Back in the 'old' days,Sears would have known good product makers make their Craftsman equipment. Husqvarna Turf Care made a number of the Craftsman rider mowers,and when Poulan was their own company,they made a lot of the Craftsman chain saws. In the new age of big box stores,this all went out the window and the lowest bidder got the Craftsman order for whatever. Sad,but that led,in part, to Sears downward spiral.
Just heard today that Black and Decker / Stanley bought MTD
- Thread starter Mower King
- Start date
Unless my dad got extremely lucky... craftsman was making good tractors as recently as 2003. His has over 1100 hours on it, lots of abuse pulling his trailer through the woods. Not sure of the model but it's a 46" with a 23hp Kohler command v twin. He had to weld the deck where it broke a mount off but he admits to that being his fault. A couple steering parts had to be replaced and belts but the engine and transmission have been fine. This was built before MTD bought them out, so it's AYP.
At one time, Craftsman mowers were being made by both MTD and Husqvarna/AYP at the same time.
ILENGINE
Lawn Royalty
There as also a few Murray and Ariens in the mix. I don't know about some of the other series but some of the 9000 series, the MTD and the AYP looked identical.
True
bertsmobile1
Lawn Royalty
Because all of the big box stores run the fake "find a cheaper one & we will beat it by x% " most of the brand names will continue.
That way Lowes HF, HD, & Wallies can all sell an identical mower at different prices because it is painted a different colour.
And when Stanley bought all 4 of the local hand tool makers they did exactly the same .
Closed the Aust factories and downgraded the tools to handyman quality .
Worst was they dropped all of the speciality lines and reduced the range so no longer could I get spanners with 6 different offsets which is a bugger because there are lots of times when you need a ring with 1" or more drop to get a nut under an obstruction
That way Lowes HF, HD, & Wallies can all sell an identical mower at different prices because it is painted a different colour.
And when Stanley bought all 4 of the local hand tool makers they did exactly the same .
Closed the Aust factories and downgraded the tools to handyman quality .
Worst was they dropped all of the speciality lines and reduced the range so no longer could I get spanners with 6 different offsets which is a bugger because there are lots of times when you need a ring with 1" or more drop to get a nut under an obstruction
ILENGINE
Lawn Royalty
@NorthBama Good chance of it.
Hammermechanicman
Lawn Addict
I have a couple of the old riders made by Roper in the 70's. Back when Sears was good stuff. Buddy has an OLD sears chainsaw made by divid bradley. As far as i am concerned everthing after the Roper mowers by sears/craftsman mowers were throw away. Folks had one of the first Eager One push mowers. It was a POS.
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Mower King
Well-Known Member
This has turned into a fairly informative thread......