No, the company did not come out of bankruptcy. The name was bought by MTD from the bankruptcy, they also bought some of the designs (I seem to recall that someone else bought a few) but no one took on the responsibility of replacement parts. I am not sure if anyone is making replacement parts.
The Troybilt company itself is dead and gone.
I have one of their mowers and I will keep it going as long as I can. It is a very good mower, but I will not be looking to buy another.
It appears from what I could find, that Greenway, the parent company of Troybuilt went into bankruptcy in 2001, it came out of bankruptcy, but not until after it sold off the Troybuilt name and line. MTD bought the exclusive right to use the name and some of the other assets. Other companies (I believe some of the larger dealers) bought other assets.
MDT is NOT making and marketing the same line Troybuilt produced. The general view is the product they are producing is not near the quality produced by Greenway.
Don't for one minute kid yourself into believing thats the Troybilts of today are even close to the quality of days gone buy. You don't see any Ariens commercials on TV because they are the nations #1 selling snowblower. They don't have to advertise. MTD has the same quality of a Murry, or Lawn Chief lawnmower. K MArt specials,after the first season the wheels will fall off the deck will rot out and the engine will die. But go ahead buy the MTD and start to budget for a new snowblower for four years from now when it is dead.
Because Troy-bilt was bankrupt and MTD had money?
Barry
Kind of like RCA TV's made by Thompson ? AT&T answering machines made by the highest bidder for the name that week ?
Hi, Happens all the time. Tony
Barry I agree that MTD does make some low end stuff. The yard Machine line is low end but they are also low priced too. However, the Cub Cadet line, owned by MTD, is high end and is still made with quality. Ariens doesn't make all its own snowblowers either and many of the companies use similar parts. A comparable Ariens snowblower is 1k vs. 900.00 for the Troybuilt and Toros are even more expensive. They are all very similar to my eye. Ariens has all steel construction. More to rust in my opinion. Troy uses steel in all the right places. I also called several dealers in my area that carry Troybilt and they can easily gets parts. I was told they sell fast and are high quality. This was from two different shops that repairs them. There are a lot of pissed off people who had there warranties downgraded by MTD and I understand this. Also, the Ford Escort use to be the number one selling car so just because Ariens are popular doesn't make them better. Also, home depot sells them so that tells you why they are so popular. It doesn't hurt to have your product in a few hundred stores. Do you know anything about the Gardenway brand? Sam's Club sells a 10hp for around 750.00. This sounds like a steal. But if you can't get parts or service what good is it? Has anyone bought a Troybilt in the last few years and had problems?
I never commented on MTD quality. You must have misread the quotes. Unfortunately, this happens when some folks top post, and the rest don't.
Barry
I did. It sucks. Their warranty coverage sucks. Speaking from personal experience.
Spend a couple of bucks and buy a Ariens, Toro, or Deere. They will always be there with parts, many, many years later (which is the only time you will need them, unlike the MTD that will break down next year).
MHO,
Hi, Deere never let me down. Tony
"houseslave" wrote in news:xA%mb.5114$ snipped-for-privacy@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net:
Actually, GardenWay (the company that WAS TroyBilt) did NOT survive the bankrupcy. That is why they sold the TroyBilt name to MTD, they had no other choice. MTD bought everything except the chipper / shredder / blower / vac products, which were sold to a British outfit. (Maybe Hayter?) MTD refused to "buy" the warranty obligations, which was what bankrupted GardenWay in the first place. Their rotary mowers were JUNK, and the three year warranty that replaced the seven year warranty was still two years too long for the front wheel drive mechanism. How TroyBilt could take the reliable disc drive system used by Ariens, Snapper and others, and make it so unreliable is beyond me, but they did. There were so many recalls and refits, that some dealers just made the kits part of regular maintenance on those models. I know of some machines where the kits were installed at least three times, and the customer usually got stung for the third, if not the second.
Matt
Matt,
You seem to do a lot about Troybilt products. Do you know anything about their new line of snobolwers? Are they reliable?
I can still return mine. Thanks
You're not reading.... Troybuilt / Gardenway has been out of business for three maybe four years now. MTD bought the name, and built machines to their flimsy standards.
Bill
So the Cub Cadet is junk too?
I still think the Troybilt snowblowers are better than average in quality. For 800.00 you get a machine that would cost you 1k in the Ariens of Toro.
"Houseslave" wrote in news:Qakpb.1314$ snipped-for-privacy@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net:
Most of the line is, yes. Only the top of the line Garden tractors are mostly still the Cub quality. The rest of the line is retrimmed MTD, same as the TroyBilt, White, YardMan, YardMachines, Bolens, Atlas, ...
Let me preface by saying I have NEVER liked TORO. In response to their ad campaign of many years, "NO! I haven't done without a Toro long enough. Forever isn't long enough!" They have even destroyed Wheel Horse, which was once the best, bar none, Garden tractor on the market.
Although the quality of Ariens has slipped a little in the last 5 years, and they no longer make the six blade fan or many cast iron gear boxes, the Ariens will still outlast an MTD by at least two-fold given the same amount of maintenance. And given the higher price up front, the Ariens usually gets better maintenance. That is why I regularly see Ariens machines from the late '60s. The oldest MTD I've seen recently is about a 1985. The oldest Murray/Craftsman recently was from about 1980. I just did a valve job on a 1967 Ariens, and the owner was so happy that I made it start easy again. Surprisingly, the augers were even still loose on the shaft, so the shear pins could still work if needed.
You get what you pay for, and in the case of MTD, that is usually the least expensive product in the market of its kind. If you take very good care of it, lube and grease everything every fall and spring, and USE FUEL STABILIZER, it will last many years. That said, if you buy an Ariens or a Snapper or a Simplicity, and do those same things to take care of it, it should last you a lifetime!
Matt
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