I ran a 14hp 42" MTD for the past 17 years. It was used and broke down when we bought the place. I spent about $100 per year on parts (mostly spindles), since I mow almost 2 acres and all of it uneven and lots of rocks and roots. My opinion---nothing wrong with the older MTD's.
I inherited a Craftsman LT1000 42" in fall of 2017 and have let the MTD go idle. I still have to do plenty of maintenance on the LT1000---just did another spindle on sunday. Seems when you hit rocks the cheap cast spindles are the weak point and something has to give. Sometimes the casting breaks, sometimes the top pulley splines strip, and sometimes the blade splines strip. The spindle I changed on sunday was made up of my boneyard of spindle parts---best bearings, shaft, pulley that I could put together and get back to mowing in 2 hours before the rain started. We are just now getting out of the every 4-5 day mowing season and entering into the 5-6 day mowing season. By the end of June I am pretty much done until fall.
I have 3 friends all running the same Craftsman LT1000 with slight differences. Mine is 17.5hp, 1 has an 18hp, and 2 have 20hp. One with a 20hp is fairly new at 5 years and he has pretty smooth stuff to mow. 1 has just an average 1/2 acres he mows and his is a 2000 model. The other 20hp mows 2 very large areas probably 2 acres combined and one is at the beach. He mows a strip 20' wide and probably 200' long from his beach house yard down to the sand, and this time of the year it could be 3 feet tall depending on the last time he was there. His was bought new in 1998.
The one I inherited is a 2005 model and before it came to me it was mowing a 50'x50' yard weekly all summer every summer. Yes I abuse the one I have but it just keeps going and going. I just picked up a complete deck today for it. I was planning to buy about $100 in parts to rebuild mine, but I chased down a scrap guy when I saw it on his truck. I gave him $10 and we both walked away smiling. This will allow me to rebuild one while running the other, then just swap decks back and forth as needed.
Bottom line---I would find a used, good running LT1000 for under $500 and go through it with a bunch of new parts. Once you are done you can expect a long life out of it if you are just mowing regular grass. If you look up "how to determine the age of a Craftsman mower", you will be able to easily see how old it is. Find a gem and treat it right, and it will last you a long time. My march to may mower time is right at 5.5 to 6 hours every 4-5 days. Just turned the corner into the dryer season and I can get it done now in right at 5 hours. I shudder to think about how many hours I not only spend on the seat, but the run time on the engine.
A neighbor went through a Home Depot bought John Deer in 5 seasons. Foolishly they just replaced it with another Home Depot Husky. Stay away from either of these. They sure look pretty but if you look close they are total junk. The ones at HD are built vastly different/cheaper than the same names that you buy at an actual tractor dealer. Look both over closer and you will see the difference.
Unless you are mowing a golf course like lawn, stay away from anything over 42". Over 42" means 3 blades and they just don't cut nice on uneven ground. They also have 3 blades, 3 spindles, longer belt---this all means more $$$'s on parts when they break.
