On Tue, 27 Apr 2004 wrote:
The murray tractors are indeed the "el cheapos" of the market. However I've
found them very inexpensive to rebuild.
Do you think its cheap to fix them cause there are so many of them out
there....and hence a big availability of "parts"?

I can't speak about the riding mowers/tractors, but I can share my
experience.

I had been getting royally fed up with spending $125 each year at the
local repair shop for my old Toro. The final straw was when it had to go
in twice in two months at $125 each time. [It turns out the repair shop
has problems getting employees who don't put the till up their nose, but
that's another issue...]

I was at Wal-Mart for something else, and saw that they had a Murray for
$90. I bought it, over my Significant Other's protests that I shouldn't
waste my money on such a cheap piece of junk. She wasn't convinced by my
counter-argument that if it worked for just one year before it broke and I
discarded it, it was $35 cheaper than fixing the old one.

Well, it's 5 years later. I have abused that Murray terribly. I've never
cleaned it. It's still on its original spark plug and oil. I haven't
even bothered to put in gas stabilizer or drain the tank.

And, guess what? Come the start of spring, I top off the tank with fresh
gas, push the carb spritzer button a few times, pull the cord...and it
starts!

It may be a cheap piece of junk, but it's a reliable piece of junk. And
it cuts the grass. It does not have multiple speeds or motor assist on
the wheels, but so what. It just works.

One thing did break on it; the plastic handle on the pull cord. A dab of
superglue and that problem was fixed.

That Murray was the best $90 I've spent.

-- Mark --

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.