Howse Rotary Cutters....POS?

[vrman]

Well, parts, yes. No manuals that I could find though.

 

[Soundguy]

I've had great exp from both howse and KK for small parts and manual requests.. Havn't 'asked' for anything lately though.. all my exp's witht hem are at least from 2-3 ys ago..

soundguy

Better get it from a dealer. Howse is not known for it's prompt, courteous service. I've called and e-mailed in the past with no response either time. Seems they would have manuals online, but nope. They're about $7 from Howse I believe.

 

[rmitch1971]

Or not?

Ive been looking high and low for shredders in 5' or 6' and teh Howse brand shows similar if not identical specs as the major brands like bush hog, rhino, etc, except its priced as though it was not made out of 24k plated gold.

I have been told by howse that they are great reliable mowers (duh) and ive been told by a place that USED to sell them that they are cheap junk with chinese made gearboxes.

I mean, to me, a shredder is a shredder, it has blades, a gearbox and something to hook it to the tractor. Its hard to screw that up, but the major brands seem to have a bunch of gimmicks and specs that play into the pricing. I mean, they arent exactly complicated pieces of equipment.

So, whats the deal with them, are Howse Cutters as good as the major expensive brands?

Thanks!

Howse is the biggest piece of JUNK ever. Haven't had my mower 2 years and the wheel has fallen off twice, the blades assembly has come apart from the gear box TWICE. DO NOT BUY A ROTARY MOWER FROM HOWSE!!!!

 

[Soundguy]

Howse is the biggest piece of JUNK ever. Haven't had my mower 2 years and the wheel has fallen off twice, the blades assembly has come apart from the gear box TWICE. DO NOT BUY A ROTARY MOWER FROM HOWSE!!!!

IMHO i think you have had some bad luck with a single bad production unit or there were dealer or user assembly issues, or maintenance was not kept up, or the unit saw service it was not intended for.

I've got plenty of mowers.. from $$john deer batwings.. to heavy duty servis / rhino mowers.. to king kutter and howse units.

While I prefer a ld kink kutter to a ld howse.. both work. I'm not a fan of the unbraced folded sheet metal design of the ld howse. however their HD line is quite solid. I run a 10' 3pt HD model and have taken down 4" trees accidentally. As in run them over, knocked them over, then stripped the branches off the side facing up

I've run tail wheels into retaining walls and bent them due to me not paying attention.. but then.. a lil weld and grind and weld and they are fine again.

which models are you having issues with.. post details.

 

[Bird]

Howse is the biggest piece of JUNK ever. Haven't had my mower 2 years and the wheel has fallen off twice, the blades assembly has come apart from the gear box TWICE. DO NOT BUY A ROTARY MOWER FROM HOWSE!!!!

Yep, I think you're mistaken, or just unlucky, as Soundguy said. I had a Howse 500 (their lower end 5' model) and was quite satisfied with it, with one exception. When I decided to remove the blades to sharpen them a bit, I was glad I did, because I expected the mounting bolts to be very tight and difficult to remove and in reality, they were not tight at all. I'd attribute that to the dealer, although I realize I could be wrong. Anyway, I put them back on tight and no problem. A neighbor had an old 7' Howse that he bought used, and by his own admission both he and his son used and abused it and it held up very well.

 

[tractortom55]

I have a Howse for close to 4 years and it still cut as good as when new and I took some small trees that found in grass by accident. Only thing I don't like about it is the gear box is loud as compared to older king kutter.

 

[silvertramp]

I have a 5' Howse. It's about 25 years old, never been inside, checked the gear oil exactly once. I did knock the wheel off early on. I fabbed up a stronger version. No problems since. It's really nasty going here, and I've put the blades thru the deck. It's truly fugly, but keeps on truckin'.

 

[Turbys_1700]

I am repairing our 10' Howse as we speak...
Input seal went out and needs a gearbox...
Can't really complain...
I did not see the leak and by the time I caught it the gear box was toast...
This unit is over 30 years old and has seen a lot of use...
My repair cost is still gonna be a whole lot cheaper than a new unit...
Nothing wrong with Howse IMHO...
I have a dealer within an hours driving distance that keeps most parts on the shelf...
Parts for me are a non issue...