life of a lawn mower

[lovin'fl]

Been married 17 years but lived in apartments for 3 of those years. So, in 14 years of needing to cut grass we have gone through 3 or 4 lawn mowers. Is this normal? I remember my parents having the same mower, toaster, blender, vacuum, tube TV, etc. all through my childhood. So, the days of things lasting 20-30 years are gone????? Anyway, this last mower (Toro) lasted 6-7 years. DS, who cuts the grass, is frustrated that it won't bag the grass anymore and constantly stalls out. He wants us to get a new one. How long should a mower last and any suggestions on which to buy? TIA!

 

[tvguy]

Been married 17 years but lived in apartments for 3 of those years. So, in 14 years of needing to cut grass we have gone through 3 or 4 lawn mowers. Is this normal? I remember my parents having the same mower, toaster, blender, vacuum, tube TV, etc. all through my childhood. So, the days of things lasting 20-30 years are gone????? Anyway, this last mower (Toro) lasted 6-7 years. DS, who cuts the grass, is frustrated that it won't bag the grass anymore and constantly stalls out. He wants us to get a new one. How long should a mower last and any suggestions on which to buy? TIA!

Has he taken it in to have the spark plug, oil, air filter, and points changed and blade sharpened?

On number 5 in 30 years in our house. 3 gas, 1 battery, and now one corded electric. Gas mowers lasted longer, but I took them in for service every year. My next door neighbor called me crazy for having them serviced. He ran his gas mowers 2 years, then went in and bought another $100 mower.
I bought the battery mower as an experiment. Loved not having to buy gas, and if the grass was dry and not too long, it would handle my .17 acre lot of mostly grass no problem. Damp or long, forget it. And then after 3 years, the battery needed replacing. $200. So I dumped it and bought a corded mower. Now I am learning how to cut the lawn without cutting the cord.

 

[lovin'fl]

Has he taken it in to have the spark plug, oil, air filter, and points changed and blade sharpened?

On number 5 in 30 years in our house. 3 gas, 1 battery, and now one corded electric. Gas mowers lasted longer, but I took them in for service every year. My next door neighbor called me crazy for having them serviced. He ran his gas mowers 2 years, then went in and bought another $100 mower.
I bought the battery mower as an experiment. Loved not having to buy gas, and if the grass was dry and not too long, it would handle my .17 acre lot of mostly grass no problem. Damp or long, forget it. And then after 3 years, the battery needed replacing. $200. So I dumped it and bought a corded mower. Now I am learning how to cut the lawn without cutting the cord.

I was just looking at battery mowers (Mow Joe) but we are on a 1/4 acre lot with pretty tough/thick grass that tends to get pretty long before DS cuts it (once a week). I don't think the battery mower would handle our yard very well. DH does not take the mowers for tune ups or blade sharpening...I know that's part of the problem but he will never do it, so I suppose we will just keep replacing the mowers...sigh! Maybe we can find a Labor Day weekend sale.

 

[Tigger1966]

I would say they last as long as you want them to. as long as you service them properly and take care of them they should not have a definite life. I have a Toro zero turn lawn more that was made in 1990 still going strong. I did replace the engine on it a couple years ago but only because a simple part was no longer available for that engine.

 

[Jestocost]

I've had the same cheap gas mower since we moved into our house 21 years ago. For about the first 10-12 years I did an oil, filter and spark plug change every year and sharpened the blade as well. It used to take a ton of pulls to get it started the first time of the year. Since that time I've added oil and changed the plugs or filters every few years and it has started like a charm every year.

 

[bdcp]

Riding lawnmower we've had almost 10 years. Push mowers we're on number 2 in this house (10 years). This yard is large so we picked up the rider. Previous homes, push/self propelled seemed to last 4-5 years each. We do get ours tuned up every year and have made some minor repairs to the rider. It went through batteries quickly at one point, but that's been fixed.

That said, appliances do not last as long now as they used to. My mom had a clothes dryer that lasted 30 years. My last one died after 5 years. 7 years is the average life for most household appliances nowadays.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I was just looking at battery mowers (Mow Joe) but we are on a 1/4 acre lot with pretty tough/thick grass that tends to get pretty long before DS cuts it (once a week). I don't think the battery mower would handle our yard very well. DH does not take the mowers for tune ups or blade sharpening...I know that's part of the problem but he will never do it, so I suppose we will just keep replacing the mowers...sigh! Maybe we can find a Labor Day weekend sale.

Yep. Unless you take care of the mower it is going to go south on you.

Your DS needs to learn how to service the mower. Shoot I am sure you can find tons of video's on YouTube that will walk you through the process.

 

[jkjs]

Yep. Unless you take care of the mower it is going to go south on you.

Your DS needs to learn how to service the mower. Shoot I am sure you can find tons of video's on YouTube that will walk you through the process.

^ This

Our lawn mower is nine years ago (cheapest one we could buy at lowes) and is still running.

Every spring I change the oil, clean the air filter and sharpen the blade. I think I have changed the spark plug once.

 

[jkjs]

double post

 

[Patch'sD]

I have had four in 30 Years, Three Craftsman and one Toro. The Craftsman lasted about 12 years each. The Toro, 3 years. I am on my third Craftsman which is about two years old now. The two previous Craftsman rusted out. The Toro was just a piece of junk.

Generally I change the Spark Plug, Air Filter, and Oil at the end of every season. I change the blade every two years. At the end of every season I run the mower until it runs out of gas. Leaving gas in the mower will turn to like a varnish whic will clog the carberatour. Simple maintenance will keep the lawn mower running well for many years.

 

[tvguy]

Generally I change the Spark Plug, Air Filter, and Oil at the end of every season. I change the blade every two years. At the end of every season I run the mower until it runs out of gas. Leaving gas in the mower will turn to like a varnish whic will clog the carberatour. Simple maintenance will keep the lawn mower running well for many years.

No end of season here, pretty much have to cut the lawn year round here, even in rainy season. I kind of have to time when I take it in for service because they seem to need it for 2 weeks, so my lawn gets shaggy while it is in the shop.

 

[eduk8r26]

I've lived in a rental for 23 years and am still using the Craftsman electric mower that was here when I moved in. Granted it is kind of rusty from when I would leave it outside and the grass-catching bag is long gone, but it still cuts.

 

[lynxstch]

We bought this house in 2002, bought a lawn boy walk behind mower then..took good care of it, sharpened blade, new plug, good oil changes,etc it lasted 9 years. Wheels were falling off and they were non replaceable. Bought a Weed eater gas mower in 2011, Same good maintenance, 2 months past the warranty this year, it died. Wasn't worth fixing. We just bought a Cub Cadet self propelled, elec start in June, still waiting to see how long it lasts, lol!

 

[magsmum]

We bought a Honda in 1998. Just replaced it this year with another Honda-so got 14 years out of it. Serviced it sometimes, but probably not every year.

 

[HelenePA]

I"m actually going to buy a new lawn mower tomorrow. My other was a "hand me down" its a corded electric lawn mower. Its probably 10 years old.

 

[MickeySP]

Just bought the 2nd in 7 years but we gifted the original to my DS. It was tuned up, new blades and still runs perfect. They had an old beat up used one for the last 3 years

 

[DVC-Don]

My last walk behind mower was a Honda. Changed the oil, spark plug and sharpen the blade each spring and it lasted 22 years. Just replaced it with a Toro as it was cheaper and I'm selling in a couple of years. My first Lawn tractor was a Toro that lasted for 10 years with yearly maint. My current tractor is a John Deere that I've had for 11 years so far.

 

[mtemm]

we've had ours for at least 10 years, dh does take it in for maintenance since he isn't terribly handy himself. If you or your dh will not maintain it, I wonder if it would make more sense to get the cheaper ones you can find and just expect to replace them every few years...maybe try to sell or donate the one that isn't working to someone who could tinker with it a bit? not sure how dead they are when they die (not something I know a great deal about, so take that for what its worth...not much! lol).

 

[PeterPanic]

My last gas mower was purchased in 1991, if I remember correctly. It was a Sears Craftsman. I sold my last house in the Spring of 2011. I moved out of state and rented an apartment so I no longer needed a lawn mower. I sold it for $50.00. It never had anything done to it except a replaced blade (hit a rock), changed the oil, not even yearly, I think I went through about 4 spark plugs and one muffler. When I sold it, it still started on the first pull and ran quiet and smoothly. At one point I had two houses that I had to mow the lawn for and then just one regular sized lawn. So I guess to say that in 14 years you went through 3 or 4, I would have to wonder why. Not taken care of? A cheap no name model? Don't know. Not all mowers are made equal. With stuff like that, I have always felt that unless you like to spend money often buying cheap is anything but cheap.

 

[Lisaren]

Push mower is bout 18 years old - bought the cheapest one we could find at Lowe's when we bought our house - still running.
Riding mower is 25 years old - bought when we had 2.5 acres to mow - now have very small yard, but use it to mow ours and two other yards.
Change the spark plugs every few years, put stabilizer in gas every winter, change battery on riding mower when it quits working. We do sharpen the blades every year or every other year.