> Erika wrote: > I actually just heard about that from someone else as well. They had bought > a new riding mower with a B&S engine
After lots of research on these things (on gardenweb.com and elsewhere) it turns out there's a few types of B & S engines made. There's kind of the Walmart models and then there's the good models. So Toro uses the good ones, but JD uses the crappy ones - or used too. Other "good" engines are the Hondas and the kawasakis. For lawn mowers, apparently there's a few key things: * Engine make & model. Fairly obvious that you want the well made (no plastic internals) higher power engine. * Deck material. Some controversy here. Aluminum gets high marks for weight, but low marks for durability. E.g., a rock could blast a hole in it. Zenoy which Honda uses gets GREAT makes for weight, but becomes brittle after a few years, especially if it sits in the Sun a lot. * Deck & blade design. All of 'em cut grass but the name brands seem to have the edge in tests. These include Toro, husqvarna, lawn boy, & Ariens, with low marks going to MTD, yardman, & murray Great prices here: speedwaysales.com I've gotten both my mower and snow blower here and they'll deal if you find a cheaper price in town. Shipping, customer service, and process was excellent. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;203748912;27390454;j Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:269894 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
