In 1997 my father gave me a Craftsman 12.5 hp 42" riding mower (because I'd given him a 1986 5-speed Escort wagon)--he killed the Escort, but I still have the mower. In 1999 I replaced the battery with a Sears Die-Hard--$30. Never did anything to it but check the terminals and top off the electrolyte in the spring if it needed it. This year, 2010, when I rolled it out of the shed, the battery was dead and wouldn't take a charge. Went to Sears and bought another Die-Hard for $35. The mower is used 30 times a year for 1 hour at a time. Don't want to hi-jack the thread, but do mowers like this have some type of alternator or charging device, and if they do, does this account for the fact that some people get years out of their batteries, and some only a couple of years?