I'd probably visit a couple of repair shops to see what brands are currently the best.
Sure, my Lawnboy has given good service for 10 years, but I assume it is an entirely different product, e.g. no longer 2 cycle engine.
Years ago, I bought a Toro when Toro was considered best. Well, in that year they let their quality slip and mine was a POS, always in the shop.
You want to know from the front line folks how the new models are doing.
Hub bought a Lawnboy mower a couple of years ago. It adjusts to the speed that you walk. So this is the best one for him as he is a slow walker due to arthritis.
He does not come in huffing and puffing after cutting our 1/4 acre which includes our house anymore.
shirleyann
Any mower (unless you get a lemon) will give you many years of service if you take care of it, change the oil and keep the dirt and grass out of the gas tank. Keep the tank full to prevent condensation and water build up.
I have a self-propelled Toro, highly rated from Consumers Reports. It is my longest lasting mower ever. My old Lawnboy and Honda fell apart fairly quickly and they cost much more.
Diet & exercise.
I had Snapper way over priced , Now I have a Troy built , the next one will be the one of the big Box stores cheap ones. I think mowers have reached VCR status disposable. My first mower was a cheap Murray it work as well if not better than any of them.
We have about two acres, and our yard takes up about 3/4 of an acre. I have a Honda HR214SMA mower I bought about 20 years ago that runs as good today as the day I bought it.
When I bought the Honda, I was determined to find a reliable self- propelled mower. The previous mowers we had were always throwing the belts when they would get grass caught under them, or would stretch out and start slipping. Not to mention the major hassles of trying to start the mower. I would often spend more time trying to start it than it took to mow our old yard.
My Honda has a shaft drive for the self-propel. Every other mower I looked at (store brands, John Deere, etc.) all had belts which I was determined not to do again. In 20 years I've never had a single incident with the shaft drive, compared to belt problems every few weeks with my old mowers.
Other than minor maintenance (spark plug, air filter, blade), the only repairs I've made were to replace the control cables. After replacing these a couple of times, I discovered they were rusting because I left the cable out of the sheathe when rinsing the mower off (I rinse it off after every mow). By returning the levers to their resting state, the cable slides back inside the sheath and I haven't replaced a cable in many years now.
I did just replace the grass catcher bag a few weeks ago. After 20 years it was getting kind of clogged up with dirt and didn't pick up grass as well. I ordered it online, super easy to replace, and it picks up like a brand new mower now.
My mower has electric start, which was very nice to have. But, the starter quit working several years ago (I verified it wasn't the battery, switch, or wiring). Unfortunately, the starter cost $160, and it would almost be easier to buy a new mower at that price. So, I've just ignored the electric start and use the pull start exclusively. Even after 20 years, my Honda always starts on the first or second pull.
Just last week we discovered the fuel bowl under the carburetor was leaking. After 20 years it had corroded and developed 2-3 pinhole leaks. I ordered a new one off of Ebay for $15. Just one bolt holding it on, less than 10 minutes to replace.
I don't know how the current Honda models compare, but I've been very happy with my HR214. One of the best machines I've ever bought.
Anthony
For Toros with Honda engines, be warned that the carburettor may be so hidden by other components that you cannot adjust motor speed if you need to. My Honda engine manual says this is a shop adjustment i.e. $50 min. (and Honda refused to tell me how to do it.)
on 10/3/2008 8:51 PM Cabot said the following:
I am going to raise a lot of hackles here, but I have a 24 year old Craftsman 22" self propelled mower that is still running. It's not too good looking with all the rust, dents, and a shortened pull cord, but it still runs and cuts with a couple of pulls every year. The only maintenance I've had to do was to straighten the side mounted drive shaft and remove the bent up drive wheel covers after the mower got tangled up in a chicken wire fence. I did buy a new Poulan self propelled mower a couple of years ago at HD because it was on sale for $100 and I figured that sooner or later the Craftsman was going to bite the dust. I guess it's going to be later before it dies.
Too bad that Toro dropped the old Lawnboy staggered-wheel rustproof lightweight chassis, once they emptied the warehouse out. I know they can't sell two-strokes like the old OMC Lawnboys used any more, but an OEM Honda engine on that light manuverable chassis would be great. I'm pretty happy with the engine on my 'power by Honda' MTD cheapie, but that chassis, even with big wheels, is a workout routine in itself. At least until they went to fiberglas for the top decorative shell, I remember the Lawnboys from my youth being damn near indestructible. We had one at the house, an old beater out at the cabin, and a couple more in the storage building at my father's construction company. Abused the hell out of all of them, and the only thing I remember having trouble with is the knob holes in the fiberglas shell on the newer ones getting wallowed out from vibration. Had to machine a metal washer and put it under the shell.
-- aem sends...
i guess i thought you were asking about walk behind mowers, since that's what you put in the subject line. Apparently, you were wondering about PUSH mowers, since that's what all the replies except mine have been about. Which do you want?
s
I had a couple Power Products that ran and ran and ran forever. They had no throttle and had the steel flywheel that you used a knotted rope to start and were 2 cycle. They would really knock down some grass. I wish they still made them.
Walk behind mowers include a wide varity of mowers. It just means one with some sort of drive that you walk behind. It's not rocket science.
olddog
Wrong. A 'walk behind' is typically 36" to 72" wide and always selfpropelled.
A "PUSH" mower comes in self propelled and not and are typically 22" and less.
thanks for playing though.
steve
yeah sure what ever you say
Gee what are these?
Not according to John Deere
Thanks for playing though.
Push mowers..
s
I have a Husqvarna with a plastic deck. The motor mounting bolts keep getting loose, and I hit a small rock and knocked a hole in the deck. Why would anyone make a lawnmower deck out of plastic? It does start and run everyn time. But so does my cheap Murray. The Murray has a cheap stamped steel deck, no problems in 4 years with it except for the so called automatic choke, and one wheel. And you can get parts for it anywhere, even Home Depot. Cost $169..
Al
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