Strengths Large mower deck that does cut grass nicely. Goes at good "cutting speed" for mowing grass. Engine seems strong.

Weaknesses Tractor does not weigh enough to do any sort of snow removal. Cheaply built. Poor customer service. Drive system is poorly designed. Lack of ability to use other attachments b/c of build quality.

Overall I bought this tractor off of Craigslist for 1000.00 b/c I needed a tractor after just buying a house. I have 2.25 acres of grass to mow and for that the tractor serves its purpose great. Other than that the tractor is horrible. I tried pulling my neighbors roller last spring and broke a drive belt which cost me $150.00 to replace because I bent the pulley under the motor trying to replace it. I have the two-stage snow thrower and that is just awful. The belt constantly slips and it gets bogged down easily. The tractor is not heavy enough to keep any sort of traction going so it spins a lot and gets stuck easily backing up. The reason for this is the snow blower hanging on the front takes too much weight off the back. If you just need this tractor for mowing grass and nothing else you might be okay. Otherwise, do what I'm going to do and spend the money and get a quality tractor like a Simplicity. Remember you get what you paid for and I should have known better with this purchase.

Strengths Nice cut if set up right. Aprox. 2 hr set up to get 1.5 " finnish cut. Easy to modify to make into a good tractor

Weaknesses Drive belt needs changing often. found if you remove frame bolt neer rear of tracter and cut it down to just make it threw frame, belt last about 2 seasons.Grader blade not good for any thing. bagger had to be reworked to keep from plugging at deck. modification to steering (Very Poor dedign) As for being called a garden tractor, I think not. More a heavy duty lawn mower. Gardening would kill it.

Overall bought it because of troy bilt name, have replaced multiple parts and made modifications to flawed design. great tractor now would never buy another troy bilt product

Strengths 54 Inch Deck and step through design. It also rides nicely when not in the repair shop or up on blocks in my garage.

Weaknesses Drive Belt fails at least twice a year (12 to 15 hours) and requires raising motor from frame to replace due to inability to pull chintzy pulley from engine drive shaft without destroying pulley - big dollars if you can't do this yourself. Steering gear had to be repaired in the first year. Both front wheels fell off in the second year of operation due to failure of soft retaining pins on front axles. Paint also started to flake off in second year.

Overall I recommend that no one should ever buy a Troy-bilt or MTD product (Troy-bilt manufacturer) due to lack of customer support or product accountability. No one should ever accept a Troy-bilt or MTD product for free - you still can't afford to own their products.

Strengths Good strong mower, like everything about it with few exceptions

Weaknesses can't cut in reverse.

Overall