History of Snapper Riding Mowers and Future

[preventec47]

I am in the market for a good ole used classic riding mower that I can tinker with and stand a chance of keeping it
going for the next 15 or 20 years and then leaving it to the grandchildren etc. From what I can see
the weak link for all other riding mower brands are the transmissions where either the gears or transaxles or
hydraulics etc screw up sooner or later and the repair/replacement cost always causes the mower to be totaled and
junked assuming the parts are available 15 years down the road in the first place. All the Snapper competitors
seem to be evolving too fast and dont want to have to keep parts inventory of 4 or 5 previous generations of
equipment.

My problem is that I cannot find anywhere an encyclopedia showing all the models and features of Snappers riding
mowers that have been made in the past that I can use when shopping for the Snapper rear engine mowers.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to where I can do the research for all the old Snapper models ?

Also,,,, I hear that Briggs Stratton bought Snapper company. I know there is no longer any Snapper company
customer tech support. Every number published now is answered by a Briggs Stratton employee.
Rumor also that repair parts have doubled and tripled ? ? Can anyone confirm ?

 

[mattm55]

I am in the market for a good ole used classic riding mower that I can tinker with and stand a chance of keeping it
going for the next 15 or 20 years and then leaving it to the grandchildren etc. From what I can see
the weak link for all other riding mower brands are the transmissions where either the gears or transaxles or
hydraulics etc screw up sooner or later and the repair/replacement cost always causes the mower to be totaled and
junked assuming the parts are available 15 years down the road in the first place. All the Snapper competitors
seem to be evolving too fast and dont want to have to keep parts inventory of 4 or 5 previous generations of
equipment.

Yes, I have found the transmissions on many other brands a weak link. I wouldn't even consider saving a no name brand like Sears, MTD, most Murray's even, etc... I like my 1985 Snapper and I would be hard pressed to find one today just as good for the same $$$.

My problem is that I cannot find anywhere an encyclopedia showing all the models and features of Snappers riding
mowers that have been made in the past that I can use when shopping for the Snapper rear engine mowers.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to where I can do the research for all the old Snapper models ?

Other than the manuals out there, I don't know much about the history of Snapper. Google is your friend, I guess.

Also,,,, I hear that Briggs Stratton bought Snapper company. I know there is no longer any Snapper company
customer tech support. Every number published now is answered by a Briggs Stratton employee.
Rumor also that repair parts have doubled and tripled ? ? Can anyone confirm ?

Yes & Yes. The last parts I ordered from Jacks came drop shipped from upstate NY from Briggs. Researching the prices can get you some deals such as old stock on the auction sites. I'd stay away from the cheaper copied stuff from overseas....

Matt

 

[cashman]

Snapper was bought by Simplicity and later Briggs and Stratton purchased Simplicity. The original of what became Snapper were Whirl-a-Glides built in St. Petersburg, FL. McDonough Power Equipment of McDonough, GA later purchased the rights to manufacture the design from Whirl-a Glide as Snapping Turtles in the mid 1950's. McDonough built the Snapping Turtles in both walk behinds and riders. The first of what was called a "Snapper" was a model called the "Big Snapper" riding mower built in the late 1950's to early 1960's. The first model of what came to be the familiar Snapper design was called the Country Cruiser as initially a walk behind and later the "R" series riding mower. This led to the "X" series called the Comet. All the successive models were derived from the "X" series. The Snapper models built now have no connection to the original models. Years ago, I purchased some parts from Whirl-a Glide from in St. Petersburg and the person I spoke with filled me in on what happened in the beginning. I was actually buying a drive gear for a "Mini Lizzy" car that used the same transmission as the Snapping Turtle. I've had some early catalogs from McDonough Power Equipment that list most of the original models and actually owned one of the first riding Snapping Turtles that I sold to a lawnmower museum in Indiana several years ago. I posted some pictures of it on this site a few years ago and their hopefully their still in my Photobucket account. I was returning from a trip to Florida a couple of years ago and was traveling through McDonough and rode by the Snapper factory and as I recall, the building just has a sign that has the Briggs and Stratton plant Number on it. I've also posted some pictures on this site that I made during a Snapper dealers meeting and factory tour in the mid 1970's. My family was in the lawnmower business for over 50 years and we sold Snapper for nearly 40 years. I don't know of anyone that has written a detailed account of the Snapper story but I would love to read it. I know a guy that worked for a Snapper distributor for many years as a service manager and he has a vast knowledge of Snapper and he knew most of the Snapper people that made it happen.