trailer and hit the grass.  I mowed with a fairly fast pace as thunder storm clouds looked like they were forming.  The grass was mostly dry, but tall and thick in many of the places I mowed.  The tractor did GREAT.  The deck cut great, no clumping and the ground supported deck gave a great side to side cut.  The Simplicity has manual steering and the gear reduction steering on the Wheelhorse was VERY nice and noticeable after using the Simplicity earlier in the day.  48 vs 50 inch deck - pretty much the same in terms of cutting time.  While the Wheelhorse doesn't stripe, there are no rollers to catch on anything.  Did I say the cut was GREAT?

 

Bottom line:  Though this Simplicity Landlord DLX may have been sold as a garden tractor and does a great job all around, especially with striping, I consider it a sheet metal tractor.  It is more bumpy than the Wheelhorse, IMHO do to weight differences - perhaps, but the Wheelhorse definately riders better.  The Wheelhorse's gear reduction is wonderful and Matt's foot control brings the tractor into the 21st century.  The Onan sounds great and does not lack for any power.  I've got some baler belting I've been thinking about using to make some kind of striping mechanism that would attach to the clevis hitch close to the rear wheels for the Wheelhorse, but haven't got there yet.

 

Sooooo - the Wheelhorse IMHO is the better of the tractors.  Simplicity is very good too.  Great day for mowing!  Life is good...

 

Bill

 

[546cowboy 301]

I had a 1999 Landlord DLX a couple years ago. I bought it from a dealer at an unbelievable low price. It was a trade-in and needed some work. Anyway it was a nice machine with foot control, 50" deck and it had a differential lock. I can't remember what size Kohler Command it had in it though, I mowed with it some and actually thought about keeping it for a while. That foot control and diff. lock sure made it nice.

 

But having owned four 520's I really wasn't impressed enough not to sell it to finance more Horses. The Simplicity was not a garden tractor though. It's a mower!

Edited August 12, 2013 by 546cowboy