Push Mower 21" Recommend ???

Dirtball · Mar 26, 2012

Hi, I need a new push mower for the tight areas. I have a 10 yr old Toro personal pace- rear wheel drive, 21", with a Briggs ,alum. deck . It is still OK but I need it to move to another small property forever. I do not want a mulching deck or bagging. I mow a bank with it and some tight spots. I feel mulching decks bog down too easily on damp grass and I have shale with minimal topsoil, so the clippings are good. I am sometimes mowing tall stuff , so more hp/tq never hurts. I don't even need drive wheels if it has those tall rear tires and not real heavy overall . I saw an Ariens with a Kawasaki and sturdy construction but it was 115 lbs. And it was mulching. I want an old school deck with an integrated metal "shoot" for discharge, not a snap on piece of plastic that converts a mulcher to discharge- cause I want it to "discharge". What I want may not be made. One friend said they are all mulching with conversion to discharge nowadays. I don't need elec start or any frills just good power and either "light weight" or rear drive. I have a $9000 Toro ZRT and my tractor with a 14' cut , so I am not tied to a budget. I appreciate solid construction as I service evrything myself. But I am not adverse to a "throwaway" 21 inch if that's all that is made with a real discharging deck.

JDGREEN4ME · Mar 30, 2012

Found anything yet? Seems that most of the new mowers are set up to do three options, mulch, bag or discharge. I bought an old Toro for our property in NY and I have been very happy with it, don't like the front wheel drive however.

Dirtball · Mar 31, 2012

Not finding exactly what I want. Handled a Snapper commercial unit with a Briggs today. Has some nice features, but , still has an addon shoot for side discharge. The decks aren't fully cut out at the side exit like they used to. There is still a steel ring at the bottom that the grass exit up and over. This unit had a throttle control which I prefer, so on start up the engine doesn't rev to high rpm immediately.

SHORT KID · Mar 31, 2012

Dirtball, I think you are asking for too much, what I do is just take old hand me downs and repair them. I have been looking for the ideal one for years, no luck. I can justify a few dollars here and there to keep a good old one running but not hundreds for a new piece of plastic. I repair a lot of equipment for neighbors and the newer stuff is junk compared to older stuff as we all know. I got some of my best stuff along the roads of streets on garbage days. Good luck on finding one and when you do let us know. :licking:

ccdck20hst · Mar 31, 2012

I have been happy with my Honda powered Husqvarna 7021P. I find it to be acceptably sturdy for a 21" push mower. I have had it for about a year and use it to trim where my Cub Cadet ride on can't cut. I got tired of spending a lot of time looking for a simple mower. This model might not be what you want but you might find it to be a good compromise.

namesray · Mar 31, 2012

Dirtball said:
Hi, I need a new push mower for the tight areas. I have a 10 yr old Toro personal pace- rear wheel drive, 21", with a Briggs ,alum. deck . It is still OK but I need it to move to another small property forever. I do not want a mulching deck or bagging. I mow a bank with it and some tight spots. I feel mulching decks bog down too easily on damp grass and I have shale with minimal topsoil, so the clippings are good. I am sometimes mowing tall stuff , so more hp/tq never hurts. I don't even need drive wheels if it has those tall rear tires and not real heavy overall . I saw an Ariens with a Kawasaki and sturdy construction but it was 115 lbs. And it was mulching. I want an old school deck with an integrated metal "shoot" for discharge, not a snap on piece of plastic that converts a mulcher to discharge- cause I want it to "discharge". What I want may not be made. One friend said they are all mulching with conversion to discharge nowadays. I don't need elec start or any frills just good power and either "light weight" or rear drive. I have a $9000 Toro ZRT and my tractor with a 14' cut , so I am not tied to a budget. I appreciate solid construction as I service evrything myself. But I am not adverse to a "throwaway" 21 inch if that's all that is made with a real discharging deck.

at the golf course i worked on a few years back, we used push mowers. i think the name was "lawn boy"?? not sure, have to do some research. anyway, they were old when i got there, but they were heavy duty, even had grease fittings!!! mowed pretty good too. just plain jane pust mower, no drive assist, mulch or whatnot. just cut and side discharge. they were a lime green color. i forget what engine they had on them. they might have even been 2 cycle. anyway this would seem to fit what you are looking for if they still make them or you can find one.

namesray · Mar 31, 2012

did some quick looking and found this website: Lawn-Boy | The Choice is Clear Cut

just quickly looking, looks like they "upgraded/updated" them with all the fancy bs that can go wrong

. anyway maybe worth looking into, especially if you can get a used one.

Dirtball · Apr 6, 2012

Came down to this Commercial Push Mowers | Snapper Walk Behind Mowers the Ninja model. Pressurized engine to stay lubed on the steep bank I cut, REALLY nice balance, easy to stand on one rear wheel and no flex of the handle. Not real heavy. Heavy duty wheels and tires- real rubber tires. A deck that looks like it should spit pretty good. I searched too much, and found they really don't make what I want. Everything mulches and they all have the metal ring going across the bottom of the discharge shoot, there are no more fully open shoots , must be a product liability thing. This Snapper has a throttle , I like to be able to pull the cord and have it not redline immediately, like my Toro does. The drive mechanism on the Snapper is fully exposed and looks easy to clean with the airgun. My toro's is buried under plastic housings and a miserable to clean.
I'll post an update after a couple cuts.
I did see a used 2 stoke LawnBoy that had a nice open deck.
My lawn can be rough on equipt. , it's not manicured flat. This HD unit should take the beating.