dieselsmoke1 said:
Well hey, myself and the other lowly Craftman owners seem to be going downhill fast, from very poor product to junk in just 48 hrs.
By all means, enjoy your megabuck$$ lawn mower, whatever it is. I have no doubt it's an absolutely superior piece of equipment.......that cuts grass.
As for myself and a few million other folks, we can't justify $7k to cut grass. We're doomed to use junk for all eternity.
To each his own opinion and solution. You have yours, I have mine. That's the American way.
Best regards to you and yours,
Ive owned the best craftsman made at the time...Ive worked on dozens and dozens of craftsman mowers.
and they are, without a doubt, JUNK!
They are disposable, simple as that.
I had the 20hp Hydro model in 1998, new. Had nothing but trouble with it. IT burnt a mower belt up in 3 minutes. Wasnt even cutting grass yet. Drove it off the trailor, backed it onto the driveway and turned on the blades, let it Idle for a minute then revved it up and smelled smoke...Turned it off and checked the the belt and it was installed wrong.
Then the engine ran bad (twin) and never seemed to smooth out. Had craftsman come out and they worked on it, and forgot to put the lights back in the hood, and the manifiold melted them.
It went through 3 drive belts in 2 years, and we babied it. After a year the plastic hood broke off by the hinges due to the heat.
Then the steering gear stripped out...At the 2 year mark the hydro trans was all but dead.
Thing costed about 2K...sold it for 50 bucks, running.
Then we moved on, to a JD 425, New. Costed 8K, put a 54" deck on, 48" front end loader, ended up around 13K, all said and done. We punished it for 2 years, moved probably 50 loads of clay, and probably 30 more of sand. Mowed our acre, my neighbors acre, and my aunt down the roads acre (3 acres) for 2 years, and iy never gave us any trouble. never broke a belt, never bent a blade...nothing!
Then a guy made me an offer I couldnt refuse and I sold it with about 400 hours on it.
Then I bought a used 445 (efi) John Deere, put a new 54" deck under it, and put a new loader on it. $3500 for the tracotr, and mower, 2100 for the loader. It had 900 hours on it when I got it, and I put another 450 over the next 2 years, sold it with almst 1500 hours on it, for more than Ipaid for the whole thing, and it never gave us any trouble, other than a broken clutch return spring.
Then I found a nice old 316 JD. Paid 500 for it, put about another 500 in parts and professional paint, restored it. And use it all the time.
Ive had excellent luck with "expensive" mowers. Never had a breakdown, in fact Ive made money using them, and re-selling them!
My 316 has costed about 1000 bucks, and Ill bet it will out perform any $2K craftsman out there, even though it has 1300 hours on it.
Id put MTD over craftsman, seriously! But not murray.
I know some people cant afford those expensive tractors, and big fancy Zero Turn Mowers, but dont knock good equipment.
As you said, to each their own.
