Recommendations on a Lawn Mower

[RichUK]

I recommend one of these.

 

[LTC8K6]

I haven't seen a push mower with a throttle in a long time.

I'd love to have one again instead of these EPA hobbled single speed bastids.

 

[angry hampster]

Originally posted by: RichUK
I recommend one of these.

On that note, my parents used their employee discounts and incentives at Deere & Co. to get a 54" zero-turn mower last year. Their house sits on a lot no larger than 1/2 acre.

 

[JDub02]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
I haven't seen a push mower with a throttle in a long time.

I'd love to have one again instead of these EPA hobbled single speed bastids.

The throttle adjustment is normally still there, just no cable going up to a lever. My dad's had a short wire that was just tied off somewhere. It's easy to give the wire a twist to shorten it up and open up the throttle.

 

[daveymark]

Originally posted by: angry hampster

Originally posted by: RichUK
I recommend one of these.

On that note, my parents used their employee discounts and incentives at Deere & Co. to get a 54" zero-turn mower last year. Their house sits on a lot no larger than 1/2 acre.

it's easier to hold a beer with that kind of mower. kudos to them

 

[Slickone]

Originally posted by: Thump553
Go front wheel drive-it's far easy to turn/revese in tight spots by pushing down on the handlebar rather than picking up the back wheels.

[snip]

Now I'm using a Toro (bought at Home Depot) for the last several years and am happy with it. Tescumseh engine, I think.

Seems like all the Toro's I've ever seen are RWD, including the ones at HD now. Is yours not?

 

[Slickone]

I bought a self propelled Toro in 2002, which was RWD, and I couldn't get the hang of it, so I returned it. I don't remember what kind of throttle or start/stop motion handle it had, but whatever it was, it was either too much trouble to do that every time you needed to stop to keep from running over a bush or to turn, and/or maybe the drive would never stop completely. And the front-back wheelbase was extremely long, and the whole thing was just too big and heavy to handle.

I ended up buying a Troy Built Tuff Cut 220, which is front wheel drive, so is much easier to handle. But since you don't have all the weight on the drive wheels, you lose a lot of motion going up hill or on damp grass because of wheel spin. Also, the quality control on it just sucked. A couple of the hub caps would never stay on, so had to be glued (which blocks access to the grease fittings); the deck paint started flaking off in big chunks soon after buying; the drive speed adjustment screw is very hard to turn, and doesn't seem to affect anything; the deck/wheel height adjustments are extremely hard to get to and move and their rubber caps fell off soon after buying; the decals were put on crooked and started peeling off soon after buying. Also the push handle just wore out and broke a couple years ago (the replacement I had to buy had been redesigned).

But the main reason I want to get another mower now is the self propelled speed was never fast enough and I end up having to push it myself just to go faster, when I'm in a hurry. It seems like back when I bought it, mfg's were publishing the speed, but now they don't seem to, do they? I would risk getting another RWD Toro, or a Honda, if I knew they would be faster than my Troy Built. Anyone know?