drizler
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2007
- Messages
- 701
We bought this new in August 15 when my 3 point rig blew out a spindle . It mows ok and closer than the big tow rig did sure but isn't all that special. 80 hours on it and doesn't it start tossing the belt every time it engages unless it is near stall RPM. I tear the covers off the fabricated deck and spin the pullies , fine . Still does it so I just leave the covers off ( they catch grass horribly anyway and it's nearly impossible to get out). On and on this goes and I decide one day while putting on the belt again that I feel a bit of rolling resistance in the idler pulley. Off it comes and I spin it to find square bearings.
So I take this to the dealer and they can't say whether it's warrantied or not until it comes in. :thumbdown:I spin the bearing on my finger and it growls and wobbles as i remind the clueless parts guy that in 40 years of fixing things i never saw even a Chinese bearing that went out in under 100 hours. Yes their bearings are made inChina, its stamped right on it which is no surprise. No grease zerks on the Regent either. The idler is not too terrible priced so I tell them to order it .
So doesn't the bearing finally come in this week and I course I open the package because I don't trust em and not much to my surprise do I find it's the wrong Idler, not even close. Once again I show the dealer which one it is because his machine and its infinite wisdom latches right on to something else and of course I get to wait again.
It's starting to sound all too familiar with the last time that I went to another dealer and got a part for my Aarons snowblower, a cable. They did the same **** thing the girl looks it up I show her no they make two of them and mine is the other one. And of course after weeks of waiting for that doesn't come in she ordered the wrong one so I ended up making my own cable which soldiers on today. **** by then winters over and this outfit just like the one I'm dealing with now will sit on their order until they get enough to send in and you get to wait. And then just add insult to injury and they charge you shipping for your sitting in waiting for nothing. And people wonder why I always order the stuff myself and get it within a week usually two or three days.
Last year my daughters boyfriend breaks the frame on his Deere LA 135 and buys a new one. I look at it and decide to weld the frame so he has a spare. While it's apart I really look it over and decide to go right through the thing. In the end for under $200 it was back in fine shape and I removed dumped and refilled the tranny with synthetic oil. At 600+ hours it is like a new old machine.
Here's what I learned when I started looking at mine as opposed to that quality time I spent on do that mid level John Deere. There isn't much difference in any respect under there, in other words the simplicity is built the same **** way and in looking at it I wouldn't doubt for a second it came off the same MTD assembly line as. the John Deere does. About the only distinction is I can look up parts for the John Deere easily where is simplicity makes it something like Army and Air Force part numbers so that it makes it real hard to figure out which ones what to force you to come to them just to pay more for the same thing . And both share exactly the same Briggs vanguard engine and as far as I can tell the same transmission neither of which is anything to brag about and the only thing you can do to prolong its life is to take the transmission off dump it out and put in the synthetic oil that the company itself doesn't put in. Now I have to ask myself why in **** did I pay a full grand more for what in most respects the important ones anyways I could've gotten from John Deere. As I said in the beginning of this little rant as far as simplicity goes I'm not impressed . If I knew then what I know now I'd ave spared myself the Mercedes price and just bought a Deere!:thumbdown:
So I take this to the dealer and they can't say whether it's warrantied or not until it comes in. :thumbdown:I spin the bearing on my finger and it growls and wobbles as i remind the clueless parts guy that in 40 years of fixing things i never saw even a Chinese bearing that went out in under 100 hours. Yes their bearings are made inChina, its stamped right on it which is no surprise. No grease zerks on the Regent either. The idler is not too terrible priced so I tell them to order it .
So doesn't the bearing finally come in this week and I course I open the package because I don't trust em and not much to my surprise do I find it's the wrong Idler, not even close. Once again I show the dealer which one it is because his machine and its infinite wisdom latches right on to something else and of course I get to wait again.
It's starting to sound all too familiar with the last time that I went to another dealer and got a part for my Aarons snowblower, a cable. They did the same **** thing the girl looks it up I show her no they make two of them and mine is the other one. And of course after weeks of waiting for that doesn't come in she ordered the wrong one so I ended up making my own cable which soldiers on today. **** by then winters over and this outfit just like the one I'm dealing with now will sit on their order until they get enough to send in and you get to wait. And then just add insult to injury and they charge you shipping for your sitting in waiting for nothing. And people wonder why I always order the stuff myself and get it within a week usually two or three days.
Last year my daughters boyfriend breaks the frame on his Deere LA 135 and buys a new one. I look at it and decide to weld the frame so he has a spare. While it's apart I really look it over and decide to go right through the thing. In the end for under $200 it was back in fine shape and I removed dumped and refilled the tranny with synthetic oil. At 600+ hours it is like a new old machine.
Here's what I learned when I started looking at mine as opposed to that quality time I spent on do that mid level John Deere. There isn't much difference in any respect under there, in other words the simplicity is built the same **** way and in looking at it I wouldn't doubt for a second it came off the same MTD assembly line as. the John Deere does. About the only distinction is I can look up parts for the John Deere easily where is simplicity makes it something like Army and Air Force part numbers so that it makes it real hard to figure out which ones what to force you to come to them just to pay more for the same thing . And both share exactly the same Briggs vanguard engine and as far as I can tell the same transmission neither of which is anything to brag about and the only thing you can do to prolong its life is to take the transmission off dump it out and put in the synthetic oil that the company itself doesn't put in. Now I have to ask myself why in **** did I pay a full grand more for what in most respects the important ones anyways I could've gotten from John Deere. As I said in the beginning of this little rant as far as simplicity goes I'm not impressed . If I knew then what I know now I'd ave spared myself the Mercedes price and just bought a Deere!:thumbdown: