Your worst lawnmower?

[JTK]

I had a ~2003 model year MTD Yard Machines rider. A 600 series MTD riding mower. 17hp Briggs "AVS" single cyl, 42" deck. The mower itself was OK. It was LOUD and harsh, but OK to operate. The Briggs engine performed fine. The gauge wheel-less deck would scalp on very uneven areas- which is expected. The bad part was the belt & variator pulley drive system (MTD Transmatic drive). I could never keep it working as designed and lived with a single speed most of the time. Thankfully I bought it used and sold it about a season and a half later. I didn't know what a Transmatic was at the time. I sure do now.

 

[Chris B.]

My Honda was a total POS! The thing was 100% junk and would never cut even short grass and clump all over. It was very under powered and would stall all the time:

 

[SuperDave456]

Every mower I have used did pretty well as long as the grass wasn't to long, to wet, or a combination thereof.
Take a great mower and do any one of those things and you will have an issue.

The issues I have had with mowers are broken height adjustments, gears stripping out, and the handle breaking off after 1-2 years of weekly mowing.
Never a blade or engine issue. Keep the oil changed, the blade sharpened, and a new spark plug every 2 or so years. And you shouldn't have issues with the engine.

Right now I have a Toro Super Recycler, and it will bog down in long wet grass, but that is not the mowers fault.

 

[boraticus]

Chris B.

Grass is a bit long, looks wet and mower set too low. Mower should be set to leave cut grass 3".

Any mower will give you the same results under those conditions.

Nice green healthy grass though.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: Chris B.
My Honda was a total POS! The thing was 100% junk and would never cut even short grass and clump all over....

Based on those pics, I hope that's not what you consider short grass! I don't know of any pushmower mulcher that would handle that kind of load without clumping. You gotta be lopping off a good 3-4" in one pass there. Way too much.

Joel

 

[Chris B.]

The grass was 100% dry. It is just extremely green and healthy so it looks wet. My $150 Murry mower cut this grass with no problem as does my new Toro. This Honda was a lemon and it did not matter wwhat grass was cut it did an aweful job and ran like [censored] from day one.

My Toro cuts even longer grass with no heasitation what so ever. It is a fantastic mower as it the Murry.

 

[nixon]

Originally Posted By: Chris B.
My Honda was a total POS! The thing was 100% junk and would never cut even short grass and clump all over. It was very under powered and would stall all the time:

Gee Chris , You might have let the grass grow a bit before mowing .

 

[Superbuick96]

Way to scalp the yard!

 

[boraticus]

The image with the hand in it clearly shows matted grass packed down by wheel travel. If that isn't wet then I've never seen water.

 

[-Clayton-]

Originally Posted By: boraticus
The image with the hand in it clearly shows matted grass packed down by wheel travel. If that isn't wet then I've never seen water.


The wheels on the mower are wet too.

 

[boraticus]

Originally Posted By: -Clayton-
Originally Posted By: boraticus
The image with the hand in it clearly shows matted grass packed down by wheel travel. If that isn't wet then I've never seen water.


The wheels on the mower are wet too.


Guilty as charged!!!

 

[Mokanic]

What is the worst lawn mower (tractor) you have ever had? Mine...er...suprisingly was a Troy Bilt. [/quote
The worst POS I ever has was a Cub Cadet 25HP lawn tractor I bought back in 2003. It had the Kawasaki liquid-cooled twin gas engine on it. My lawn in the front and back yards are about three acres in size. Never got the whole yard mowed without the engine knocking off, flooding out. Then the hydraulics began to give trouble(all in the space of three weeks). Sometimes the deck would not raise,sometimes it would not go down. I gave 10,500 bucks for it cash. To make a long story short, the dealer could not determine what was going on with the thing. I demanded my money back. Cub Cadet would not offer any assistance to the dealer. My attorney knew the attorney general of our state and the AG office began to put pressure on Cub and they took the mower back. The dealer had been one of Cub's retailers for 25yrs. He dropped their line after that and now sells Simplicity. I bought a Kubota diesel and have never regretted it. It has been flawless.

 

[boraticus]

"I bought a Kubota diesel and have never regretted it. It has been flawless."

That has to be one of the best built small diesels ever!!

I've got a liquid cooled three cylinder Kubota diesel engine on my 6000 watt power plant at camp. It's going on 29 year old and has never missed a beat. It's got around 6000 hours on it. Fuel consumption hasn't changed, everything on it is original except the air filter and fan belt. I change the oil every couple hundred hours and coolant every ten years. I adjusted the valves for the first time this spring. Only one valve was a fair bit off spec. The others were out but not by much.

It starts easily, doesn't use oil, doesn't leak anything.

Run a bit of fuel conditioner in it once and a while to keep the injectors clean and yours will last a life time.

 

[Chris B.]

It was 100 F that day....that grass was dry. It was extremely green and healthy this year so it looks wet. The grass was not scalped as the mower was set on the middle level. It would grow really long in a week so it looks shorter then it really is. All this aside My Toro and Murry mowed this same grass with no problems. The Honda was just a turd from day one.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: Chris B.
My Honda was a total POS! The thing was 100% junk and would never cut even short grass and clump all over. It was very under powered and would stall all the time:

Nothing will do well in wet grass, but Honda mowers do leave a lot to be desired. Bent crankshafts are common. The decks are also really thin and easily dented. The carbs are not great either.

I've had one mower. A 20-25 year old cheapo B&S L-Head powered mower. No problems to speak of. It starts every time. I replaced the recoil rope, spark plug, air filter, oil, that's it. It's great.

The worst riding mower I have come across is the Weedeater One. Broken frames are common, plastic steering parts come apart, the transmissions are junk, friction discs shear off, and they are generally garbage.