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Hi,
I haven't been here for a while and I thought I'd have a little rant.

My Hondeere is almost 30 years old and the motor (Honda GVV530) is now about 15 years old. Because the machine is so old and every year something goes wrong, I decided to look for a new machine.

After looking at what was available in my area and checking my finances, I decided on an Airens 22 hp 46" deck would be just the ticket.

Now the lesson:

I went to Home Depot against the advise of several friends because the tractor got very good reviews. I Printed out the info and said "I want that one".

Later when they delivered it I sat on it while reading the manual and getting familiar with operation (We all do that, right?) I pushed on the forward pedal and something let go in the transmission linkage. (I hadn't even started it yet).

I called HD and a couple of days later, they show up with another tractor to exchange. After they got that piece of (bad word) off the truck the driver sat on the "New one" and pushed the forward pedal. Guess what? It happened to him. Now, they loaded the tractor on the truck and left, later they came back to pick up the first one with the message to go to the store and get my money back.

Monday morning bright and snarly, I went to the Airens dealer about a half hour away and picked out a similar machine for $300 more. They were supposed to deliver it yesterday, nope, this am I get a call that it will be delivered today between 5:00 and 6:00, this is about the time when severe thunderstorms are supposed to roll in. We'll see. Meanwhile, my lawn is almost tall enough to hide my Golden retriever at a full run.

My policy is: "Never learn anything unless you can learn it the hard way".

WELCOME back...
I do hope you bothered to see what 'failed' on the first & second mowers... armed with that little bit of information, you would then be able to select a different machine that did Not use the 'same' type linkage...
The lesson learned could have been Knowing what configuration to Avoid... This is because it makes No difference where you purchase a bad design, a bad design is going to fail... some places "might" be able to repair a failure easier than others... But the reality will still be something will be broken... :smile:KennyV

KennyV said:

WELCOME back...
I do hope you bothered to see what 'failed' on the first & second mowers... armed with that little bit of information, you would then be able to select a different machine that did Not use the 'same' type linkage...
The lesson learned could have been Knowing what configuration to Avoid... This is because it makes No difference where you purchase a bad design, a bad design is going to fail... some places "might" be able to repair a failure easier than others... But the reality will still be something will be broken... :smile:KennyV

Click to expand...

Where the linkage pooped out on the first two machines is under a plastic cover held on by some funky star drive screws. I didn't want to take them apart because I was returning them.

The Home Depot machines with the Briggs engine have the foot operated hydrostatic speed control. The Dealer version with the Kohler engine has the hydrostatic speed control on the fender.

From what I now understand, the machines sold by the "Big Box" store, in order to give a lower price, redesigned the machines using less expensive parts reducing quality.

I just want a machine that will last for fifteen years.

Update: last night when it was to be delivered the driver got lost and had the wrong phone number. I finally got my new toy about 10:00 and now I get to mow. The grass is so long I'll need to take at least two passes possibly three.

GCV530 said:

Where the linkage pooped out on the first two machines is under a plastic cover held on by some funky star drive screws. I didn't want to take them apart because I was returning them.

The Home Depot machines with the Briggs engine have the foot operated hydrostatic speed control. The Dealer version with the Kohler engine has the hydrostatic speed control on the fender.

From what I now understand, the machines sold by the "Big Box" store, in order to give a lower price, redesigned the machines using less expensive parts reducing quality.

I just want a machine that will last for fifteen years.

Update: last night when it was to be delivered the driver got lost and had the wrong phone number. I finally got my new toy about 10:00 and now I get to mow. The grass is so long I'll need to take at least two passes possibly three.

Click to expand...

What you are saying about the big box models is the same thing I have been saying for a long time(NOT the same quality as the dealer...even when it's the same model).