"JJ" wrote in message
...
Without starting a tractor war, my advice would be to stay away from MTD
stuff (Yard Machines, Troy Bilt at Loews, low end Cub Cadets, Huskee,
etc.).

Agree completely. I'd suggest buying a higher-end Deere than the ones at
HD, but any Deere is better than MTD by a moonshot.

Look in the archives. You'll find many people who've had problems with MTD
and Craftsman and the other cheap brands. You'll also find a few who swear
they've ran their MTD/Crapsman 30 years and it's still going. I believe, as
you've found out, that this is the exception -- I had a Crapsman die after 2
seasons of use, and you got 3 out of your MTD. I think that's the norm.

-Tim