"ransley" wrote in message
...
On May 13, 11:36 am, wrote:
On May 13, 12:08 pm, George wrote:



You might want to just get one with a mulcher blade too instead of
bagging.

Thanks. My yard has LOTS of weeds and it's always been my impression
that mulching will just keep re-seeding them.

Use weed killer weeds seed anyway, mulching is easiest and best for
the lawn. I think most mowers are china made now and cheap in price.
In 1973 I bought a 4 hp Toro self propeled for about 350$, last year I
bought a 6.75hp Toro self propeled for the same price, 350$. For a
motor that will last 2000 hrs get a Honda or 2 stroke Lawn Boy or
commercial grade Cub with maybe a Kawasaki engine or commercial grade
B&S, my first toro lasted 300 hrs or so, I have no idea on what is
quality now in other brands but they dont cost much. OHV should last
longer by design.

From the ads I've seen self-propelled mowers start at around $300.
Personally I would not want to buy any mower that has a Tecumseh, B&S, or
Honda engine. That doesn't leave very much, at least in this price range.
Tecumseh used to have a longer proposed engine life than B&S but I doubt
that's true these days. I don't particularly like the Honda OHC (GC)
engines--just a cheap, crappy engine that says Honda on it. Their OHV
engines are pretty good but I don't think I've seen one on a mower. I had a
lot more problems with Tecumseh carburators than with B&S. Bottom line for
me would be in agreement with ransley to get the OHV engine. I've had good
luck with Chinese generic OHV engines. Every bit as good as a Honda OHV
(GX) engines, as far as I can tell so
far. Some Honda parts even fit, such as the ignition module.

I have a front-wheel drive self-propelled mower and it'll go up fairly steep
slopes easily. I have a rear-wheel drive riding mower and it won't go up
the same slopes. Based upon this if I was buying a new mower I'd probably
go with front-wheel drive. This may be apples and oranges but it's about
all I have to go on. In case you are wondering it's a Sears mower with a
Tecumseh engine and I put a B&S carburator on it. It was free.