My Opinion: I first saw this mower at Lowes in 2012 and it had me confused. It looked like a Garden Tractor but the price was too cheap. The data on Lowes was normally cryptic and Husqvarna did not have it listed. Well, Husqvarna finally has all the data sheets available so I am ready to write a review.
Lowes continues to sell this lawn tractor and lists it as a Garden Tractor. At least they don’t state it can handle hills or ground engaging equipment – because it can’t.
by: Paul Sikkema
The LGT2654 is not a Garden Tractor.
I don’t like to write negative reviews because I know that 98% of the time the manufacture’s build a lawn tractor specifically for a certain user and my goal on this blog is to match that customer to the right lawn tractor. But in this case it appears this mower is targeted solely as a way to get market share away from other retailers. I have no idea if Lowes intentionally has applied P.T. Barumn’s “There’s a sucker born every minute” rule or if the buyers just did not know what they were ordering when they set this tractor up. (Sorry Lowes, I know you read this blog regularly) Build.com does list this mower correctly as a lawn tractor. (Husqvarna 960 43 01-48 Self-Propelled 54″ 26HP Lawn Tractor 960 43 01-48)
Now in Lowes defense, the definition of a garden tractor was never clearly defined. Even Wikipedia/Garden Tractor reroutes to a page on lawn mowers. Popular Mechanics does have an older article on garden tractors Comparison Test – 5 Garden Tractors. But the general consensus in the industry is a Garden Tractor is a dual purpose machine. Garden Tractors are intended to not only mow your lawn but to also pull ground engaging equipment. It can mow your lawn, disk up your garden and haul a full load of firewood out of the timber. The LGT2654 is not a Garden Tractor.
While the LGT2654 has a Garden Tractor Frame it does not have a garden tractor transmission. This tractor has a smaller, weaker lawn tractor transmission, the K46 Tuff-Torq installed.
If you actually want a Garden Tractor start your research by looking at the Craftsman G5000 Model 20403 or Craftsman Pro GT Model 20443 or 20445. Read my reviews here. Craftsman G5000 Review Craftsman Pro GT Review
If you want a lawn tractor with larger tires like this also look at the John Deere D170. The D170 has more history and the owners generally like the machine.
I am still not done with the negatives:
Before I discuss why you might actually want this tractor I still have a few more details of why this tractor is a poor design. I want you to completely understand why this is not a good garden tractor or even a good lawn tractor for some of you. If I am going to recommend a tractor I want you to feel confident that it will last and I have some concerns about the transmission life in this tractor.
Let’s get technical: The K46 Tuff-Torq transmission in this tractor is very popular and you will find it in many of the current lawn tractors. John Deere, Craftsman, Husqvarna, Simplicity and others all use it. It is dependable and can be modified for many applications. But it does have limits and they are: 20 inch max tire size, 3/4 inch axles, 675 lbs axle load, and 170 ft lbs of torque. (A Garden Tractor trans has 1 inch axles, 700-1000 lb axle load and a minimum of 300 ft lbs of torque) Because the K46 is not rated for 22 inch tires on this tractor, I feel the torque applied to the transmission with these larger tires may cause premature transmission failure. Using it on hills will cause the trans to overheat and fail. When pulling loads (like firewood) the transmission may not even have enough torque to pull the load up a hill. Instead of spinning the tires if the load is greater than the traction this transmission may just stall out. I have had a few transmissions stall out on hills over the years and it is a very scary situation. You can’t go forward and backing down with a trailer is next to impossible. You really don’t dare to put in the clutch and use the parking brake because you know the brakes on lawn tractors just are not that good. About all you can do is turn off the tractor, get off and get out-of-the-way as it careens back down the hill.
I am even concerned about installing a snow thrower or snow blade on this tractor because pushing that much weight may cause too much stress on the transmission.
What it is good for:
Flat lawns, no slopes or hills. The large tires will soak up bumps better than the smaller 20 inch tires on lawn tractors. Because of the larger tires the deck will lift up about 1 inch higher than a Craftsman YT4500 or Husqvarna YTH26V54. A lot of us prefer to mow our bluegrass/fescue lawns at 4 inches or higher and this tractor’s lift will allow it to mow that high. If I had 2 acres or more and just wanted a larger lawn tractor to mow my lawn I would consider the YTH26V54. If I thought I would use ever it for landscape work, plowing snow or hauling more than mulch in my yard cart, I would look at a different mower.
Brand/Manufacture: Husqvarna
Model/Series: Lawn Tractor or Light Garden Tractor
Item Number: Item Number Varies By Retailer
Where To Buy: Husqvarna LGT2654 26 HP Hydro Light Garden Tractor, 54-Inch
Street Price: $2299.99
Basic Quality: (Cheap, Good, Best, Premium, Don’t Buy) This is Husqvarna’s Good Quality. There is a better quality sold at your local Husqvrana Dealer.
Type: (Riding Mower, Lawn Tractor, Yard Tractor, Garden Tractor, Estate Tractor, Sub-Compact, Zero Turn, Stand-On) Lawn Tractor.
Compare it to: Craftsman YT-4500
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LGT2654
Pros:
Great Deck
Good Price for the size!
Step-through Platform
Large tires, rides well!
Cons:
Makes a mess when mulching
18 inch Turning Radius!
Transmission too small!
Summary: If you are looking for a yard tractor but you don’t need the Craftsman Turn Tight Steering or an 8 mph ground speed this may be for you. This tractor uses the same hi-flow 54 inch deck as the Craftsman YT-4500 . It is a good cutting deck and great for side discharge and bagging.
You will hear a lot of comments in the tractor forums about the idea that you need a fabricated deck when you get to this size (54 inch). This deck has superior air flow over a fabricated deck. It lifts the grass well and cuts it evenly. It throws the grass out the side discharge well and spreads it evenly. You can use a bagger with this deck and not have to spend the extra $400 to $500 on a discharge blower. (a fabricated deck does not have the airflow this one has and you need to add a grass blower to it to use a bagger)
This lawn tractor will mow in reverse.
People who buy this lawn tractor know what they are buying and this is just what they want.
This article was first published at TodaysMower.com
Comfort – Ease of Use: Deluxe seat, easy to use operator controls, good field of view. With large tires this tractor is comfortable to ride for this price range.
Power For Mowing: This tractor has plenty of power for side discharge mowing and/or bagging every week. It has plenty of power for mulching.
Reliability – New to 3 yrs: This tractor is serviced by your local Husqvarna dealer if you buy it from Lowes, Build.com or Northern Tool.
Handling – Traction/Steering: This tractor has average traction and handling and is similar to all the other garden tractors. I recommend you never use a mower like this on wet or drought-dry slopes.
Mow – Mulch- Bag: This tractor’s deck gets high marks by owners for mowing and bagging but not for mulching. This deck is a high-air-flow deck and cuts very evenly for a 54 inch deck. But when you plug the discharge with a mulch plug the air still has to go somewhere. The air comes out the right front and if you are mowing dry grass the clippings fly out there and usually right into your lap. If you want to mulch all the time buy a Husqvarna with a fabricated deck. With this tractor/deck you set the height of cut using a lever on the tractor.
Buy it here: Husqvarna LGT2654 26 HP Hydro Light Garden Tractor, 54-Inch
Kyle Legg
Well I have to agree with you that it’s not a “Garden Tractor” but on the other hand there isn’t any Manufacturers that actually build “Garden Tractors” anymore 1st off all the lawn tractors as they call them are way to light weight thanks partially to these pos aluminum engines & light weight frames & all the plastic on them now they should go back to building them with the old Kohler cast iron engines, beefy heavy duty frames & body metal along with actual choice of turf or tractor tires instead of the crap no traction having paper thin “tires” on then now they are more like a treaded inner tube. I have a true “Garden Tractor” that is an actual tractor with a 3 spd pto, can either run a belly mower or as I have, a 3 pt 48″ finish mower, 48″ shredder & a 48″ maintainer blade, i can even mount a loader on it if I wanted to. It’s a 12hp Kubota B6100E 2wd (unfortunately) that’s about the size of today’s mowers but a little taller & it can do can do more than mow your lawn.
Paul
Hi Kyle, There still is one garden tractor that meets your specs. It’s the Cub Cadet XT3 – go look it up on cubcadet.com. Commercial horizontal shaft engine, driveshaft, beefy frame, and cast iron hydro transmission.
Your tractor is actually classified as a sub-compact. It has a short stub frame to hold the engine but the transmission, and rear-end make up the rigidness of the tractor. Today it costs $10,603 and is called the BX1880. It only comes in 4WD.
Kyle Legg
Paul your are right my Kubota B6100E is classified as sub compact but it is a tractor-lawn & garden tractor. Tell me how any of these so called lawn & garden tractors could be considered a lawn & garden Tractor, they don’t have pro’s or hydraulic systems to run a Tiller for your garden or any other implements that are pto driven, nor can you put a loader on them basically all you can do with them is mow, use a Belt driven snow blower, push blade 4 snow & drag a few light weight ground engaging equipment that I guarantee isn’t heavy enough or sturdy enough to do very much with nor are any of these lawn mowers heavy enough themselves to pull a disc, Box blade or other ground engaging equipment and not sit there & spin there tires that is if you could get it to engage the ground to work effecntly as they should. All they are is (i use this term lightly) a lawn “tractor”. I do have to say that as for Lawn Tractors that Cubcadet is a stronger heavier & more capable lawn tractor than any I know of nowadays. Ive grown up with having tractors from sib compact, compact, full blown tractors to heavy equipment backhoes, dozens etc. All I’m saying is to go back to the original posting is beware of what they call a Tractor because in my opinion of what a tractor is & what a lawn mower/tractor is, is 2 completely different things & I honestly don’t believe calling a lawn mower a tractor in any sense isn’t right its misleading & false advertisement cause they are not Tractors at all they are lawn mowers.
Paul
Hi Kyle, Yes, this gets confusing especially when most of the rest of the world doesn’t have lawns – they have gardens. So all riding mowers elsewhere are considered garden tractors. That said,
1. Originally in the 50’s garden tractors were made with automotive rear ends, automotive gearboxes, and Wisconsin or Briggs single-cylinder engines. They were designed to pull stuff like disks to till up your garden. The two-wheel walk-behind tractors were also called garden tractors.
2. In the 60’s, many companies started coming out with small riding mowers. Sears/Roper in particular had riding mowers, lawn tractors, and garden tractors. The garden tractors were the models that had over 40 attachments and could pull ground engaging equipment like moldboard plows, small disks, etc. They had channel frames and 3-speed transmissions with a hi-lo rear end. John Deere and International Harvestor (the Cub Cadet) also came out with small riding mowers and lawn tractors. Neither Deere of IH called them garden tractors because they had the Model H, Model A, and Cub tractors that were built for the small food plots. Simplicity and many others got into the business at that time. In the 50’s-60’s there were over 400 different manufacturers who dabbled in making garden tractors.
3. 80’s-90’s. The small riding mowers started to disappear and cheap “lawn tractors” became the norm for a mower that looked like the larger garden tractors but were designed just to mow grass. They all had vertical shaft engines. The horizontal shaft tractors were still called garden tractors and they now had belt-driven tillers and snowblowers.
4. Around 2000-2005 everything really started to change. The small lawn tractors got cheaper and Craftsman added the Yard Tractor. It was primarily a mower but you could also add a snowblower. Their Garden tractor was converted to a vertical shaft engine, and aluminum cased hydro transmission was used but the trans was still strong enough to pull ground engaging equipment like disks. About the same time, Husqvarna bought what was left of Roper and they started using the same “designations” for tractors as Craftsman.
5. Today, Cub Cadet/MTD and Husqvarna are the only ones still using the Garden Tractor designation. These garden tractors have the heavier duty K57, K58, K62, K66 hydro transmissions and are still rated for ground engaging equipment. Yes, you need to add a lot of weight to make them work for pulling disks, plows etc.
6. Your B6100E was one of the first tractors to fill the gap between the garden tractor and the larger utility tractors (now called compact utility). Now it’s one of the most popular categories for small acreages. The Sub Compact can mow lawns, has a PTO for rear tillers and small Bush Hogs, has hydraulics for a loader and power steering. Mahindra, Kubota, John Deere, Massey Ferguson, and many others are now playing in that sandbox while the lawn/garden tractor has all but disappeared.
ronnie
I have a lgt2654 year 2014-the frame is broken in two about a foot from the rear on both sides-not where the trans mount- -is that common on this model -seems it would cost more to replace frame than unit is worth-whats your thought
Paul
Hi Ronnie, yes, that is a very common problem. Is it worth it to replace the frame? Well the frame itself is about $160 U.S. If you do the work yourself it will take a couple of days. (Probably about 4 hours for an experienced mechanic.)
Here is a link to the parts list at Husqvarna. You will need your serial number (under the seat) to get the exact parts list for your tractor. Type in LGT2654 in the search box. LGT2654 Parts List
ronnie bryant
thank you for the reply-been sick couldn’t get back to you–I took it apart and had it welded–40.00 dollars-they reinforced it with round rods bottom an top–doing fine so far-again thank you
Paul Dahlgren
Can a transmission from the heavier duty craftsman be put into the LGT2654
Paul
Hi Paul, The transmission from a 2006 or newer Craftsman GT will have the same frame mounting holes as the K46. But I don’t know if the belts, clutch rod and hydro rod would be the same.
Check out this website for more info: https://www.rjrtractor.com/
Jay Morgan
Back in the 80’s I had a 16 HP John Deere which ran for 16 years on gas and oil before metal fatigue set in. This was before JD exported their manufacturing to third world countries. Bought a newer bigger JD, returned it in a week, no power. Had to upgrade another model, spent $8600.00. Biggest POS ever, everything went wrong with it, parts fell off, and probably spent another $2000 in repairs to keep it going. The cheap plastic on it cracked, $400 to replace 2 side screens in a plastic frame? Sorry John Deere, you schwantzed me too many times on this one. Screw it, had enough of John Deere and their India made tractors. Figured I could buy 4 Husqvarna’s for the same price and have money left over, just toss it when it wears out and crack open another. Had my LGT2654 for 3 years now and not a single problem. I have no illusions it can’t plow, drag, dig, pull stumps, lift round bales, etc. I can use a 55 HP diesel MF with brush hog and front end loader if I need something fancy. But it cuts grass like a champ. We’re getting into ridiculous semantics as to what is lawn and what is garden. The term “garden tractor” technically means it’s still too light for anything serious
Paul
Hi Jay, Yes, John Deere is a worldwide manufacturer and if I remember correctly they have manufacturing in over 40 countries. That said, the 100 and 200 series lawn tractors are made in Kentucky, the 300, 500 and 700 series are made in Wisconsin and the commercial zero turns are made in North Carolina or Georgia – all U.S.A!
I know for a while all the sub-compact and farm tractors from 25-100 HP were made out of the U.S. but I don’t have current data to know if that is true today.
Frank Garton
Have owned my LGT2654 for 4 years. I do not mow a level lawn. The frame has broken in to on both sides of the mower. I see now online that it’s a common problem. It has the Husqvarna name on it but every part I’ve bought has been generic to several other cheaper brands and now the frame is broken. I guess I’m one of Barnum’s suckers.
Paul
Hi Frank, Those other brands probably come off the same assembly line. LGT means “Light Garden Tractor” It looks like a Garden Tractor but it’s not. Quality garden tractors start at $2800-$3000
David a Kurzdorfer
Paul baught a Lt 2654 from Lowes had crappy transmission took a dump …own a nice piece of property almost 15 acreas mostly woods don’t need mower …but have a 600 feet one car wide driving way mostly gravel stone …looking to get a good snow blowing machine and tractor to pull a small wagon behind to haul a little bit of fire wood was wonder who makes a good little garden tractor I could buy to use …don’t need a huge $20grand tractor with attachments but would like something the size of the husqvara lt2654 becuse being disabled from a drunk driver back in 2009 I have lots of extra time on my hands so if it takes a little extra time thats OK ….is there a good lawn tractor which has a good transmission not the crap one which lowes put on Lt 2654 which I believe is a 46..iam bigger guy 6 feet 200 plus pounds looking to get a large snow blower for front end ….want something which will hold up for a few years you often talk highly of craftsmen tractors thank you so much sir wait patiently for your opion …PS saw a craftsmen pro series 54 ,26 HP v twin Kohler garden tractor look great sat on it felt good cost like$ 3131.19 but don’t want to buy another one like Lt 2654 with crap engine and junk transmission ever again that’s why I ask you sir OK thank you so much
Paul
Hi David, I will always suggest the Model 20408 Craftsman 54″ Fast Auto 24 HP Briggs & Stratton V-Twin Turn Tight® Garden Tractor for work like you want to do. It is a heavy duty tractor, with a heavy duty transmission. It’s one of the few tractors that will easily handle a snow blower attachment.
Big wheels, bulletproof transmission, and a reasonable price. Save the deck, store it and it will make the tractor worth a lot if you ever decide to do something else.
A really great feature is the tractor goes 8 mph! That a lot faster than most of the other tractors. Click on the link above to check it out and order it.
Bradford DaPont
Paul, many thanks for your reply. Just a few more questions:
1. Does the 20383 Craftsman have a fender-mounted transmission speed control?
2. Does the 20383 Craftsman have a transmission strong enough for hills?
3 . Is the Country Clipper safe on hills?
4. Does the Country Clipper have a transmission strong enough for hills?
Your professional opinion is much appreciated,
Brad
Paul
HI Bradford, 1. Yes, 2. Yes, 3. If you get one with a ZT-2800 or larger transmissions. See number 3. You are welcome!
Bradford DaPont
Dear Paul: My 1996 Craftsman 917 251 522 has performed beautifully cutting my smooth two acre Whidbey Island acreage north of Seattle with a 20% hill but the transmission is worn out, irreplaceable and she’s ready for honorable retirement. I need a tractor with a fender mounted, hand-operated transmission speed control (like my Craftsman uses) because I am a paraplegic and cannot operate a foot pedal. A zero-turn tractor would work but is dangerous on hills I hear. A professional suggested a Husqvarna GT2654 (which has been discontinued) but your article warned me away because it has a weak transmission, unsuited for hills. If you would please refer me to either (1) a garden tractor tough enough to do the job or (2) to a hand control that would fill the bill I would be eternally grateful to you. I urgently request your expert advice for I very much enjoy keeping the grass looking good.Please take the time to help me with the knowledge that your assistance will be gratefully received and much appreciated.