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(05-22-2018, 02:00 PM)JTTHECLOCKMAN Wrote: Next year will probably need a new walk behind mower so I may look for sales at the end of this year. I have had a Craftsman for over 30 years and it has done well. The base is rotting and the motor is getting harder to turn over. My question is twofold. What is a good brand and do I want a rear wheel drive??? Right now I do not have rear wheel drive. I liked the mower I have because the bag is solid plastic and has held up well with a few repairs. Today all I see are cloth bags that rub on the ground and wear out. So looking for some insight. Thanks. By the way no battery operated ones. Have a 100 X 100 piece of property.
With that small of a lawn, why not go totally green and do without the engine...... free shipping at LV for the next week!
http://www.leevalley.com/us/Garden/page....51170&ap=1
If you're into power, Honda makes a first class product, and Lawn Boy has one with a Honda engine; I swear by their engines, that's all I get for my equipment.
Credo Elvem ipsum etiam vivere
Non impediti ratione cogitationis
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My old Honda mower had a resin chassis. It was the one part that never wore out. I wore out tire treads and I had to change air filters each year.
Oil changes were super easy as the filler and drain were all in one. Remove the cap and tip the mower to drain.
But the clutch was wearing out and the dealer said that it would not be cost-effective to replace it. I hired a gardener instead. (I wish the mower had worn out a few years earlier.)
If you live on a hilly plot, then get a rear wheel drive. Front wheel drive does not work very well going uphill (where you need it most). It works fine going down hill (where you need it least).
The Honda is a good engine. The plastic chassis is a good one too. It is unfortunate that the clutch/transmission is so expensive to repair though.
![[Image: honda-self-propelled-lawn-mowers-hrx217k...4_1000.jpg]](https://images.homedepot-static.com/productImages/10f6243c-296b-4f44-bd74-3939b0d663c2/svn/honda-self-propelled-lawn-mowers-hrx217k4vla-64_1000.jpg)
They make a commercial version too. I never used the bag. I just let it mulch.
No animals were injured or killed in the production of this post.
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For that size Id be looking at electric these days. If gas then buy the one that has the features at the price you want to pay. Briggs still makes a dead reliable engine and so does Honda though the warranty on Honda is worthless as they wont repair anything under warranty. Tecumseh was the other engine company years ago now and I'm not sorry to see them gone. Setting points on them was a futile experiment done with a test light and a dial indicator. Their OHV engines burned oil like crazy as well.
For self propelled I prefer FWD. Reason being is I just lift the front wheels to turn and keep the drive engaged. Less messing around with levers... My favorite though is the cub cadet 4wd mower. Can use front or rear or both.
If it were me I'd just pick up the one I like and call it good as none are really junk but stay away from the $100 box store ones. My next mower will be a diesel as they are much cheaper to operate than gas riding mowers.
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(05-22-2018, 02:00 PM)JTTHECLOCKMAN Wrote: Next year will probably need a new walk behind mower so I may look for sales at the end of this year. I have had a Craftsman for over 30 years and it has done well. The base is rotting and the motor is getting harder to turn over. My question is twofold. What is a good brand and do I want a rear wheel drive??? Right now I do not have rear wheel drive. I liked the mower I have because the bag is solid plastic and has held up well with a few repairs. Today all I see are cloth bags that rub on the ground and wear out. So looking for some insight. Thanks. By the way no battery operated ones. Have a 100 X 100 piece of property.
I've had two Toro Personal Pace... one RWD, one FWD. The RWD seemed heavier, but it was much more stable. The FWD is hard to control on a bumpy lawn, which I have thanks to fire ants.
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(05-22-2018, 02:00 PM)JTTHECLOCKMAN Wrote: Next year will probably need a new walk behind mower so I may look for sales at the end of this year. I have had a Craftsman for over 30 years and it has done well. The base is rotting and the motor is getting harder to turn over. My question is twofold. What is a good brand and do I want a rear wheel drive??? Right now I do not have rear wheel drive. I liked the mower I have because the bag is solid plastic and has held up well with a few repairs. Today all I see are cloth bags that rub on the ground and wear out. So looking for some insight. Thanks. By the way no battery operated ones. Have a 100 X 100 piece of property.
Honda. I've had an aluminum deck one for 20+ years, mowing 1-1/4 acres; more than 100 running hours per year; now that's durability. Also, you want/need rear wheel drive if you have any incline to speak of and use a bagger. But Honda's new mulching mowers are so good that I wouldn't be thinking about bagging. But I'd still get rear wheel drive. I'd also get a model with their hydraulic drive system, and their blade brake system if you intend to use a bag. The hydraulic drive will run forever with essentially zero maintenance, and the blade brake lets the engine keep running when you let go of the blade handle, w/o shutting the engine down, to empty the bag. If you are really lazy, or your wife likes to mow, get an electric start. I have one on my terrible Toro, and it's very convenient. Actually, the Toro is a great mulcher, but it's a piece of junk compared to the Honda and a real PITA to change the drive belt.
John
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My father had a pretty awesome Honda like John describes.
I went with a 2-stroke Lawn Boy and while I think power wise it is about the strongest mower I’ve used, it is nowhere near as reliable or nice as that Honda was.
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I had Toro walk-behind mowers for years and never had trouble with them. I liked the personal pace feature of the last one I owned. Electric starts worked well; I always had one that had a on-board charging system to keep the battery up. Even on the few times I pull-started, they always started on first or second pull.
I changed the oil regularly, always drained the fuel at the end of the season, and kept the blades sharp. Never had to take one into the shop, except the first one when it was nearly 20 years old; the self-propelled feature quit working. We were moving in a military move at the time, so I decided to replace it when we got to the new place.
As for the bags, both my old Toros had cloth bags, but the bottoms were hard plastic. Neither wore out and I used them all the time. I kept the bag from the first mower that I left behind in the move; it was interchangeable with the bag on the new mower. No issues with the bags at all.
The only reason I don't have one now is that we moved to an acreage four years ago; I cut three acres every week and have a ZTR mower to do it with.
