Massive, massive, paint analysis, no expense spared.
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I have a Mow N Machine also. 1992 model.
They were made by Grasshopper for many years. You can save some money on parts usually with Grasshopper bring cheaper than Woods but I always check but just to be sure. So far I haven't found anything cheaper in Woods brand that I could get in Grasshopper brand.
Great machines though.
These were back in a time where they were only making commercial grade machines that many people bought when they had some land.
Like the early zero turns that were similar in durability when only commercial people bought them.
Then residential only people started wanting zero turns and the industry created the watered down residential grade ZTRs. Then unitized "hydro" transmissions were pretty much created for these and only to a few years to make those barely adequate for the weight of machine and then entered the hydro failures at 150-225hrs. A commercial guy would lose his mind and NEVER but that brand again if one had a hydro (pump or wheel motor) failure in under 2000 hrs!!
Then they decided to push towards unitized for all of them. At least there are better bigger stronger hydros available but they had bucks deceptive what the numbers.
You had ezt, 2100, 2200, then 2800. Then 3100 which
I have a mow n machine also 1992 model.
They were made by grasshopper as pretty much all of those front mount mowers were made for Woods by grasshopper.
You can save some money by buying grasshopper parts but I always check both places. I haven't found anything yet with the woods brand that was cheaper than the grasshopper brand for the same part.
These things were back when grasshopper made commercial quality even though residential people and people with land bought them.
This was back in the early days of zero turns when all of them were commercial grade. Then about 15 years later residential homeowners decided they wanted zero turns also so they came out with the ztrs and watered them down to provide them at a price point.
They went with unitized transmissions on most of them thus we started having hydrofailures and 150 to 225 hours.
Commercial guys would have lost their minds and never bought that brand again if they ever had a hydro (pump or wheel motor) failure and under 2000 hours.
Then the push came along to use unitized transmissions for even commercial ones. Unfortunately there are better hydro units bigger and stronger ones available.
You used to have the ect, 2100, 2200, 2800. Then they tried to market the 3100 as entry level commercial grade which was an if if you asked me. Now they're playing games with the numbers and calling it a $2,800/3100. How can this be? They were two separate transmissions before but they still share the same axle output diameter so that's probably why. This is why I would not want a $2,800 or 3100. They have a 1 inch output shaft and even though they change a few parts inside they're just not durable enough. They claim that they are the top of the line residential but again that's not saying much residential grade.
The industry is looking for us to have to replace any outdoor power equipment we buy about every 8 years overall on average. This in actuality pretty much means you'll get closer to 10 years plus if you're lucky out of a rider or a zero turn that you'll get fewer than eight out of a push mower.
These new Briggs & Stratton engines which are the only ones they're making for push mowers from Briggs at all have a 100% plastic camshaft inside of them. Yes, the entire camshaft is plastic. Well technically the cap on both ends is made out of metal but they must have found out early on that it wasn't going to last they just made a round cap that looks like a top hat that sits on each end so that can spin in the aluminum housing and be oiled and last longer than the plastic. Then you've might have a little spring assembly or whatever on the side of it too for a compression release or whatever but again that's just an accessory add-on to the camshaft. The camshaft is 100% plastic and they're already failing.
Grasshopper still seems to make a really good machine and you'd have to look into the woods line to see exactly what is what. For a while their front mounts were made by grasshopper but their mid-mounts were made by someone else.
Grasshopper and woods went through some changes in growing pains and their transmissions having chain drive on some of the old ones then they went to what they called The Gemini transmission which were eaten transmissions which are complicated as heck and darn near impossible to fix or rebuild but extremely durable.
As a matter of fact even going by the manufacturers recommendation and the owner's manual the fluid changes are amazingly far apart and if you use their grasshopper brand fluid even further apart.
I forget what it is now but it's something like a thousand or 1500 hours. I would have to look it up but the average residential grade zero turn will never last long enough or be in operation long enough to see that many hours on it and for these grasshoppers and woods this is simply the normal change interval. They built these things well and expected them to be around for a long, long time.
I'm quite certain you will but if you'll think back to earlier years lawn mowers didn't have hour meters on them and then when they first started doing it they were the analog style which were kind of expensive. Then by the late 90s and right around 2000 the little digital ones were very cheap and you could get them for only three or four dollars and the manufacturers were buying them by the cases so they got them cheaper than that and even your entry level lawn mower from the department store as a riding mower was having an hour meter.
Now, even though the holes or indentations are still on the dashes who are they knocked the whole out or sometimes they have to put a plastic plug in the hole because it's already in the design of the dash, there is no hour meter on most of the models especially the lower end ones.
I have decided this is so they don't incriminate themselves!
They've been making these machines cheaper and cheaper and watering them down and along with the engine manufacturers not making them that good either that it doesn't look good when you look at the hours.
My point is that in a lots of climates the average person only puts 25 to 35 hours a year on their riding lawn mower and sometimes even fewer on their zero turn so a lawn mower could be 10 to 15 years old and only have 175 to 300 hours on it.
A lawn mower that's 12 plus years old that serves you well does it seem too terrible if you have a fairly major problem and you may even decide to not fix it and get a new piece of equipment BUT if you look at an hour meter whether it's been 3 years or 15 years and it's only got 210 hours on it and you have a transmission issue or internal engine problem etc you're feeling quite cheated.
This is why I feel the hour meters have gone out of favor. Not because they went up in price or anything else like that because I can buy them all day long on eBay even individually for under five or six bucks to this day.
I'm sure they get them for under two or three dollars but having said that, I know the bean counters and Penny Pinchers will delete something like a drain plug on a transmission to save $0.44 or $1.12 so you never know what their mindset is.
4getgto
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Dark blue..
7394
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Very Sharp..Looks brand New. I'm thinking LS power
4getgto
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It is. LS1
MowerBladeService
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factory coatings are powder coat however...