neilpilot wrote:iamlucky13 wrote:To the best of my knowledge, he's correct in principle that there are only a small handful of manufacturers. For riding lawn tractors, I'm aware of MTD and Husqvarna manufacturing for multiple different brands, and John Deere and Simplicity (Snapper) focusing on their own brands. I haven't tried to sort out walk-behinds or zero turns.
I think Toro is effectively independent, but not making lawn tractors anymore - just zero-turns and walk behinds.
Troy-bilt is an MTD brand.
And here I thought Honda still made mowers
As I said, I was talking about lawn tractors specifically and haven't tried to sort out the manufacturers of walk behinds.
Bacchus01 wrote: Never buy a unit with an unbranded engine, including Toro or MTD house branded engines.
I was surprised to learn recently MTD has started putting their engines on some of their higher end (Cub Cadet) mowers. Interestingly, they now have a fuel injected model. I'll be curious to see how that works out long term, although I'm not eager to be one of those to find out first hand.
Toro also has their own engine brand now, although I found a rumor it's actually made by a Chinese motorcycle company called Loncin. Even their commercial brand, Exmark, is using them. They used to use Kawasakis and Kohlers.
Taz wrote:One data point: Toro Personal Pace with larger Briggs & Stratton engine. Three years zero problems & one day it decided not to run for more than 2-3 seconds. I replaced the carburetor & it works fine. Just remember to securely reattach the governor spring.
If this happens again, you might just try carb cleaner, and if that doesn't work, a carb rebuild before actually replacing it. The rebuild kits are usually about $20, and I think an hour or two labor charge if you have a shop do it. Also if you're not doing so already, at the end of the season, drain the tank and run the carb dry. Or top off the the tank, add stabilizer, and run it for a few minutes to get the stabilizer through to the carb.