On Tue, 13 Apr 2004 20:00:10 -0700, "thehatter"
shouted from the rooftop:

I do agree that Ariens, Toro (some), Cub Cadet, etc. are probably better
than sears, but, Sears isn't all bad and no I'm not a Sears salesman.

I bought my Sears after discussion with my father in law who has been using
the same Sears 11.5 Hp 42" mower yard tractor since 1975. He mows 3.6 acres
of grass once a week and blades snow (northern Ohio) off 400' of driveway as
needed, and he is anal about his lawn.

His Sears was probably built by Bolens- a good, solid machine.
The new ones are crap by comparison. Take a look at the chassis on the
newer Sears units- it's nothing more than a light guage sheetmetal box
built to the same level of quality as a disposable bar-b-q charcoal
grill.

BTW, Cub Cadet and Toro, Wheel Horse, etc. aren't the same machines they
were 20 years ago either.

I'd like to know how you arrived at that conclusion.
Toro still builds the 1132 rider (also known as "The Brush Hog"
because it's 32 inch wide blade will slice and dice small trees),
which is an old design, along with the Wheel Horse Classic series-
cast iron axle, electric lift, cruise control, Peerless gearbox- a
real tractor.

-Carl
"An honest man doesn't need a long memory"- Jesse Ventura