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My wife and I are buying a house that is situated on an acre. Someone I know has a 2010 Craftsman 917.28922 riding mower; 21 hp, 42" deck. I'm told it has been well maintained. I can get it for $750 but I have no idea if that is a good price or not. Any input would be appreciated.

One of the box stores has an Ariens 42", 17.5hp refurb. Normally $1,000 and it's marked at $699 but rings up as $450. Never heard of them before.

I must admit, I'm surprised that after 2 days there hasn't been any input on this thread with 99 views.

$750 for a 4 year old craftsman I think is too much. I have seen to many well maintained units which look good on the outside, but ???????? Most I would be willing to gamble as an outright purchase is $500. If they wanted to trade in, I would offer $350 in this area.

Refurbished Ariens. What was refurbished? Why wasitrefiurbished? What did they do. Was it just tuned up and washed? How old is it? Lots of questions.

Having been on the buying side for many years, I don't believe anything until I see it. Remember Buyer Beware.

Elusiv said:

My wife and I are buying a house that is situated on an acre. Someone I know has a 2010 Craftsman 917.28922 riding mower; 21 hp, 42" deck. I'm told it has been well maintained. I can get it for $750 but I have no idea if that is a good price or not. Any input would be appreciated.

One of the box stores has an Ariens 42", 17.5hp refurb. Normally $1,000 and it's marked at $699 but rings up as $450. Never heard of them before.

Click to expand...

Not enough description is provided of your yard. Mine is .95 acre (more than an acre including the ditch swale right of way), but it treats mowers like it is much more, because the back yard is a 10 ft deep valley which, when it rains hard is a torrent, with a lots trees, including oak and cypress, with exposed roots and cypress root stumps. Lots of mower damage and wear and tear, exceeding that of a flat acre. So I really need a 4wd with a REALLY BEEFY front end and deck

What you need depends on the yard. If your yard is simply flat, without many obstacles requiring extreme maneuverability, ay $450, I'd go for the recon Ariens if the store will give you a year's warranty. it should last more than that, with Mobil 1 oil changes and air filter changes. If it lasts 2 years, you are home free, cheap. If your yard is a mower trial zone, like mine, you need something more durable.

P.S. I got by for several years with s p walk behinds, then turned 58 and got riders. Used cheap MTD and Troy Builts worked for a while. Then I got a larger Craftsman, but after 5 1/2 years, the holes, roots and cypress stumps are destroying the front susp., deck and deck supports.


I just now did a little research on that model 917.28922 Craftsman and found that it has only a 1 cyl engine, while my 2008 917.288250, which was priced less, has a 2 cyl engine. I also found complaints re: the 917.28922 on hills.

Elusiv said:

My wife and I are buying a house that is situated on an acre. Someone I know has a 2010 Craftsman 917.28922 riding mower; 21 hp, 42" deck. I'm told it has been well maintained. I can get it for $750 but I have no idea if that is a good price or not. Any input would be appreciated.

One of the box stores has an Ariens 42", 17.5hp refurb. Normally $1,000 and it's marked at $699 but rings up as $450. Never heard of them before.

Click to expand...

I'll bet that Ariens is at Home Depot....right? They regularly take "returned" lawn & garden equipment and repair what is usually a very minor problem(they are NOT equipped, like a dealer, to do any major repairs) and sell the product as a refurb. I bought a refurb Echo PB-250LN handheld blower at Home Depot for $79(new one was $169) 2 years ago and it is still performing GREAT(starts on first or second pull). For a "unheard of" price of $450 for a well known brand lawn tractor that is essentially new I would not hesitate for a minute to buy it(it's probably already sold now as the guy at Home Depot told me that most of the time an employee will scoop up those kind of refurb deals within a week). If they still have it, you would be crazy not to buy it!!!!

P.S.
When I went to register my refurb blower on the Echo website I found out that the original owner never registered it. Soooooo, I got a full new warranty on it which can't be beat!!! Maybe you'll be as lucky.