Anyone bought a push mower lately?!

I bought a Huskvsrna 4x4 mower mid 2016 for my ditch mowing bussness. Has a B/S engine, recoil was not up to snuff. I midified it but it took me a bit of time to decide just how I was going to do it. So I was starting it with my cordless drill most of the summer.






Any way I bought it on sale the last day of the sale was some place near 400.00 if I remember right. I had just had knee surgery a month before and could not even load it. I used ramps at home to slide it out of the truck to assemble.
Just got it out yesterday and filled it with fuel so it was ready to go.
Sharpened the blade last fall and changed the oil.

Since I mow a few lawns commercially along with ditch mowing for people I also wonder why people mow their grass so short they hit things like rocks.
You will never ever find my mowers set lower than 3.5 inches.

Al

 

I mow a few lawns and if they want their lawns shorter than 3.5 they either do it their own self so they can tear up their own stuff. Or try to find some else who will mow it shorter, isn't likely though as most comercial guys are like me.
We don't like bent blades chunks out of them and bent spindles and crank shafts.
we eaern money with our machines and if your replaceing stuff your not earning.

Al

 

Ive read a ton of bad stuff about the husqvarna mowers, I use to be very interested in owning one. I just couldnt get over the bad reviews i kept coming across.

 

Only problems I have had is with the recoil on the B/S engine. I reenginnered it and it is fine now.
I use it more than a normal home owner would and use it in extreame conditions (side hills) so steep i wear base ball cleats to keep from slipping.

If I were to do it today I probably would opt for the Honda Engine model, just so I would not have to rework the recoil.
A lot of the reviews I read seem to be fuel related, sure ethnol free fuel or add stabli, 3 onces of Marvel Mystery oil even to a gallon of gasoline.

Al

 

i have a husqvarna 7021 ,worst mower i ever had

 

Frankly I find the blade/ engine shut off a royal pia and that is not just because of the squeeze bar. Now I could possibly understand a clutch/ brake for the blade only leaving the eng running. I also dislike the single speed carbs- generally because where they seem to be set at leaves almost all the mowers running at some anemic rpm. In times past the mowers developed enough hp and lift to actually mow the lawn the first time. Now they seem just beat the grass down.

 

Serious or are you being sarcastic? lol


Back before i bought the troybilt, husqvarna is what i was shopping for.
Seemed like every mower i researched on google there were several bad reviews all related to the same issues for each model i researched.


I mentioned this to my small engine guy back in illinois and he acted surprised that people had so much issues with that brand.

 

I have 2 of those mowers. One is over 25 years old and still going. If the engine were to blow I'd replace it as the mower is still solid.

 

I bought a new honda a year ago. Mine isn't from their pro line. Self propelled, twin blade, bag & mulch. I think it was close to $400. The plastic deck is an upgrade available on their higher end models. Plastic = no rust.

 

When I was shopping last year I saw a lit of bad reviews on the husqvarna too. The final nail in the husqvarna coffin for me was talking to my neighbor. He bought a rwd husqvarna a year earlier. When I asked him about it he cussed it up and down. He said the drive system crapped the bed, which I'd seen in several reviews.

 

very serious , i should have known better ,years ago i brought a husqvarna saw in for service and was told it was a poulan ,the mower shakes like mad ,i should buy carbs by the case ( on my third and yes i do drain it and do all proper maint. on it ) these honda engines are worshiped by people ,this is my last ,i have had 129.00 murry mowers with briggs engines go 15 years no problem ,the bodys rot away but the engines run , yeh this could just be a lemon but if i was in a more remote area it would have received a load of buckshot by now.

 

Yeah all the bad stuff i read was related to the drive system failing within weeks or a few months... FWD/ RWD or AWD, it didnt matter, they were all failing.
Another thing i read about was i guess they like ot leave clumps of grass behind instead of evenly distributing the cut clippings, they will leave a pile.

 

I bought the twin to yours at our local home depot store yesterday, took it home in the box, like you did. Its a nice mower, the plastic deck, it's pretty much guaranteed for life, baring out and out owner abuse. I thought about the electric start, decided no, batteries die, when you need them most. Was going to buy the least expensive one, at 379 but, had looked at the bigger one a lot. Decided to get the bigger one, and i did want the plastic deck. I'm tired of rusting steel decks under the motor. This one also has the bigger motor on it, and the rear bag is HUGE!! I expect a lot of trouble free hours of mowing from it, time will tell i guess. Its a beast, and if it runs 1/2 as good as it looks, it should do the job.

 

I've had a Honda with the plastic deck for years now. I did manage to chip the front of the deck on a water meter cover. However, the thing is like a Timex. Takes a licking and keeps on ticking. The only weird thing about the Honda is that it has no drain plug. You drain the oil from the hole where you fill it. That's somewhat of a PITA. Other than that, I'd buy again and twice on Sunday. Love my Honda engines.

 

Husqvarna I had sucked also. It was ugly and heavy too. Think it was called a royale or something like that. Best push mower I have evet had was an old silver deck John Deere....couldn't kill it, but finally the deck rusted thru

 

Surprised that no mention made yet of the best and simplest push mowers ever built. The LawnBoy mowers with the "brick top motors". I still have the 1964 LB that my Grandfather bought new. I wonder how many miles I have walked behind that thing! Lawns, parks, church yards, you name it, it always runs. The old ones had magnesium decks and only weighed 45- 50 lbs total, and are easy to push.

I'm glad I don't have to choose one of the new offerings from any manufacturer, they're all so big and complex, because of all the governmental engineering I suppose.

 

I thought tipping it over to drain the oil was strange until I actually did it. My previous mower had a drain plug. And the plug was located where it would drain the oil all over the top of the deck. I ended up cutting a plastic bottle into juuuuust the right shape to fit under the drain and I still had to tip the mower on its side.

 

I'm gonna disagree.
There isn't a whole lot to a pushmower. A lot of the new ones may not be built as stout as the old ones, but that's just because they're cheap, not because they're complex.

 

I have never bought a push mower, I trash pick them in the spring and use them for a while and then give them away as I find better ones.
I picked a JD about 5-6 years ago and am still using it, clean carb runs perfect, 5 speed trans $650 dollar mower. They are all the same engine spins blade cuts grass.