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G wrote: I have about .4 acres to mow. Originally I was looking at self-propelled, but have been convinced by a long- time mower friend (this is my 1st house and I've NEVER mowed before), that a push-model is good enough. That the more complex a mower (i.e. Propel vs. push), the more things can go wrong, and I'm 30 & fit so a push should not be an issue. Land is mostly flat, backyard slants up about 30 degrees. Obviously, electric not an option. After looking at Consumers Reports and reading a lot of stuff in general, I'm considering the Craftsman 38886. It's a push, large-rear wheels, with mulching & rear- bagging. I wish I could find out if it is ball-bearing or not (I'll go this weekend to look at it and hopefully the salepeerson would know....we'll see....is there any way to tell myself?) Any opinions on Craftsman push mulching/rear-bagging mowers, specifially the 38886? Oh yea, it's B&S 6.5hp Thanks a ton, trying not to make a bad decision considering I've never owned a mower before, and I figure a $220 Craftsman is better than spending $700 on a Honda HRX217HXA now that I have mortgage payments... If you get a push mower just about anything will be ok provided you take good care of it. There is little to go wrong outside the engine. I would look for a heavier gauge steel (or cast Aluminum or Aluminum/Magnesium alloy) for the deck. Don't leave a lot of wet grass clippings impacted on the bottom of the deck after you mow, as this will encourage rust - especially if you have recently fertilized. Change the oil at the end of the season and either run the gas out of the tank or put some gas stabilizer in the tank. Don't leave your mower outside in the weather uncovered (you'd be surprised how many people do this). Preferably keep it in a garage or a enclosed outbuilding. If you can't do that at the least throw a tarp over it and stick it under something (deck, lean-to, milk crate, whatever). Personally, for .4 acres I would go with a good quality self-propelled. If you let the grass get high (and who on occasion doesn't unless they have nothing to do but cut the lawn) a push mower can be a real chore to manhandle through higher grass - even on a perfectly flat lawn. A good brand self-propelled (Honda, Toro, Husqvarna, and maybe a few other select brands) should give years of reliable service if you take care of it (same kind of maintenance as mentioned earlier). I've got a Honda Harmony self propelled that I bought at Home Depot about 5 years ago and it has never given me a problem. The self-propelled unit is working fine and it starts with one pull every time just like when it was new. Your gonna pay around $400 ~ $450 for a good self propelled (yes, you can pay more). You might squeeze in a little under that $400 figure if you shop around now at the end of the season. I think I saw Lowes selling a Husqvarna self propelled (with a Honda motor, same as on my Harmony which I consider to be a definite plus)for just under $400. On the motor, I can't overstate how pleased I am with the Honda 5.5hp engine on my self-propelled. I've owned or known a lot of mowers growing up and through my adult life. Most were Brigg and Stratton with a few Tecumsehs thrown in here or there. Some were hard to start right out of the box. All got harder to start as they got older. The best of them would start in 3 or 4 pulls after a couple of years of service. Some were quite a bit harder than that. I generally check and change plugs often, but no matter what it seems that all my Briggs or Techumseh motors would at some point give me trouble starting. Sometimes I could fix it with new plugs, other times I had to rebuild the carb. A few would just never reliably start over any reasonable period of time. This Honda has performed flawlessly. You set the throttle to choke, you pull the cord (and an easy pull at that) and the thing just fires up. Five years on it starts as readily at the day I brought it home. One year I didn't bother to run the gas out and forgot to put stabil in the tank. Put the mower away in November. Come late February or early May I pull it out of the garage for my first mow of the year, choke the throttle, and pull the cord and the damn thing fired right up - first try after sitting for a little over three months (I live in the Southeast and we have a pretty long mowing season if you have a fescue lawn). Good luck with whatever you get. |
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