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I went to the neighborhood farm n fleet to purchase a new drive belt for the front wheel self propelled drive of my Sears mower powered by 6.25 horse Briggs & Stratton engine. The "tech" was bad mouthing Sears. . .went home and put the new belt on. . .mower runs fine and is 12 years old. I've gotten my money's worth and then some. This purchase has been one of the best values of my life.

That good to hear because I just purchased a new Craftsman T2200 rider. I hope the new ones are good. I did a lot of research and at first Sears was not even on my radar. Then I found a test of that class tractors which said it had the best engine and transmission of anything in the class so I gave it a look. With there Friend and Family Award Points Program I had enough points to get the three year service contract and a combo rechargeable trimmer and blower free ($440.00 value).

On a repair end of it I think sears makes as good of a mower as any other brand. I have some repair customers that have had there sears mowers for years. Sears doesn't make the mowers but puts there name on them from different manufactures with some being better then others. I am going to take a guess the tech was working on one of the cheaper Sears models, the job was giving him a hard time, and the tech had a bad night before working on it???

Welcome to LawnWorld!

We moved your thread to the Craftsman/Sears forum.

A lot of people will see the name on the front of the mower and say that brand has problems. A guy I know had nothing but trouble with his Craftsman push mower. He was always having a hard time getting it to run. He was saying that he'd never buy a Craftsman mower again. I had to remind him that he wasn't having a Craftsman problem, he was having a Briggs problem. I told him what to do and now he says the mower runs great. Simple dirt in the carb issue. I have a 22 year old Craftsman II push mower that still looks and runs great. That little baby still fires up on the first pull.

L8R,
Matt

My mower history:
14 HP Craftsman rider...kept 14 years and gave to an older guy..still ran and cut...parts took awhile to get in. 5-speed.
21.5 HP Craftsman rider...12 years and still own and running well..just replaced carb and ignition coils. They run well and I use my 21.5 HP mostly for rough grass and ground. 5-speed.
1991 Cub Cadet. 23 years and still running well. Replaced ignition 1993.Replaced crankshaft 2011. New transmission in 1994. Cub service and warranty very poor. Would not buy another because of company policy. They sent me a check for $9 for my transmission that cost me almost $800.
2004 Kubota 23-BX.Still have and my favorite. Front loader and backhoe. One seal broke on a wheel and dealer fixed it free out of warranty.
2013 Walker MT26GHS. Love this machine but takes a lot of cleaning. 34 grease fitings and 15+ oiling parts. It is like driving a Starshiip compared to the others. Fun to drive. Not impressed with company responses to questions.:smile:
I purchased all these items new.
So, in my opinion, Craftsman are as good as any. I bought the Cub because I thought I was moving up to a better machine. For the cost, I could have bought 2 more Craftsmans.

My Dad has a Kubota BX25 that he absolutely loves. He bought it brand new four years ago and now has over 900 hours on it. The only repairs needed besides routine maintenance? He had to replace the o-rings on the hydraulic lines. A solid compact tractor for sure!