What is the average life of a walk-behind?

[shahoo80]

I am looking to buy a back up mower this winter for next year and have been looking at Stander and worse case a walk behind. Just wandering what is the average life of these types of mowers. Maybe in hours just what you have seen. I have seen some from 300+ to over 2000 and I want to use the information to find a real actual value. Thanks for your time and knowledge..

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

A lot of the life expectancy is based on whether you purchase a commercial or consumer based model. The commercial mowers can last 10x as long or more than the consumer versions. Which type were you considering?

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[shahoo80]

As far as Standers, Wright or Great Dane. Not many Toro Grandstands around here used anyway.

Walk Behinds- Encore, Exmark, Toro, Bunton, Scag,

I know alot of different makes but just want a guide line. For example You may have had a walk behind and it had over 2000 hours on the meter before started having alot of breakdowns. This would give me some idea of where in the life cycle the machine is at. Now I know if it rough and abused it will cut down on the life.

[wandfsmall]

Let me start out with the fact most people that are happy with their equipment enflate the hours they have on it(makes them look like they have more work I guess) The average we see without problems is 2000 I would estimate and average live of 3000 hours overall on commercial engines before they start to go downhill. I have seen them get as high as 6000 if taken care of though.

[Steve]

What do you find tends to go at that point with the engine and is an overhaul worthwhile then or no?

[StartALawnCareBusiness]

Properly maintained commercial lawn mowers can easily last 2,000 - 3,000 hours. I think one of the indications of a properly maintained (and non-abused) machine is if the oil, oil filter, and air filters have been changed regularly.

Ask the previous owner for maintenance schedules (or receipts for oils changes).

Keith

[wandfsmall]

Originally Posted by Steve

What do you find tends to go at that point with the engine and is an overhaul worthwhile then or no?

That depends on who is doing it. repair shops have the same big expense you have INSURANCE it causes our rates to go up and makes our labor so high a labor intensive job is not worth it. that is why I can not repair a $50 trimmer, it cost me $15 to have a mechanic look at it.

The number 1 problem I see causing engines to fail it air bypassing the air filter. The can be caused by the bad air filter housings Briggs uses on some of the intek or els engines. Or another major cause of this is someone hitting the air filter with an air compressor putting holes in it. Modern engines are not designed to be rebuilt so in this case I would normally not recommend it, but it depends on the engine and hours.

the number 2 problem is blocks worn due to side load. This is also most common on Briggs ELS and Intek engines(they were really bad at it on a 60" mowers recently) In this case you can not get the parts so you have to replace the engine or shortblock.

I also see the mowers themselves start to go at 3000 hours they start breaking linkages and just start to nickel and dime you to death. Still in a lot of cases a good mower for the homeowner just to time consuming for commercial accounts.

[Steve]

The number 1 problem I see causing engines to fail it air bypassing the air filter.

Is there anyway for a lawn care business owner to test to see if they have this issue? How can it be prevented? Is it better in the long run to replace air filters than try to clean them?

Also, what kind of damage occurs to the engine when there is a leak?

the number 2 problem is blocks worn due to side load.

What is that? And is there a way to prevent it?

[wandfsmall]

Originally Posted by Steve

Is there anyway for a lawn care business owner to test to see if they have this issue? How can it be prevented? Is it better in the long run to replace air filters than try to clean them?

Also, what kind of damage occurs to the engine when there is a leak?



What is that? And is there a way to prevent it?

The Air filter problem would resemble running without an air filter at all. I recommend not using an air compressor on your paper filter and just taping it on the ground as to not put small holes in the paper.

The side load is from a bad mower design, you find it on 60" homeowner Zs most of the time, nothing you can do on the user end of things, and oddly it does not show up in every unit. But I have heard of them going under warranty in multiple shops. Some failures before they even got delivered.