Rural King finish mowers

[TomWhite]

Recently, I've noticed a couple of less expensive (cheaper) finish mowers on the Rural King website. They have a 6 ft. model for $799.99 and a 5 ft. model for $599.99.

I've not seen these in person, but wondered if anyone knows anything about these. Who are they made by? Are they of any quality?

Believe me, I know that you generally get what you pay for. I'm just curious if anyone has any experience with, or has seen these mowers first hand.

Thanks,
Tom

 

[jejeosborne]

I tried two of them. I mowed about 100 feet with the first one before one of the blade shafts separated from the pulley. Took it back and the second one had a pulley that wobbled. It was red and the 5 foot mode. I gave up and bought a riding mower and glad I did. The 10 minutes with the PTO mover proved inefficient with the trees on our property.
Jeff

 

[greg_g]

Who are they made by? Are they of any quality?

They're Chinese, possibly Futon. And yes, you absolutely get what you pay for. They're loud (transmission noise) and generally have poor rubber (belts, tires). Figure on buying 4 decent tires and a set of good belts. You might want to add a set of Gator blades to that list as well. But despite all that, they're still inexpensive machines.

They're also assembled at the stores, often by poorly trained minimum wage employees. Do NOT think you can just take one home and put it to work. You have to go through it from stem to stern, use the manual to see which parts they forgot to install, tighten all loose stuff, air up the tires, adjust the belts, tighten the blade bolts, grease the zerks, and make sure the tranny is neither over or under full, et cetera et cetera.

//greg//