Just heard today that Black and Decker / Stanley bought MTD

[upupandaway]

B-D/Stanley owns Craftsman tools, and MTD because the exclusive manufacturer of Craftsman lawn equipment in 2019 according to what I have read

BD owns the Craftsman name. To my knowledge, Sears has Husquvarna make their Craftsman mowers while MTD makes them for BD.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

is sears even selling mowers now?

 

[ILENGINE]

BD owns the Craftsman name. To my knowledge, Sears has Husquvarna make their Craftsman mowers while MTD makes them for BD.

Some where in the history of MTD and B-D there is a note that MTD became the exclusive manufacturer of Craftsman mowers in 2019. And the Sears Hometown stores are a separate company from Sears holdings which is the company that went bankrupt.

 

[upupandaway]

Some where in the history of MTD and B-D there is a note that MTD became the exclusive manufacturer of Craftsman mowers in 2019. And the Sears Hometown stores are a separate company from Sears holdings which is the company that went bankrupt.

I know they switched makers of their riders but many if not all Craftsman push mowers were still Husq(917) last time i looked.
Looking at sears.com, looks like they don't sell Craftsman mowers at all now....

 

[ILENGINE]

I know they switched makers of their riders but many if not all Craftsman push mowers were still Husq(917) last time i looked.
Looking at sears.com, looks like they don't sell Craftsman mowers at all now....

The Craftsman mowers I have worked on for Menards the last couple years have been MTD. Looks like they have discontinued the craftsman mowers at Menards.

 

[MowManMow]

Makes no difference who makes them anyway since they been junk since 2000. I bought two new 4200 models and both hydros failed around 200hrs mowing just about 2 acres even keeping fans clean, resting every hour to not over heat them & fluids changed yearly they both still failed. The Briggs #2 push rod fell out on both, one did that twice.
I was smart enough to keep my 1976 Wheel horse around for tilling so I sold the engines & scrapped both Crapsmans bodies. Just used my horse since then.
My old Wheel horse got its first non maintenence repair in 45yrs this spring when I replaced its rear axle seal, cost me $6 and took me 20 minutes.
My Crapsmans were AYP Husqvarna units btw, both 2006. One black supposedly higher end units the other red but both had same junk TuffTorq trans under them.
Get wise and go find a well maintained old school "real garden tractor" like a Wheel Horse, Cub, Deere etc.. with cast iron Kohler (no Onan, obsolete) & iron trans. Not a pos cookie cutter with GT stickers a real garden tractor here I mean. If you want you can restore it to new again for way less than their new junk cost now days. I assure you, youll never regret not pizzing your money away on a cookie cutter that will soon rag out within no time. I bought another like new 260 hr bigger Wheel Horse 414-8 14hp last year and a Simplicity 16hp true Hydro tractor just last week with cast iron Sundstrand hydro for wife. So Ill never see another pos in my truck bed getting hauled to a dump again.
Youll never wear a manual wheel horse trans out even riding it to mow every yard in town its the Champion of all tractor trannies. Not a Bruce Jenner champion tranny like Crapsman uses..lol
Talking weekly tractor pulls with 150+ hp is just nothing for one without failures. True Champions here! Change the pulley on outside and speed them up too my 8spd 14hp hits 10mph with ease just dropping it down 1.5 inch smaller.
Sad how things are built to fail right after checkout these days but "Planned Obsolescence" rules all. Good luck even more china parts soon to come if Decker ownes them now. Okay, sorry I think Im still mad even ten yrs later, still want my money back for their junk...lmao

 

[bertsmobile1]

It is not the fault of the mower companies.
It is the fault of the customers who never got over Fantasy Land they watched as kids on TV
If customers refused to buy cheap junk then the factories would stop making it .
But for 99.999999999999999999999999999999989999999999% of owners bragging about how little they paid & how much a discount they got is far more important than the actual quality and longivity of the mower .
This is why so many quality brands went bust & got taken over by garbage makers .
Technical advances & volume efficiencies stopped reducing the manufacturing cost of ride on mower around 1990 .
When people ask me what to buy I suggest the 2 locally made mowers , Toro or a JD with 2 letters before the numbers otherwise they will be doing the same thing in a few years time .
People are still suffering from the effects of the post WWII brainwashing that "technology" will allow them to have every thing they want for so small a cost it is almost free .
Add to that the effect of poor legislation allowing competition between makers to be compromised by allowing large cashed up companies ( like B & D Stanley ) to become virtual monopolies .
When the USA had leaders who believed in the consumer market , you had strong competition laws, in fact the USA had the first laws to cover this ,"The anti trust act " .
I don't think they have been used in the past 50 years .
Then you have the capital protection systems so the very wealthy can use their wealth & power to send every honest business broke
Walmart, Amazon & Uber being the perfect examples.
But people never ever learn
If you troll through these pages you will see hundreds of people wanting to know where they can get one of those magical mowers made by the elves who work for free using pixie dust that will fall within their budgets
Steel prices are doubling every 5 years , Zinc prices are doubling every 3 years and copper prices are doubling every second year.
Now it costs almost the same to make a 100 Hp V twin as it does to make a 10 Hp V twin so to make it look like the customer is getting better value for money all that is happening is engines are getting outrageously larger .

 

[ILENGINE]

We can now throw Oregon in the mix with their sale to Platinum equity.

 

[StarTech]

Oh just great I can't keep up with all the changes. I take it Oregon quality is going to tank too now.

Oh why do I stay in this business anymore. Oh I know because Medicare will be bankrupt by 2026 and SS will be in 2034 if they don't fund them now and I supposed get on both in 2024. Pay in all my life and then when I finally get to retirement age nothing is there.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

Hopefully they aren't "orGONE" i like their blades, and chainsaw bars/chains.