Srgnt Bilko
20-07-2004, 12:09 AM
I've bought about 4 used Craftsman in the range of 4 to 10 years old and the
decks were rotting on all of them. I would pay special attention to keeping
the deck clean.
"Dish" > wrote in message
om...
> For the first time in my life, I actually look forward to cutting the
> grass. We bought a house on a good-sized lot, about 1/3 of an acre,
> which is about twice as large as we had at our previous house
> (slightly larger house, much larger property). To mow it with a push
> mower would take me 10 hours, not to even mention the physical pain,
> and I was dreading cutting the grass every week.
>
> So I looked at prices and did my research, and after using Consumer
> Reports (CR), I bought a Craftsman LT1000 lawn tractor (18HP OHV
> Intek, 42" deck), which was under $1,000 on sale. It had the second
> least amount of repairs (after John Deere) on the CR list, and it was
> also third (out of 8 companies) on another CR reliability list.
>
> Wow. I cut all that grass in just over an hour. It honestly took me
> longer to look through the manual, watch the video, and familiarize
> myself with everything than it did to cut the grass!
>
> 18HP and a 42" deck seems like overkill for my property, but when I
> think of the time saved, it's well worth it. My older brother has
> about 1 acre, and has had a rider for over 10 years, and when I told
> him what I bought he said "wow, you didn't mess around, did you?" He
> may have thought I bought a little rider with 9HP and a 20" cut.
>
> Another reason it was well worth buying a rider was that after we
> moved in, we were having a lawn service cut our lawn every week, at
> $38 a week! After 3 weeks of that, we RAN out and bought a rider,
> especially after I figured out that we would pay them over $700 for
> just this year alone! So we figure the mower will pay for itself next
> summer. And, I only used a 1/2 gallon of gas to do the cutting, so it
> will cost me about $1.00 a week for gas.
>
> So does anyone else have a similiar model to mine? If so, can you
> share your experiences with problems, maintenance, etc.? Maybe
> knowing what the upcoming problems may be, I can try to head them off
> now.
>
> I read that using a synthetic oil would make the engine run 15 degrees
> cooler. I'd like to do anything I can to keep it running well for a
> long time.
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> __
> __
decks were rotting on all of them. I would pay special attention to keeping
the deck clean.
"Dish" > wrote in message
om...
> For the first time in my life, I actually look forward to cutting the
> grass. We bought a house on a good-sized lot, about 1/3 of an acre,
> which is about twice as large as we had at our previous house
> (slightly larger house, much larger property). To mow it with a push
> mower would take me 10 hours, not to even mention the physical pain,
> and I was dreading cutting the grass every week.
>
> So I looked at prices and did my research, and after using Consumer
> Reports (CR), I bought a Craftsman LT1000 lawn tractor (18HP OHV
> Intek, 42" deck), which was under $1,000 on sale. It had the second
> least amount of repairs (after John Deere) on the CR list, and it was
> also third (out of 8 companies) on another CR reliability list.
>
> Wow. I cut all that grass in just over an hour. It honestly took me
> longer to look through the manual, watch the video, and familiarize
> myself with everything than it did to cut the grass!
>
> 18HP and a 42" deck seems like overkill for my property, but when I
> think of the time saved, it's well worth it. My older brother has
> about 1 acre, and has had a rider for over 10 years, and when I told
> him what I bought he said "wow, you didn't mess around, did you?" He
> may have thought I bought a little rider with 9HP and a 20" cut.
>
> Another reason it was well worth buying a rider was that after we
> moved in, we were having a lawn service cut our lawn every week, at
> $38 a week! After 3 weeks of that, we RAN out and bought a rider,
> especially after I figured out that we would pay them over $700 for
> just this year alone! So we figure the mower will pay for itself next
> summer. And, I only used a 1/2 gallon of gas to do the cutting, so it
> will cost me about $1.00 a week for gas.
>
> So does anyone else have a similiar model to mine? If so, can you
> share your experiences with problems, maintenance, etc.? Maybe
> knowing what the upcoming problems may be, I can try to head them off
> now.
>
> I read that using a synthetic oil would make the engine run 15 degrees
> cooler. I'd like to do anything I can to keep it running well for a
> long time.
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> __
> __