Lawn Mower

I have a 6.5 HP Craftsman. Bag or mulch. Rear. Has the big wheels in the bag but is NOT self propelled. I've had it for 6 years and have never done a thing but add oil ONCE a year. It still runs great. My father gave me a Snapper with the self propelled, bagger, etc...it was used 6 times. It's still sitting in the garage.

 

Believe it or not the john deere was rated the least reliable mower on the market. On average the troy built had a 13% problem rate. The deere had a 22% problem rate.The john deere model jx75 was rated 6th in the survey and costs a whooping $860. The john deere js20 came in at #18 and costs $400. Again these figures come from the May 07 issue of consumer reports. Data is based on reports from 44,525 self propelled mower owners.

 

Never had any problems with any of mine. So I have a hard time believing the ratings, both good and bad.

buy whatever you want, you ask for peoples opinions.

Why not get a goat.

you can fuck it in your spare time.

 

Well, I went with the Toro 20073 rear wheel drive (which ran for $369). I used it today for the first time, and have to say I absolutely loved it. It has Personal Pace, which is their version of self propelled. This is an outstanding feature that basically goes at whatever speed I want to walk at (up to 4.8 mph). The wheels do not run continuously, only when the mower is moving. So when I stop the wheels do not keep running and tear up the spot of yard (as my front wheel drive self propelled did). And turning is a breeze, because the wheels only run when I am walking, it is extremely easy to pivot and change directions.

As I said in my original post, my yard is very slopped with some extremely steep parts, and this mower did most of the work and made mowing a breeze. It is completely night and day from my old front wheel drive. Because most of the weight of the mower is in the rear when going up hills, the rear wheel drive gets great traction and makes it so I don't have to exert hardly any energy at all. In fact, the only energy I had to exert over the entire yard was just the normal walking effort. I couldn't imagine an easier time mowing. Because the mower went at my pace and eliminated the need to strain so much, the mowing time was also significantly cut.

Thus, I can't give this mower any higher recommendation. It made an extremely strenuous job relatively easy, not to mention much safer since I'm no longer forced to put my weight into it and be off balance in order to just get it up a hill (so no more risk of mower toppling over me).

 

Sounds like a great mower.Also sounds like you got a good bargain. And the Toro has an excellent repair history.You should get many years of good service from this AMERICAN made product.

 

Do you need to lose weight?

I do. Bit the bullet and bought a push only mower. Takes forever, (actually split it up into 3 days), but I fucking need the exercise.

 

My Honda 3 speed dual mulch is about 6 years old and all I've done to it was change the blade once. Best fucking mower in the world, well worth the extra money. It does need new tires though.

It's rear wheel driven, I've had no problems turning with it. Rear wheel powered mowers are lighter in the front, so turns are easier, just left off the drive when you stop, no big deal. Before the Honda, I went through 3 mowers in two years. One had the big back wheels. It sucked. I don't remember why exactly, I just remember it sucked. Had a couple of Scotts mowers. One had the wheels in front that swiveled. It was fine for turning but real hard to cut close to something and too heavy in the front.