Export thread

New here so not exactly sure what the protocol is for posting craigslist links, etc. I have a half acre lot and am looking to get a riding mower. The backyard has a bit of a hill down and then is relatively flat. Budget is pretty tight so I've been looking for decent deals nearby on CL. Found a Scotts 16HP 42 inch 42589X8 mower that looks to be in very good condition and comes with a new battery. The seller is currently asking $600...I feel like that's a bit steep for a 15+ year old mower without knowing exactly how it runs...but I also have no experience with mowers/tractors so I could be completely wrong. I saw that most of the Scotts models were made by JD in the late 90s/early 2000s which I would assume is a good thing. Any thoughts on this mower and the price? Thank you.

42589X8 mower looks like that one is made by Murray. Some were made by john Deere and usually have sticker with John Deere label
http://www.tractordata.com/lawn-tractors/tractor-brands/scotts/scotts-lawn-tractors.html

Price would really depend on amount of riders usually available in the area, you didn't mention a more precise area of location.... here in central Florida ,( Ocala area ) avg. price for a used rider say around ... 12 to 18 years old is about
250.00 --550.00 depending on condition and size of cutting deck and engine ( most popular these days in this area
is a 42 inch cut / 13-18 HP ) .. 4 years ago I paid 300.00 for a 21 HP 46 inch cut ... FAIR cond. BUT I wound up spending
approx 350.00 in PARTS ... to rebuild it myself , SO now I have a new mower , that looks old !! THEE deck is important to check because being underneath it's hard to see any rust-through or damage... count on replacing parts on ANY used machine .... belts, blades , battery , tires , ... be sure whatever you decide ... see it demonstrated !!! ALL gears fwd & REV , cutting height adjustment, turning radius,
Personally I would avoid a machine that's really dirty or nasty looking ( from sitting outside not covered at the very least )
also ask for the owners & parts manuals ... (you WILL need them sooner or later ) but most are available on-line
try to talk to some friends/neighbors if they have one ... DON'T RUSH into a purchase !!! .. best of luck in your hunting...Boobala

Thanks guys. That Murray bit is probably accurate. I saw another that had the "made by John Deere" on the sticker...this one does not. I am in the Chicago area so lots aren't as big and riders probably aren't as common as some other areas of the country. It seems like most used ones have asking prices between $400-$800. Wondering If at this point I'd be better off getting a new one in that $1000-$1500 range. I don't need anything special but I'd like to have something that I'm sure I will get 5+ years out of.

Boo has some real good information which I agree with. I have found that people selling mowers on Craigslist don't always tell the whole story about their mowers they are selling.

NorthBama said:

Boo has some real good information which I agree with. I have found that people selling mowers on Craigslist don't always tell the whole story about their mowers they are selling.

Click to expand...

Yeah that's definitely a concern. It could have been bought and re-sold several times for all I know. I'm leaning toward just getting something simple that I can maintain and keep running solidly long term. I'll probably swing by a Menard's or Home Depot later and see what I find.

It may be good mower if it was a one owner and well taken care of and maintained. If you want to buy used try to find a one owner with maintenance records.

armour248 said:

Thanks guys. That Murray bit is probably accurate. I saw another that had the "made by John Deere" on the sticker...this one does not. I am in the Chicago area so lots aren't as big and riders probably aren't as common as some other areas of the country. It seems like most used ones have asking prices between $400-$800. Wondering If at this point I'd be better off getting a new one in that $1000-$1500 range. I don't need anything special but I'd like to have something that I'm sure I will get 5+ years out of.

Click to expand...

Just doing a quick look a Home Depot ... IF I were to buy a NEW mower today .. knowing what I now know ( presently I own 3 Murray Riders .. A 46" & 2 42"s ) I would seriously consider this mower by Poulan....

REASONS : No Electric PTO clutch ...( expensive repair)
: Non Auto Transmission ( I personally don't think this "plastic" CVT trans is fully "field-tested" )
and your foot gets tired keeping pressure on the speed control pedal ..( the other 6 speed is very good ).
: 16 inch (tight) turning radius
: Price is fair for what you're getting these days

Drawback.. I'm pretty sure H.D. does NOT service this equipment ..?? you need a dealer for maintenance if
you cannot fix it yourself.

And clik on these links for some info..on this machine, you can even get the owners manuals @ the Poulan site
It's your money .. remember it is just for cutting grass .. you DON'T need all fancy bells & whistles , Don't be conned into ALLthe "extras" they offer ( should you decide to buy new )

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Poulan-P...Front-Engine-Riding-Mower-960460075/206463185

http://www.poulanpro.com/us/products/riding-mowers/pp175g42/960460075/#specifications

Good Luck & Please keep us up-dated.. Boobala ..:thumbsup:

Got curios to see what is around in your neck of the woods ... I know Chi-town is HUGE ( had an aunt lived there)
anyway .... I found these .. I don't know how close they are ... even though the Red Murray has a smaller eng.. it should do fine for a first time rider ... Your call !!

https://swmi.craigslist.org/grd/6026366973.html

https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/grd/6035995830.html

https://rockford.craigslist.org/grd/6026544374.html

https://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/grd/5989877031.html

I have a Scotts Model 42589X8. Belt broke. I put a new belt on, but the unit does not engage correctly. The blades turn, but the belt slips, or the unit, in neutral, periodically semi-engages the blades.
Looking under the unit, photos attached, I see that the clutch pulley appears out of alignment. What do I do to fix it?

Bend the mounting bracket back into alignment or buy a new part and replace. Also, your belt keeper is not on correctly.

The tensioning arm pivots on a boss.
Because it moves a small amount at lot the hole wears oval.
This allows the tensioning arm to flop down like yours does.
So it is either replace the arm and bush or weld up the hole & make it round again.
Grease with DRY lithium chassis grease and keep the area clean bu blowing with air.

Also as mentioned previously the belt keeper is in the wrong place loosen the nut and swing it back into position behind the belt where the belt touches the pulley,

Thanks guys, I am finally getting back to this.

I think I have the mounting bracket bent back into position, but the belt pops off the belt keeper. And it is worse, as some metal part is in harsh contact with the belt when it is under tension (see photos; I added three more).

I presume the belt keeper, as you have said, is out of alignment.
Do I have to remove the deck to reposition the belt keeper? OR can I do it by reaching in? And where is the bolt for that?

The deck is actually a Murray deck and should have the belt routed like this

JT1 said:

Thanks guys, I am finally getting back to this.

I think I have the mounting bracket bent back into position, but the belt pops off the belt keeper. And it is worse, as some metal part is in harsh contact with the belt when it is under tension (see photos; I added three more).

I presume the belt keeper, as you have said, is out of alignment.
Do I have to remove the deck to reposition the belt keeper? OR can I do it by reaching in? And where is the bolt for that?

Click to expand...

I think the idler pulley that you have pictured on there actually belongs on the other belt.

BlazNT said:

I think the idler pulley that you have pictured on there actually belongs on the other belt.

Click to expand...

No Blaz, it has a Murray deck fitted.
We were both expecting to see a JD deck with 2 idlers and the belt routed as a T thus we both thought the keeper was in the wrong position when in fact it was in the right position and the belt was in the wrong position.
He has a 3 pulley deck so the belt so routed in an L fashion.
Now I was sure that the Scotts branded mowers came out of the AYP factory same as the 100 series but that is definately a Murray deck.
Got 4 of them in the yard at the moment.
Checked the Murray master manual and here it is View attachment Scotts deck .pdf
So a quick check of the Murray paint codes and sure enough Scotts Green & Scotts Orange are both listed.
Thus it looks like this Scotts came out of the Murray factory.

bertsmobile1 said:

No Blaz, it has a Murray deck fitted.
We were both expecting to see a JD deck with 2 idlers and the belt routed as a T thus we both thought the keeper was in the wrong position when in fact it was in the right position and the belt was in the wrong position.
He has a 3 pulley deck so the belt so routed in an L fashion.
Now I was sure that the Scotts branded mowers came out of the AYP factory same as the 100 series but that is definately a Murray deck.
Got 4 of them in the yard at the moment.
Checked the Murray master manual and here it isView attachment 37824
So a quick check of the Murray paint codes and sure enough Scotts Green & Scotts Orange are both listed.
Thus it looks like this Scotts came out of the Murray factory.

Click to expand...

Wow. It makes a lot of since now! Thanks for the pdf.

bertsmobile1 said:

The deck is actually a Murray deck and should have the belt routed like this
View attachment 37810

Click to expand...

YES! I was belt dyslexic. I put it on correctly, and all was great.
The spring that comes down from the lever can connect either over or under the belt. When I attached it above the belt, it touched the belt and even pushed down on it. Running the spring under the belt did not have that issue. Is this correct, that the belt is below the spring?

The spring goes under the belt.
When the belt is stretched tight to drive the blades it lifts up a bit.
Also despite the parts diagram showing the spring fitted long side to the deck, short side to lever, I find they work much better the other way around.

It looks like the flat bracket is bent up a little. I would bend it down and put the spring on like Burt said.

bertsmobile1 said:

The spring goes under the belt.
When the belt is stretched tight to drive the blades it lifts up a bit.
Also despite the parts diagram showing the spring fitted long side to the deck, short side to lever, I find they work much better the other way around.

Click to expand...

Thanks again, bertsmobile1. It only worked under the belt, but I was worried I had something wrong. And I was wondering if I could reverse the spring's orientation, as you mentioned.

I have no idea why but a couple of call outs had the spring detached from the deck when mounted as per the diagram.
Note these springs had a U at both ends the spring shown in the diagram has a Z bend on one end.
Don't know is there was a design change or Scotts Springs re different to Murray springs.