Lawn mower question

[taumac]

I've been looking at a new push mowers. I'm liking the Cub cadet SC500 EZ but I don't care for the smaller rear wheels and personal pace idea. I found the Troy-Bilt XP TB370 had the bigger rear wheels and the drive controls I like better but no electric start. Now the Troy Bilt has same drive controls as a Snapper. The Cub cadet and Troy Bilt looks almost identical except handle controls. So my question is who makes what? Does Cub Cadet make Troy Bilt or other way around or is there a 3party that makes both? I'm leaning towards the Troy Bilt. I looked at others cause I have a old Craftsman 22 front drive with the bagger now and looking not the replace it with same thing. I like the caster front end, rear drive with the bigger rear tires but bagging system I only use once or twice when wife gets sick of looking at leaves on the lawn 99%of time I'm just mulching.

 

[check251]

Cub Cadet and Troy-Bilt are both made by MTD.

 

[kctyphoon]

i will never buy anything troy bilt again... ive had 4 different items with small engines from them, all four were nothing but problems - never wanna start.. for me - you cant beat craftsman in the lawn mower dept.. i find them the best with price vs features... so far im on my second mower from them, never had a problem with either.. always starts, plenty of power. for the price, i couldn't get anything else that was RWD, w/ larger rear wheels, AND a single handle height adjustment. briggs and straton engines, auto choke carb, no regrets..

 

[Lx460]

Scag turf tiger 60"...

 

[Lx460]

Oh, you said push mower.

Honda.

 

[taumac]

i will never buy anything troy bilt again... ive had 4 different items with small engines from them, all four were nothing but problems - never wanna start.. for me - you cant beat craftsman in the lawn mower dept.. i find them the best with price vs features... so far im on my second mower from them, never had a problem with either.. always starts, plenty of power. for the price, i couldn't get anything else that was RWD, w/ larger rear wheels, AND a single handle height adjustment. briggs and straton engines, auto choke carb, no regrets..

I think the Troy Bilt has the B&S auto choke

 

[Beemer533]

Oh, you said push mower.

Honda.

+1

I bought one for my mom a few years back that started first pull every single time.. Right up until it was stolen..

 

[taumac]

Oh, you said push mower.



Honda.

Husqvava 4x4 has a Honda engine. Had enough problems storing my rider that's why I sold it. Although, I could drive to your house and drive that back LOL

 

[dodgejunkie]

+1

+2

I've had my Honda walk behind for almost 14 years. The only problem I've had is my own fault. I had to replace the carb after NOT getting all the fuel out for an extended period of time. Found a complete carb for $35.00 @ planopower.com/ (great service from these people).

 

[taumac]

Is that Honda lawn mowers or Honda powered? I only used B&S before and have 3 matching quantum engines and 2 deck ( one side discharge and one mulched/ nagger) and spare parts. I have enough parts to keep theses running but the are getting old. Plus I now have my yard plus inlaws yards to maintain and thinking are just getting something different. Maybe electric start all under $600 max

 

[dodgejunkie]

http://powerequipment.honda.com/lawn-mowers/models/hrx217hya

This is really close to the 14yr old Honda.

Honda Lawn mower. The NeXite deck makes this thing really lite. Honestly would buy another in a heartbeat.

 

[Lx460]

Honda made. Will last the rest of your life. I got one from my FIL, used it for a couple years and now my dad is using it. It was bought new 25 years ago...

They're not super cheap though.

 

[taumac]

I've seen that plastic Honda deck. Lifetime warranty on it. This is what I've been using.

It's a old Craftsman I converted to high rear wheel and has one of the 3 engines I have on it. This one had the highest HP rating cause in was a good mulching deck. One thing that scares me about Honda vs B&S it's working on it. I always had B&S engines and they are super easy to work on. I had a Tecumseh engine once and what a POS that was. I found a mower with a B&S engine someone was throwing out I cleaned carb and it ran fine. Matter of fact the engine on this deck is the engine I had on that deck. I had a few decks and engines between me and my father laying around. Problem I have is spending money on new mower that's just like this.

 

[Ilikeike]

Bought my Honda new 2004,still works great.
Had a Snapper commercial with a Briggs for about 20 years before that,it had an indestructible drive system on it, I wore the wheels off that thing. Not sure if the new Snappers have gone cheap on the hardware and deck,but I see they have Honda power now.
I always buy Commercial duty when I can,since I take care of my equipment and keep it for a long time.

 

[taumac]

Bought my Honda new 2004,still works great.
Had a Snapper commercial with a Briggs for about 20 years before that,it had an indestructible drive system on it, I wore the wheels off that thing. Not sure if the new Snappers have gone cheap on the hardware and deck,but I see they have Honda power now.
I always buy Commercial duty when I can,since I take care of my equipment and keep it for a long time.

I like commercial stuff myself problem is the price tag. There was a Aeries front caster unit that looked strong but $300 more the the $500 Cub Cadet. I do fold mine up and it goes under a shelf for storage so easy fold up and reassembling is a must. My wife is pushing for me to get something new and to stop screwing around with using the old stuff. My wife mows lawn also and son been doing my inlaws so getting something they can pull out easy assemble and start is a big consideration.

 

[Wamsutta]

Toro Personal Pace?

 

[taumac]

Toro Personal Pace?

I used a system like that a few years back on a Lawn Boy. I didn't care for it so much. Hard to maintain a consist speed. I prefer handle style like the Troy Bilt or similar.

 

[taumac]

This one has most of what I like too
http://m.lowes.com/pd/Husqvarna-HU8...Honda-Engine-and-Mulching-Capability/50329483. No electric start no front casters

To bad I can't take parts and pieces for each and make one lol

 

[Joe B.]

I've been looking at a new push mowers. I'm liking the Cub cadet SC500 EZ but I don't care for the smaller rear wheels and personal pace idea. I found the Troy-Bilt XP TB370 had the bigger rear wheels and the drive controls I like better but no electric start. Now the Troy Bilt has same drive controls as a Snapper. The Cub cadet and Troy Bilt looks almost identical except handle controls. So my question is who makes what? Does Cub Cadet make Troy Bilt or other way around or is there a 3party that makes both? I'm leaning towards the Troy Bilt. I looked at others cause I have a old Craftsman 22 front drive with the bagger now and looking not the replace it with same thing. I like the caster front end, rear drive with the bigger rear tires but bagging system I only use once or twice when wife gets sick of looking at leaves on the lawn 99%of time I'm just mulching.

Those are both good mowers and as stated previously, both are made by MTD. I would go with the larger B&S engine Troy-Bilt model. The MTD import engines are great quality but I still like the B&S better and I would suspect that it is more powerful. (You will never seen a power rating on the MTD import engine...they probably don't want to put up with the lawsuits.)

The reason you see similar controls on the Snapper is that MTD also builds the Snapper models that are sold in Walmart. Snapper is owned by Briggs & Stratton so B&S still get to provide the engine but allow MTD to build the mower as B&S is not equipped to do that efficiently for the mass market. You can pretty easily tells the MTD made Snappers by looking at them.

The thing about MTD and B&S is that they make both premium and crappy products to hit price points. The crappy products tarnish their images but do not mean that the better stuff is not still good.

The Honda's are are really nice but I don't feel the cost justifies the price. I acknowledge that this means i disagree with about everyone else that has posted.

 

[Indexmill]

For the very best value, the Craftsman is the answer. No debate.

The Honda mowers are awesome but far too expensive.

If you properly clean the under deck and then run it to dry everything after each use, it will last for 10 years or more... all for $300. My first Craftsman lasted 12 years before the engine started having issues and the second one is like new 8 years later.

Indexmill.

 

[Joe B.]

This one has most of what I like too
http://m.lowes.com/pd/Husqvarna-HU8...Honda-Engine-and-Mulching-Capability/50329483. No electric start no front casters

To bad I can't take parts and pieces for each and make one lol

The Husqvarna products are nice. I think the all-wheel-drive is not needed by most people with fairly flat lawns and will just be another thing to break down. I like the fact that Husqvarna mowers are 1" wider than MTD mowers in most cases. A few years ago Husqvarna had a caster mower but it looks like it is out of the lineup now:
http://www.husqvarna.com/us/press-listing/new-7021rc-walk-behind-has-extreme-maneuverability/

 

[taumac]

The Husqvarna products are nice. I think the all-wheel-drive is not needed by most people with fairly flat lawns and will just be another thing to break down. I like the fact that Husqvarna mowers are 1" wider than MTD mowers in most cases. A few years ago Husqvarna had a caster mower but it looks like it is out of the lineup now:

http://www.husqvarna.com/us/press-listing/new-7021rc-walk-behind-has-extreme-maneuverability/

First saw the 4wd drive that one handle did one and one did other. I found out it didn't. I definitely like high rear wheel drive. I done with front wheel drive. I think front caster would be nice just to pivot verse lift front and spin. I found a cub cadet some tossed out but too much wrong to fix at time and I had no spare parts for it.