"Lawrence" wrote in message
oups.com...

I don't get this idea that a rear wheel drive is maneuvered around a
corner
any differently than a front wheel drive. The rear wheel drive model has
a
differential in the powered axle and it will pivot on a dime, so to
speak,
with the handle depressed and the front wheel raised. I've had two. I
make
90 and 180 degree turns by pressing down on the handle and swinging
around
with drive usually engaged.


I own and use both types of mowers and do believe there is a
difference. Yes you can push down on the handles of a rear drive but it
does not slow the machine unless you actully pull back on the mower or
disengage the drive. Engaging and disengaging the drive becomes a
matter of habit with the rear drive.

My place is covered with stumps and rocks. Say I am walking along a a
given speed and want to mow around a tree or rock. You need or want to
slow the machine way down to negotiate the obstacle, perhaps even make
a complete 360 degree turn. With the front drive this is easy. Just
push down on the handles to disengage the drive for a moment. The
front drive will pull the mower around the tree and can be easily
slowed and pivoted by pushing down on the handles (which is easy to
do). With the rear drive you would have to lift up on the handles to
get the same result, essentially picking up the whole mower. Otherwise
you have to repeatedly disengage the drive to slow the machine. When I
am in this situation while using the rear wheel I sometimes actually
hold the mower back to prevent it from going too fast.

So anyway, I have three strategies for slowing and turning the rear
wheel drive. With the front drive there is one simple strategy, push
down on the handles and pivot the machine leaving the drive engaged.
Both mowers work well enough, for sure, but the front drive is a bit
easier to use around obstacles in my humble opinion. If I only had one
mower it would be a rear drive because they have a better choice of
speeds and also because they handle better in tall grass and rough
ground.

Most self-propelled machines now have a continuously variable drive speed so
the difficulty of speed adjustment is pretty well eliminated and it's easy
to slow down quickly or to propel in short lunges.

SJF