The Death of DOLMAR

Ok. I talked to them, and they wanted me to wait while they called their stihl rep. They didn't even want to answer the question if they service the stihls they sell. They do not service them at all. If I bought a stihl product, and I needed it serviced, I'd have to drive another 50 miles to get it done by someone else. That would be another Ace hardware. Not very handy at all. I don't like what stihl is doing here, but that is just my opinion.

 

Well I guess I was miss informed by the guy I know that was a mechanic for the John Deere/Mercury dealer up here. He worked there sure that time when they had green homelite 250’s and 300’s on the shelf.

 

Well it’s not Stihl doing it because no shop is against the rules. Like I said a few ace were allowed to carry battery without a shop because odds of needing service is slim

 

Huh? What do you mean it isn't Stihl doing it? I was right there. It was stihl saying it, he was a stihl rep. Where is the confusion?

 

Stihl rep? Or the “Stihl guy” that sells the saw? Stihl reps don’t usually just hang out for hours at the store they have a large area they cover

 

It appears so on the Saber / Scotts tractors. Deere made all of them. In fact I've found no evidence online of anyone else making Deere lawn tractors for them. The larger stuff was yanmar for many years but the mowing tractors were all Deere. Either built in the Union plant in Wisconsin or somewhere in the south in a non union plant. TN maybe?

 

Pretty sure he said they called the rep while he waited.

 

Ok, well that’s good I was told some of the new
Toro stuff tractor supply sells is farmed out to mtd but who knows. Most of the 1800-3000$ lawn tractors seem to have a tuff torque k-46 hydrostatic which seems to be the week point on all of them unfortunately. This includes my 46” cub cadet with a 21hp Kawasaki

 

I miss read the answer, if it was the Stihl rep saying you’d need to drive 50 miles to get service if you had problems he’s technically in the wrong and shouldn’t be supplying any gas equipment to that dealer. Stihl has in stock minimum amounts and also the rule of needing a shop the rep is kinda opening himself up to getting in trouble with Stihl.

 

Thank you for the information.
I've been looking at buying a Toro Titan or Time cutter with My ride suspension. I've had 5 spine surgeries now so that suspension is a must on a ZTR. I was all about the Titan with its serviceable transmissions but not so warm and fuzzy about the $2000 upcharge. The local Toro dealer, who has been in business for over 30 years with the same owner / operator, told me the Time cutter, for a residential user will last years and didn't see the need for me to go with the more expensive unit. I mow approximately 3 acres a week. In fact he said he's had one of each transmission types these two levels of ZTR use have an issue in all the years they have been selling them. This dealership owner is the mechanic as well. The one was from a time cutter owner pulling a trailer around his hilly property with it. After a few years he smoked one trans, the other is still fine. The other was a Titan and the new owner didn't do the break-in transmission service until it was more than double the hours required. Wrecked one transmission as well. Toro wasn't going to cover it because it explicitly says 50 hours to service the transmissions. The dealer managed to convince Toro to cover it.

 

Very true. The back won't improve with age either. Lol

 

Toro's with the 2800+ serviceable transaxles start at like 5800 for a Titan with a 50+" deck and no suspension. The my ride is about 6-700 more for that feature. There's other brands that have serviceable transaxles that start at 4600 or so, but no suspension. Gravely had a suspension seat, and you can add those suspension seats too many, if not all ztr's. There's some bad boy and others that have front suspension or pivoting front axles like country clipper. There's ferris and some simplicity ztr's that have full suspension, but those are even more $. But if you need suspension, you'll pay for it. My lawn is pretty smooth, and my garden tractor has no suspension. I've mowed my lawn with the neighbors simplicity lawn tractor with full suspension, and while the suspension was nice, it wasn't that much of an improvement that I'd need full suspension.

I hear many dealers say that the ezt or sealed transaxles are fine for mowing. I don't need and won't use a ZTR for anything but mowing. I've got a real garden tractor for towing/ hauling, but I still like the idea of serviceable transaxles. If I'm going to spend 3k, I might as well spend 4500 and get serviceable transaxles as well as many other HD / commercial features.

 

In reality, what makes the most $$ sense for me is a big finish mower for the rear of my Kubota to do all the shooting ranges and trails. The yard can still be done with my Deere gx335.

 

Except for the turning back and looking part of it ! Every year I do that less gooder than the year before . Thought about a little camera for when I use the 3 point stump grinder....

 

I have two 8" round convex bus mirrors on my loader mount just fir that reason. 4 of my spine surgeries have been neck. I only have 50% range of motion turning. Easiest would be a mower no wider than my bucket, 60", but faster cutting would be with a 72" or 84". Then seeing behind becomes important definitely. I could make some magnetic "curb feelers" to stick off the bucket sides as go / no go guages lol.

 

Great idea on the mirrors. Been kicking around getting a set. Worried I'll just break em lol !
I hear you on the range of motion. This getting old thing isn't what it's cracked up to be

 

I've had two break over the years from the vibration. They break off at the pivot ball because there isn't a radius leading to the ball, its a sharp transition. My current ones have a fatter shaft. So far so good on those. Mine have all been Grote brand. I prefer the offset mount vs the center.