Lawnmower advice needed.

[volvoguy87]

Someone stole my lawnmower and now I need to buy a new one. What should I get?

I really liked the mower that was stolen. It was about a 2001 or so Snapper Hi-Vac. It had a 21" cut and had the rear wheel variable speed disk drive system. I used a mulching plug and was satisfied with the mulching performance, for the most part. My yard is relatively small, but it's all hills ranging from steep to "Oh my god, you have GOT to be kidding me!."

My Snapper's drive system was capable of tackling the hills. I liked that it was variable speed, rear wheel drive, and had an easy to use lever for the clutch. I wish it had a limited slip differential though. I'm leaning toward buying a Snapper Ninja series because it's essentially what I had before, but designed for mulching. I still have my Snapper accessories like the bag and side discharge chute.

If there is a better mower out there, I'd be open to trying it out. If someone made a capable self-propelled electric mower that didn't use batteries, I'd also consider that.

Any thoughts?
Dave

 

[iheartmaytag]

I have two Snapper Hi-Vacs. You can't go wrong with their drive system, ease to work on, and performance.

#1 has served me for 28 seasons now. Rather small engine for today's needs 3.5 hP.
#2 is a 8.75 HP BS engine that can pull the mulching blade without stalling. I bought it three years ago and no regrets.

Caution. Buy the Snapper machines from a Snapper dealer. These are the true Snappers. The ones sold at Walmart, Sears etc are the old Murray design with Snapper on them. I was told that Briggs and Stratton was owed something like $10 mil when Murray went BKRP and they got all the equipment and designs as their settlement. If they are any design besides the convertible rear bag Hi-vac, rear drive design; they are Murray machines. These will usually be a orange color rather than the Snapper Red.

P.S. Same goes for Husqvarna. Ones sold in the big box stores are Murray designs.

 

[circlew]

Hey Dave, I have a John Deere push mower I bought in summer of 2006, and I've been very pleased with it. I purchased it at Koenig Equipment in Germantown, which is a big JD farm equipment dealer. Price was the same as at the big box stores. I take it there every other year to have it serviced.

Bud Herbert Motors on Spring Grove in Northside is your closest JD dealer.

 

[wayupnorth]

I have a 1985 John Deere push mower bought new. Other than oil changes and occasional blade sharpening it has always performed perfect and always starting on the first pull with the original factory spark plug.

 

[goatfarmer]

We've got a TORO, that I won in a raffle in the early 90's. Besides regular oil changes, and blade sharpenings, it's had 1 drive belt replaced.

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Buying a new mower.

The best one I know of right now is the Toro SR-4 with the Honda engine.
WK78

 

[jmm63]

Do NOT buy a new Toro, the one that was highly rated by Consumers Reports. It is simply the worst lawn mower I have ever had. The "sure start" should be called "eventually starts" after about 10 - 15 pulls. So much debris bounces out of the bottom when bagging that I have to move the cars out of the driveway so they don't get hit by anything it picks up. I've used this machine for 2 seasons now and really can't wait for it to die. It replaced a Craftsman mower that was about 15 years old and oh how I wish for that one back. I think the next one will be a Honda...

 

[epixstar128]

lawnboy

Find a 2 cycle aluminum deck lawnboy. Lightweight with tons of power.

 

[combo52]

New Lawn Mower

Hi Dave, You don't say how big your area is that needs to be mowed, but if it is a 1/3 acre of less I would get a battery powered push mower. I have had one for a yard this size for over 15 years and it works great [ and my yard is hilly ].

Why spend more for a mower that will not last as long, spend 4 times as much to run it, have to change oil and do tuneups, pollute the planet, put up with the danger of buying storing and handling gasoline and after mowing you smell so bad from walking around this stinky mower that you have to come in the house change clothing and take a shower.

The exercise is good for you, and if you want to be a millionaire by the time you are 50 and live to around 80 stop wasting money and get some exercise, it is the little things in life that make the biggest difference.

Hope you are doing well, give a call sometime, John L.

 

[danemodsandy]

I Second John, Sorta.

If you really need self-propelled, then you need it and there isn't any such thing as a self-propelled corded electric.

But if you can do without self-propulsion, I would answer this question the same way I do the gas vs. electric question on ranges: Electric wins my vote, hands down.

No starting. No stinking. Much quieter. No trips with a gas can in the car. No gas can in the shed or garage.

Homelite (which I own) and Earthwise are two good brands that are identical except for nameplate and color. I do not recommend Black & Decker; my last one had an on/off switch that kept burning out, costing $20 a pop.

My Homelite is convertible; it can be a side-discharge machine or a rear-bagger, and it comes with a mulching plate.

I'm personally a corded electric fan, not a battery one. Batteries have a pretty fair environmental cost. A corded mower is only as polluting as the utility supplying the power.

 

[xraytech]

I have a 2005 Craftsman push mower, that is used for some light trimming on the top half of my front bank and in a few nooks around the house. I'm not fond of this mower at all, but will hang on to it for mow. Its replacement will be a Cub Cadet from my local International Harvester dealer. I'm striving for an all Cub Cadet lawn care set up, I use a 1974 Cub Cadet 1650 garden tractor I love for the majority of my 1.25 acres

 

[mattl]

Years ago I had a rear drive mower, HATED it!  I thought it would be a good design, but in practice not so much.  I have lots of curving garden beds and short spans, and I like my lines to be very straight.  With a front wheel drive unit I can simply lift the front up and do a quick turn, there was no way to accomplish that with a rear drive unit.

 

It's funny, in my neighborhood we all have about the same sized lots.  Yet 1/2 to 2/3rds of my neighbors use a lawn tractor.  I can cut my yard in 45 minutes with my walk behind mower, don't know how much faster you can do with a riding mower but it seems worthless to me.  I always rotate my cuts 45 degrees  each time I cut, no way to do that with a riding mower.

 

[nmassman44]

We have a Toro Personal Pace mower that we are going to sell that still works. We just bought that new Ego Electric mower that is at Homo Depot. Absolutely love it. Put the battery pack in and push the key and go. We also bought the blower and the whacker too. The mower is about 50 pounds and folds up when your done with it to save space.

 

[tolivac]

Walk mowers-I USED to use gas mowers but any of the newer ones I HATED them-Balky starting,fixed speeds(Ioften not fast enough)and to top it off INTERNAL shear pins inside the motor-requiring a serveman.Much older gas mowers the shear pin was on the blade adaptor that was on the motor shaft.Simply replace the pin and you were mowing again.A hidden stump killed the shear pin on a John Deere mower I had-JD45 think it was.Now I have a collection of cordless mowers-like these better than plug in ones-WHY?No power loss thru the long cord.The battery is right next to the motor-only a small peice of cable and a switch between the battery and motor.I have plowed thru grass with rechargeables that stalls gas mowers and line powered ones.So its the battery for me.I have a collection of batterey mowers-Homelite,Black&Decker(no switch problems yet)Toro,and Greenworks.Really like the Greenworks-lighter,smaller,faster charging Lithium batteries.Now if only I could get a rechargeable rider mower-There is International 4 grand,and Whisper Mow-15 grand! this one is a commercial grade ZTR.The International is a home type machine.It is also a ZTR.Right now I have a gas John Deere LA145 riding tractor with 3 blade 48" deck.It does well,but noisey and gassy.The electric riders make no more noise than a vacuum cleaner and no stinky exhaust or oil and spark plug changes-and no gas.I so want to get rid of the gas cans.Wish GE would bring back their Elect-Trak-with todays technology it could be a hit.Remember a demo of one years ago-it was a powerful little booger!!It was pulling a gas tractor with its wheels spinning and losing badly.I want one!!!-or something like it.

 

[arbilab]

In early teens I was the "lawn boy". That's what dad bought, because it was cheap. It needed taking apart almost every time I used it, or it wouldn't start no matter how much I pulled the rope. I learned a lot about small engine maintenance from it, but if you want your grass cut do NOT buy Lawn Boy.

I also absorbed a great deal of lead from the gasoline solvent I used with bare hands. Wonder the house didn't explode from the fumes and the waterheater closet in the same space. Gawd, clever as I ended up (engineering auditor for Dell), I would have been scary smart were it not for lead poisoning.

Nowadays I have to go "uuhh" when somebody asks my phone number. Well what the flark, why should I know it? I NEVER call myself.

Far as OWNING lawnmowers, both were Briggs motors. Both started on the third pull prettymuch no matter what. In roughly 30 years, besides labor, the only thing I spent running Briggs motors was gas, oil, and 2 sparkplugs.

 

[combo52]

GEs Elect-Trak Riding Lawn Mower

Rex I am glad you mentioned these, these were a great idea that was a little ahead of its time. I have a friend in upstate NY who has a couple of these and there is even a club of owners if you go online.

Battery electric lawn equipment makes perfect sense for residential use, there is no worry about being stranded 100 miles from home. If one calculated how much gasoline is wasted and the HUGE AMOUNT of pollution that small gasoline engines produce it would be best if they were either banned or maybe taxed out of existence.

When you also consider that most people drive a two ton car or truck miles to also buy the fuel for these gasoline powered polluters it adds insult to injury.

The repairs and tuneups on gasoline powered equipment also requires them to be transported to a shop or a technician to drive all the way out to your home.

When you looks at all the costs and problems there is almost no reason why 90% of Americans could easily break the gasoline yard care habit, the savings in time, cost [ most owners could mow there lawns for 1/4 to 1/2 what they are currently spending, pollution and the reduction of the thousands of gasoline injures per year it just makes sense.

 

[epixstar128]

Sorry combo i disagree
Gas mowers are cheap reliable tools that don't cost much to use for many years. I cant see any batteries in electric lawn mowers lasting more than five years. Ive had the same lawn mover for nine years now and it has many years left in it.

 

[washer111]

I too question Battery mowers...

 

Sure, they do work well now, but in a few years time when the rechargeable battery dies, and cannot be replaced, you have to buy a new one! Tell me how that isn't wasteful. Its consumerism. 

Most rechargeable batteries, especially Lithium ones, only have 300 charging cycles. Newer technology (Li-Po) allows up to 1,000 charging cycles, but still only a life of "up-to" 5 years. 

 

We've had the same mower about 14 years now. During that time, it hasn't cost much to run. It uses *maybe* $30 worth of fuel yearly, and doesn't get serviced very often, but when it does, its at a mechanics, not some guy who drives out to see us. It still starts right up, every time. Briggs motor, for the record. 

At least when it dies, the engine can be recycled. I don't believe the added pollution from batteries is worth it, remember they contain a lot of rare-earth materials, as well as heavy metals we don't need in our environment when they die, plus acids and the like that are harmful if the battery should fail. 

 

And considering how much one might use a small mower, the amount of pollution becomes insignificant when compared to a car, motorcycle or anything used more than weekly for about 20-30minutes. They're simple motors, and they do the job. 

 

[combo52]

Battery Mowers

I have had my Black and Decker battery mower for almost 17 years now, the first battery only lasted 4 years, the 2nd 6 years and the current battery is 7 years old and going strong. It is very easy to get replacement batteries for this type of appliance, I just went on line for the current battery and it was less than $80 with shipping. Batteries are very recyclable almost every little bit of a lead-acid battery gets effectively recycled. If you add up the cost of the replacement batteries it is not close to the cost of the gasoline you will burn, and a mower like mine should last around 30 years with almost no maintenance. All I do is sharpen the blade yearly and I have removed the wheels a few times and greased the axles.

Small 4 cycle engines are VERY DIRTY, mowing just one hour is much worst than driving a car more than 30 miles or more. Look It Up.

John L.

 

[epixstar128]

Luckily for the environment i use 2 cycle mowers

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Small gas engines were very dirty:

20 years ago. At that time smoke belching L-Head2 cycle mowers and low compression 4 cycle L-head engines were the norm. Of course the 4 cycle machines were less polluting and in some cases more fuel efficient.

However, today in the advent of high compression OHV engines and no more 2 cycle, small gas engines run MUCH CLEANER! than they EVER have. In fact if you compared a current OHV Honda powered Toro to ANY 2 CYCLE Lawn Boy you would find about a drastic reduction if fuel usage. Also the difference in emissions would be VERY pronounced. Of course this is only talking gas mowers.

BTW I am NOT talking out of my A$$. I worked as a engine technician at the local hardware store for years. I do form an informed opinion about power equipment.
WK78

 

[epixstar128]

nick

You are definitely right about that but i just can't give up my lawn boy. They just work great

 

[sudsmaster]

I've been quite pleased with the Honda powered stainless steel deck MTD push mower I got a Costco about five years ago. It always starts with one pull, and is quieter, more powerful, and better on gas than the B&S flathead powered one it replaced.

I don't need a power drive model, since my lawn is quite small (about 30'x30'). I tried using a corded electric mower but as I planted rose bushes and then a magnolia tree in the yard, it got too complicated trying to keep the cord from getting tangled up. Plus the electric mower didn't cut all that well anyway.

I change the oil at the start of each season, and rinse off the underside of the deck after each mowing session. It should last indefinitely ;-).

There are probably self-propelled versions of this mower out there. One thing, the stainless deck is fairly heavy. But on the other hand the Honda motor is lighter.

 

[whirlykenmore78]

@ Epixstar:

not to be an a$$hole but why would you not upgrade to the machine I recommend? Using 1/2 the fuel, doing a better job mowing, not having to mix gas, not blowing out clouds of smoke and getting done faster should make the case for you.
As a small engine mechanic and someone who uses mowers, I can tell you that the Toro would shock you with it's capabilities.
WK78

 

[epixstar128]

My lawn boy does a great job and is very fast at cutting my lawn. Im not opposed to 4 cycle mowers at all but i really like the 2 cycle mowers better. I used to have a toro 2 cycle too but sold it to make more room in garge. I work alot in the summer so my lawn always gets way to tall. No mader what my Good old lawn boy just eats it up no matter how tall the grass is. In the end i guess im just happy with what i have.

 

[epixstar128]

i use a model like this

 

[ptcruiser51]

Not for nothing

Am I the only one here with sympathy?

 

A pox on whomever stole his lawnmower.  Who the f*ck steals a lawnmower?  Shame on you!

 

I just wanted to put my two cents in.

 

Not the person to ask here.  My OM bought a JC Penney's gas lawnmower in 1961 and it ran forever and ever. 

 

[whirlykenmore78]

My lawn has gotten very tall as well

However my 14 year old Toro Super Recycler thinks it's having a day off. I can see where that LB model could do a good job as well. Only my Toro would mulch the clippings use 1/2 the fuel and not blow any blue smoke.
As I said not to be an A$$hole, just my opinion. (Happy Mowing)
WK78

 

[travis]

Use what you have that works!

Dave has asked advice on what to buy, because his mower is gone! Now we've moved onto the environmental impacts of 2 cycle vs 4 cycle.

I still think it's false economy and enviromentalism to replace something that functions with another device that does the same job. Like anyone here with a collection of washing machines and other appliances has room to talk about being "green".

 

[rickr]

.

We mow 3 city lots here every week with one of these.

This one is from 1976