Riding Mower Decision Tool

A shortlist built around one home lawn: heavy, often wet grass, full-time bagging, and a back gate that decides what is even eligible. Set your constraints and the ranking follows them.

Cutting width is not passage width. A 42-inch deck cuts a 42-inch swath; the machine carrying it is routinely 46 to 55 inches across. The column that matters for a gate is passage width, and it is tracked separately here.

This page is an interactive filter — it needs JavaScript. With scripting off, the underlying research is still readable in the sources at the bottom of the page.

Your constraints

Measured clear span, post to post.

Total slack, both sides combined.

Mower plus bagger, before tax.

Where the engine sits and how it steers.

Hard requirements
Clears your gate Width needs verifying Too wide as published

Best fits

What the drive type costs

Cheapest bagging-ready package in each drive family, among the models passing your filters. Arithmetic on the package figures listed below — not a quote.

Full comparison

Sort by any column. Hitch separates hardware that comes in the box from a machine that is merely capable of towing.

Decision note

What to carry into the store

Where this data is soft

Recorded rather than resolved. Nothing below has been silently corrected — the original figures stand exactly as researched.

Sources and research links

Product data cross-checked against Lowe's and manufacturer pages on 17 August 2026. Store-gated prices are planning signals, not checkout quotes.