Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
Our Sears riding mowers had held up for decades with basic maintenance. I don't know what current mowers are like, but I would be surprised if they are much worse than mowers built 30 years ago. The last Sears/Honda rider we bought 10 years ago has had no issues other than a surging throttle, which was an easy fix.
Heck, I have a ($100 retail) push mower that I've run out of oil several times and keep outside in the rain and do nothing to preserve it, that starts every spring with new gasoline.
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The difference between mowers from 30 years ago and 10 years ago is night and day. I was in the industry from 2003 to 2008 and watched more than a hundred mowers driven on our test track. It was pretty shocking how many of the pressed steel frames cracked and we were driving them on smooth concrete. Manufacturers were very good a designing the parts to just meet the intended design life. The biggest complaint we got from the US market was that our transaxles lasted too long (and therefore cost too much) In Europe they complained that it should be easier to replace the filter.
For residential use a 250 hour life is estimated to be 10 years. They assume the average owner will cut their grass 25 times per year and it will take 1 hour.
Another tip. Anyone that tells you that a hydrostatic transaxle is sealed for life and doesn't require service is lying. The best thing you can do is change the oil after 10 hours, then again at 50 hours and then every 100 hours after that. Heat and dirty oil is what kills a hydrostatic transaxle. A certain green and yellow manufacturer had us remove the drain plugs from most models to save $0.25 per unit.
The same model transaxle could go 200 hours or 2000 hours based on vehicle design and maintenance schedule.