All I can say is good luck - he's taking the piss at 14k!
I have agonised over buying a ride on, as the owner of the property I bought wanted thousands for his and I couldn't see the value, so I didn't get it. and now I don't know which one to get.
I have never owned a Ride on.
Everyone's got an opinion on every mower, it's done my head in. Plus every bloody manufacturer has used multiple engine brands and all manner of trickery to create a new brand code every couple of years in all manner of hp to deck width combinations.... 
Thinking of either a husky with diff lock (YTH something something) or a JD (D something, or STX something). But the ones I am looking at either have Kawasaki, B&S or Kohler engines -how the f... Do I compare them???
I also reckon I have read every forum from every bloke wanting a ride on, including this one. So, how the bloody hell do you work out which one to get, so that you don't regret it instantly?
The Husky, Briggs and Stratton and Kohler engines are all pretty good. They will still be running strong when the rest of the ride on wears out. I have always preferred to have a machines that are more powerful than what I really need so that I don't need to work it too hard to do the job.
My first ride on was a 20 HP twin cylinder petrol B&S with 42 inch deck lawn/yard tractor which is a bit of an overkill for a 1 acre block. The machine handled the job with ease even when the grass was pretty thick. I could have got away with a smaller machine and smaller engine but as I said earlier I reckon bigger is better.
A few years ago, I worked for a mates business for a year looking after commercial lawn maintenance. We had three ride ons, they were all zero turn mowers. Two were John Deeres, one 50 inch deck and the other one was 60 inch and we had a big diesel Kubota that had a 60 inch deck also. I mainly drove the big Kubota.
After sitting on a zero turn mower at work I found it frustrating to sit on a slow going lawn/ yard tractor especially when these tractors have the turning circle of a Landcruiser. As I said in an earlier post, once you have driven a zero turn it is hard to go back to a standard lawn/yard tractor. In the end I traded in the lawn tractor and got the zero turn. It is so much quicker and more manoeuvrable than a lawn/yard-tractor. I don't mind mowing but if I can do it 30 minutes quicker by getting a better machine then that is more time for
. I know the bigger mower chews more fuel but who cares about the fuel economy of a ride on mower.
Husky uses the letters YTH to mean yard tractor with Hydrostatic drive. LTH = lawn tractor with hydrostatic drive and CTH which means fitted with catcher. The next four numbers usually mean eg 2038 = 20 HP 38 inch deck.
Happy to help out with advice if you need help with your ride on choices MIK.
