Craftsman YT4500

The Craftsman YT4500 garden tractor lawn mower is another mid sized tractor lawn mower from the team at Craftsman. Similar models to this one include the Craftsman Professional 28hp 54″ Garden Tractor Lawn Mower and the Craftsman 54 Inch 26 hp Lawn Tractor lawn mowers. The engine that powers the YT 4500 is a Kohler Pro Courage. This twin cylinder engine uses a full pressure lubrication system to keep all the parts of the engine working smoothly. The engine comes with a full 2 year warranty. The total displacement of this gasoline engine comes to 0.725 liters. The cylinders are both iron lined. The Kohler Pro Courage engine is air cooled and uses a paper air filter to purify the air intake. The total power output from the YT4500’s engine is 26 hp.

The engine transfers power to the wheels of the lawnmower through a hydrostatic transmission. This transmission gives the Craftsman YT4500 infinite speeds traveling forwards and infinite speed when it’s reversing also. The speed of the garden tractor is controlled using a foot pedal accelerator. Thankfully the turning radius on the YT 4500 is fairly small at just 16 inches. There is also cruise control as standard with this tractor mower. Knowing when to next bring the tractor mower for a servicing is very easy thanks to a digital hourmeter in the dashboard. Turning the tractor is done using a sector and pinion steering wheel set up.

The front of the tractor is capable of taking either a snow blade or snowblower which is very handy if you live in a colder area. The mower deck on the Craftsman YT4500 has a cutting width of 54 inches. This mower deck has 3 blades and can be adjusted through 6 different cutting heights in half inch increments. The YT 4500 is also compatible with a 3 bin bagger.

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8 Reviews of the “Craftsman YT4500”

  1. Lorna Hemm says:

    This mower has been a problem from day 1. I have had to run the mower at the highest cutting because the deck would not go up and down. It gets stuck in all kinds of places on my field and I have to tow it out. I too thought this would be the last mower I’d ever have to buy, but my first Craftsman with a lot less horse power worked better than this one. Will not buy another Craftsman mower

    Year of Manufacture: 0

  2. Bryan Van Horn says:

    Bought the mower 3 years ago. I only run it 3 hours every Saturday for 3 to 3-1/2 months.

    The first 2 months, it ran fine. Then I got a strange vibration from the mower deck. One of the support brackets on the deck had snapped off.

    I rewelded it on and ran it for another month. I winterized it at the end of the season.

    The next season it ran for a month before the main crankcase gasket failed. I replaced it and the new gasket lasted a whole 10 hours of operation. I replaced it again and ran it for another 10 hours before the steering gear failed. Then the fuel pump failed.

    I replaced that and it ran for 1 day. Then the carb failed. I rebuilt the carb and it worked for the rest of the season..

    Next (and last) year, I had the rods fall off, so the OHV’s didn’t work. Great. Replaced the bent rods and ran for 1 whole hour before the crankcase gasket failed again. When hot oil blew out all over my shoes, the piston rods shattered.

    I’m not spending another millisecond on rebuilding this lousy thing. I’d rather rent a mower once or twice a month than run this thing.

    I winterized it every year, changed the oil religiously, kept it covered, did all of the required maintenance. My last Craftman lasted 18 years, this one didn’t last 3. What a piece of garbage. Never again.

    Year of Manufacture: 0
    Pros: It ran. Sort of.
    Cons: This is the worst riding mower I have ever owned.

    Total catastrophic failure after less than 100 hours.

  3. Carl Culp says:

    Absolute junk

    Year of Manufacture: 0
    Pros: It starts
    Cons: Complete piece of crap. Worst mower I’ve ever owned.
    Attachments: None
    Modifications: None

  4. anthony bennett says:

    No bad actually. Haven’t lost any sleep over it

    Year of Manufacture: 0
    Pros: Like the other gentleman, got it really cheap because wrong price was on the mower so Sears had to honor. Was looking for 48″ Husqvarna at the time (back in 2012) but local Sears was out of stock and i couldn’t wait. Anyway, first 2 years, worked like a dream machine.. Darn thing would cut just as fast backing up as it would forward.. Really loved the mower. Smooth ride, tight turn, didn’t use much gas and a dream to ride. Never any engine troubles at all and in fact, i still have it and the engine fires up everytime. Iforgot to mention that it’s a YTS4500 WITH 22hp and 46″ deck
    Cons: Strange things started happening. Each time i had the blades changed, started getting this heavy vibrations, Then after that, could never get deck balanced right and to this day, can’t get an even cut from it. In past couple of years, the front wheels looked like a knocked kneed person. Tiires leaning inward. Had wheel bearings replaced twiced and just yesterday took to a tech to put more bearings in to get wheels straight. I purchased an old Yard Pro that’s probably 20 years old or more and it cuts way better. As long as enfine is running, I’ll keep it for the rough yard but not sure if i’d buy another unless I got a great deal. But one thing is for sure, it’s a much better mower than the dumd CUB CADET, i purchased from Lowes in 2004. That was junk

  5. Timothy Conover says:

    It’s not worth the money and is worthless not sure after this experience if I will ever buy another craftsman

    Year of Manufacture: 2012
    Pros: I have to give it up to sears for selling me the mower after someone put the wrong price on it and I got this mower dirt cheap. Gong from a 42 in cut to the 54 in cut and making less passes to mow my yard was great.
    Cons: This was my 3rd craftsman riding lawnmower. The first 2 not only cut my yard but mine and a few of my neighbors and were very heavily used so I had great trust in the craftsman name. When I purchased the YT4500 and going from a 17 hp 42 in cut to the 26 hp 54 in cut I figured that with the extra hp and having to make less passes to cut my lawn that this would be the last mower I would ever buy. BOY was I wrong at the end of the mowing season in 2015 t only way the mower would stay running was if it was in choke mode and as soon as I put it in rabbit it would shut down I only had one more cutting to do so I mowed it in choke mode and figured I would get it fixe in the spring. Today 3/11/16 a sears service tech came to my home only to tell me that the carb was clogged and that it was only $430 to replace ( and NO I have NEVER run anything but high octane 100% pure gas thru this mower) and not only was the carb clogged but that the mowing deck was about to fall off because the weld broke on the back of the mowing deck and to replace it and the carb with labor was $1100 hell I only paid $1600 for it brand new and can buy another mower brand new for $1100 so why would I fix or try to fix this piece of crap. This mower that I thought was going to be the last one I ever bought turned out to be a piece of junk I would not recommend this model to anyone am really disappointed with the quality of this mower

  6. Keith Long says:

    Favorable until I noticed the front tires wearing away…

    A little light

    Year of Manufacture: 2011
    Pros: I’ve not had an issue with maintenance until recently
    Cons: Toe in/out…it’s in the shop now they’ve done all they can and not fixed the problem. Repairman said to call Craftsman the main sector pivot and front axle have a lot of play and don’t appear to be removable.
    Attachments: Plow, Chains
    Modifications: None

  7. darren says:

    very unsatisfied –will not buy craftsman mowers again

    Year of Manufacture: 2012
    Pros: cuts a wide path
    has comfy seat
    Cons: constantly have to fix something -every bolt/nut seems to not have been tightened at the factory the way the differential is attached is very poor –and this is not just on my mower (my dasd has had three and all them had same problem these newer mowers also dont turn like the advertisements claim they do 9 they have poor turning abbilities -they should use bearings where they dont have -the grease zerks are not easy to access
    Attachments: none

  8. Carl Neb says:

    I am not happy with this mower and spend a great deal of time trying to keep it maintained. I would have thought based on Sears’ recommendation that it could handle the 4 acre mowing task. Based on my past experience with Craftsman products this is a real let-down. My last mover was a LT2000 and lasted for seven years. This YT4500 is less than three years and it is ready for the scrap heap.

    A few ball bearing sets would have helped greatly rather than relying on grease packs. The seat adjustor lock really needs help. Levelers are not suitable for uneven surfaces or yards that are not level. Weight distribution should be better to improve traction on the drive wheels. Larger front wheels would help with the minor yard depressions.
    It just hasn’t been a good experience and doesn’t meet the task.

    Year of Manufacture: 0
    Pros: 1. Large Cutting path
    2. Engine is easy to get at when needed.
    Cons: 1. Starts rough and requires extended cranks. This happens all the time even with a tune-up and new filters.
    2. Torque is a problem. Constantly getting stuck on an uphill track and cannot pull itself out of a 3″ deep depression on a surface.
    3. Deck suspension is poor and leads to poor cuts on a gentle slope. The sway bars are not effective.
    4. Many Zerks are impossible to reach without disassembly of the deck and removing the wheels.
    5. Deck mounting clips are not the best.
    6. No grass guard to keep grass and debris out of the blade drive pulleys and idlers.
    7. In thick high grass the grass ejection port cannot handle the load and bogs down the engine despite the 26 hp engine. Better be prepared to clear the chute.
    8. Several fastener failures have occurred resulting in a wheel coming off during a mowing session.
    9. Engine cover is flimsy.
    10. Cruise Control is a joke, it holds when wants.

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