Mowed Over Gasoline Mower

[begreen]

Our trusty Kohler powered commercial Craftsman lawn tractor is on it's 15th season and running strong in spite of a hard life between lawn and field mowing. I just did its first belt replacement. It has chains on the rear wheels to help with steep slope mowing in wet grass. The seat is starting to look ratty but it just keeps going. All I do is regular oil+filter and air filter changes. When I eventually replace it I probably will look at the JD.

 

[semipro]

I recently picked up an Arien's Amp electric rider. The stock batteries were shot so I've installed 48 VDC worth of Chevy Volt battery in there. One brushless DC motor runs a hydrostatic pump that drives the rear wheels and 2 smaller DC brushless motors turn the 2 blades. Its definitely not a heavy duty mower but my wife loves it for trim work and she'll like it even more when I add a hitch).


Edit: we also have an electric push mower that I converted from 24 VDC of AGM to run on 2 Ryobi 18 VDC power tool batteries (with a voltage regulator).

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Our trusty Kohler powered commercial Craftsman lawn tractor is on it's 15th season and running strong in spite of a hard life between lawn and field mowing. I just did its first belt replacement. It has chains on the rear wheels to help with steep slope mowing in wet grass. The seat is starting to look ratty but it just keeps going. All I do is regular oil+filter and air filter changes. When I eventually replace it I probably will look at the JD.

I went with a tried and true american brand , at my age i dont want to be working on them and fixing them anymore ,whatever the price,quality usually pays for itself.

 

[begreen]

I went with a tried and true american brand , at my age i dont want to be working on them and fixing them anymore ,whatever the price,quality usually pays for itself.

Likewise. There are only a few mfg. now. When I bought it I found that our Craftsman was the same underneath as many other mowers available including some much more pricey brands.

 

[maple1]

Craftsman is pretty much a dead brand up here now. Which is a shame...

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Craftsman is pretty much a dead brand up here now. Which is a shame...

I still have an assortment of craftsman work tools. LI-ion powered Drills ,saws,drivers ect. Actually last longer than my dewalt tools which are all mostly shot after less use. Though I do like my Dewalt Mitre saw. The craftsman are great tools take a daily pounding and last forever but iv seen the writing on the wall so iv been slowly converting to Ryobi over the last 2 yrs.

 

[Ashful]

I went with a tried and true american brand , at my age i dont want to be working on them and fixing them anymore ,whatever the price,quality usually pays for itself.

Meh... “American”. I wish our American products were always something to brag about, but I don’t believe that’s the case.

My 1986 John Deere was made by Yanmar, in Japan. Everyone who’s owned both will tell you the Yanmar Deere’s are as good or better than any similarly sized Deere America product, of the time.

Since we were just discussing Dodge in another thread, let’s recognize their quality was chit, until they were purchased by Daimler. There is a very abrupt change in the quality of their engineering and manufacturing, associated with that ownership.

I wouldn’t get too high on “American made”, today. The Germans and Japanese have done a few things right, in engineering and manufacturing.

 

[begreen]

I still have an assortment of craftsman work tools. LI-ion powered Drills ,saws,drivers ect. Actually last longer than my dewalt tools which are all mostly shot after less use. Though I do like my Dewalt Mitre saw. The craftsman are great tools take a daily pounding and last forever but iv seen the writing on the wall so iv been slowly converting to Ryobi over the last 2 yrs.

Craftsman is now sold by Ace Hardware. That works well for us here. We have a great Ace store and an Ace service center which services and sells Craftsman along with Stihl and Echo products.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Craftsman is now sold by Ace Hardware. That works well for us here. We have a great Ace store and an Ace service center which services and sells Craftsman along with Stihl and Echo products.

We have an ace store nearby the just went under. Not only that. The craftsman batteries are twice the price of competing brands,and from my experience not any better quality. So im phasing out the craftsman tools slowly as they(batteries)
die. The batterys will die long before the tools most likely.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I wouldn’t get too high on “American made”, today. The Germans and Japanese have done a few things right, in engineering and manufacturing.

I made a brand selection after reading countless reviews of all kinds of brands and different series within the brands.I remember you suggesting thats where the smart money should go. To the products that consistently get good reviews from the database of users. Iv only had about 4 hrs of use on it so far but the JD seems like a solid machine. There is good foreign made farming equipment for sure out there. Kubota and Mahindra come to mind. Komatsu for construction Eq.

 

[Ashful]

I made a brand selection after reading countless reviews of all kinds of brands and different series within the brands.I remember you suggesting thats where the smart money should go. To the products that consistently get good reviews from the database of users. Iv only had about 4 hrs of use on it so far but the JD seems like a solid machine. There is good foreign made farming equipment for sure out there. Kubota and Mahindra come to mind. Komatsu for construction Eq.

That's about all we can do, anymore. There are great quality brands from all over the world. America, Japan, Europe... even India and Korea are making nicer and nicer stuff. I own all Deere machines with Woods implements, but I have to admit Kubota is looking awful nice in the CUT category, for less money.

 

[GadDummit]

I was a little surprised when my wife eagerly agreed to replace our gasoline engine push mower with an Ego self-propelled electric mower, which arrived by delivery truck a few days ago and made its first cut on our lawn yesterday. She has fully endorsed our mission to end fossil carbon in our household. The Ego now joins the Bolt in being fully powered by our PV system. One more gasoline engine eliminated. The Ego did a very good mowing job, and since my wife normally does the mowing, this mower will be her baby.

View attachment 227217

Going green, now that's the life! I just poured $2.35 of gas/oil mix (about a gallon) on a rock in the yard to toast your new Ego. Buzz on, buzzer. Need to change a fuel pickup on my old 60's truck next week too, so add another 4-5 gallons to that. (Big toast).

 

[BrotherBart]

Craftsman was legend when Sears was. Now Craftsman is toast just like Sears is.

 

[Ashful]

Going green, now that's the life! I just poured $2.35 of gas/oil mix (about a gallon) on a rock in the yard to toast your new Ego. Buzz on, buzzer. Need to change a fuel pickup on my old 60's truck next week too, so add another 4-5 gallons to that. (Big toast).

Interesting. You need to learn how to change a fuel pickup without spilling a quarter tank of gas, unless that’s a weird fetish you’re trying to satisfy.

I’m not exactly the “greenest” person on this forum, but I do believe in, “waste not, want not”.

 

[begreen]

Craftsman was legend when Sears was. Now Craftsman is toast just like Sears is.

Craftsman mowers were never made by Sears. IIRC ours is pretty much the same as some other higher end models underneath (Cub Cadet?) Husqvarna makes many Craftsman base mowers. MTD makes the Craftsman Pro, Troy-Bilt, Toro and Cub Cadet riding mowers. Many parts are interchangeable. MTD also makes Yard Machines and White lawn tractors.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Craftsman was legend when Sears was. Now Craftsman is toast just like Sears is.

Probably too many competitors at this point. When Craftsman was king i dont remember remember near as many choices. A trip to HD or lowes tool section today and a find a multitude of quality tool brands fighting over the same market share.

 

['bert]

In Canada Loews is supposed to bring the Craftsman brand back to the market. As for mowers, love my JD 997, doesn't use any gas at all.

 

[Jazzberry]

In Canada Loews is supposed to bring the Craftsman brand back to the market. As for mowers, love my JD 997, doesn't use any gas at all.

Our local Lowes sells Craftsman brand tools.

 

[Ashful]

I was looking at these seven years ago, and they were definitely not ready for a property like mine at the time, but I’m surprised autonomous robotic mowers haven’t completely taken over the market, at this point. We’ve had all autonomous robotic vacuums for more than ten years in our house, but they don’t dismember the dog when they go awry.

 

[Cast Iron]

I was looking at these seven years ago, and they were definitely not ready for a property like mine at the time, but I’m surprised autonomous robotic mowers haven’t completely taken over the market, at this point. We’ve had all autonomous robotic vacuums for more than ten years in our house, but they don’t dismember the dog when they go awry.

Now wait one minute. Is this the 8000 sq ft plantation and mcmansion in the high line of Philadelphia with so many stoves and fireplaces for the servants to serve ? They mow, they clean, what else ? Now robotic mowers to put the staff out on the street ? Homeless. Heartless.
How many of us in the real world have "properties" ? The hubris is extreme. Now to look up "narciscism" (sp.)

 

[bholler]

Now wait one minute. Is this the 8000 sq ft plantation and mcmansion in the high line of Philadelphia with so many stoves and fireplaces for the servants to serve ? They mow, they clean, what else ? Now robotic mowers to put the staff out on the street ? Homeless. Heartless.
How many of us in the real world have "properties" ? The hubris is extreme. Now to look up "narciscism" (sp.)

It is far from a mcmansion

 

[Ashful]

It is far from a mcmansion

... and I only have two servants, neither of which know how to operate a stove. [emoji14]

 

[Cast Iron]

Two ?