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I was brownsing the walmart website and noticed that they are carrying murrays again but no this isn't no ordinary murray.
It is a MTD/Weedeater/Poulan/Husqvarna built unit just have a look for your self on these images i posted.
What got me thinking is why now? and not then? and i suppose murray is still owned by Briggs unless they sold them to MTD/Weedeater/Poulan/Husqvarna.
check this also it say welcome to the new murray :laughing: Murray
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If you swapped the red to yellow on that ZT you'd have my cub rzt. Identical. Must be made by MTD.

Was told at my MTD update school last month that MTD would be marketing mowers under different name this year and one of them was Murray. The old Murray mowers that briggs had are called Brute now. Maybe briggs sold the Murray name to MTD. I don't know.

Was also told some Toro mowers are made by MTD this year. Possibly due to the fact Toro is having problems meeting the 2012 Emissions standards. EPA cops have been checking Toro dealers for certificates of compliance.

When I first saw this I thought it was about me. I'm now crying into a tissue at the disappointment.

Seriously though, those look quite good.

I'd be temped to buy that wee one with a grass chute and no bagging system.

jmurray01 said:

When I first saw this I thought it was about me. I'm now crying into a tissue at the disappointment.
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Yeah You wish!!

When I tell my BIL this that will be one of the happiest days of his life. Doesn't take much to entertain him.

BUT, OH GAWD, I hope the MTD enjiners have changed the turning radius for the better. That stupid tighter radius to the left and longer 12 foot radius to the right they have had in the past was a nightmare.

From the pictures I would almost garantee that the only resembles they have to the old Murray is the name. They are the same MTD mowers that walmart sold last year except for the name, complete with the same problems they had last year.

Parkmower said:

Yeah You wish!!

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That is no way to speak to the King of LMF. I may seem thick, but that's just my crown :thumbsup:

ILENGINE said:

From the pictures I would almost garantee that the only resembles they have to the old Murray is the name. They are the same MTD mowers that walmart sold last year except for the name, complete with the same problems they had last year.

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Care to divulge ? I'm interested to hear some of the problems.

jmurray01 said:

Care to divulge ? I'm interested to hear some of the problems.

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On pushmowers with the front plastic axle carrier I have seen them break off. The riders with the new thinner frame have problems with stress cracks (multiyear issue), and have hear of more than one breaking in two, and light weight front axle are subject to bending. The star mount for the blades on the spindles are easy to mess up if you miss the star or it slips off when tightening requireing a complete spindle change since MTD doesn't offer replacement parts for their spindles. The spindles range in price from about $60-150 apiece depending on deck size and model.

I am sure that the riders are the 700 series that MTD has been making for several years now, so doing a search for issues shouldn't been hard to find. The 11 and 12 seiries pushmowers with the plastic front and read deck attachments were the axles just snap in has a issue with the handle bending and flexing at its fold piece about 1/3 up the handle.

Who or what are they using to design these things. I don't care if they make them cheap, I just think they should meet cirtain criteria, such as daily usage.,

Now we're seeing the real value of a history lesson. Nothing learned from a company that went belly up.

fastback said:

Who or what are they using to design these things. I don't care if they make them cheap, I just think they should meet cirtain criteria, such as daily usage.,

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Most comsumer mowers are designed under the concept for the average replacement interval which is 3.5 years with 12 hours per year on pushmowers and 4.5 years and 38 hours per year on riders.

ILENGINE said:

Most comsumer mowers are designed under the concept for the average 4.5 years and 38 hours per year on riders.

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That is less then 200 hrs. on a rider. Where are you getting this from? Is this the person that buys a mower and never does maintenance.

I think there would be better mowers And better maintenance If all mowers had hour meters on them...
That way everyone would notice that they are replacing things that Could have been taken care of and then lasted at least 3 times longer...
Of course manufactures would have to make things a bit better ... the majority of (inexpensive) mowers are built to sell... Not to Own.
But if folks thought of use in terms of hours rather than years... they would Demand a better built machine.. & take better care of it...I hope... :smile:KennyV

Its interesting, I buy with the intent of getting atleast 15 years out of the unit, any additional time is a plus. Unfortunately, I have a limited buget for lawn equipment so I look for the heavest duty in the less expensive brands such as Sears and Husqvarna. I will not accept anything less than a garden tractor. I have been fortunate with these tractors all have held up well. I have always changed the oil at the start of the season also change the air filter, plugs and fuel filter. The only short coming has been the fact that there was no hour meter. I did install one in my case tractor and found it helpful. My newest tractor has a meter and I think this will add some longevity to its useful life. If nothing else I will change the oil more often.

reynoldston said:

That is less then 200 hrs. on a rider. Where are you getting this from? Is this the person that buys a mower and never does maintenance.

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Was informed of this fact at a OEM dealer meeting a few years back. Was talking to a Snapper dealer about 4 years ago and he was telling me that snapper was going to redesign there rear engine riders to be more price competitive with other manufacturers, and the life expectancy would be 5 years.

the frame cracking on MTD's is nothing new i have seen them all the time.
my relabeled MTD has no frame issues and it has a cast iron front axle which i thought it unusual for a LT model but i guess back in 94 they took more pride in workmanship it is due for a engine overhaul and rear tires.

ILENGINE said:

Was informed of this fact at a OEM dealer meeting a few years back. Was talking to a Snapper dealer about 4 years ago and he was telling me that snapper was going to redesign there rear engine riders to be more price competitive with other manufacturers, and the life expectancy would be 5 years.

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You are saying a life of 5 years with less then 200hrs. What is this the life of the engine or chassis? The second rider Craftsman I bought years ago was in that class. After about three years the mower deck was so bad it wasn't repairable and I couldn't find parts. I remember welding the spindle bearings into the housing. You can guess the life of a bearing after it is welded . I junked the whole unit, The chassie was junk but the engine was still like new.

The Kohler courage is engineered for 750 hours, the Command for 1500 hours. the briggs Intek is engineered for 750 hours and the Vanguard for 1500 hours. Now this just expected life for the average engine, so some will last longer, and some will last less than that. Some riders will go several years past the OEM estimate but some will be replaced after just 1 or 2 years.

Since that is the average replacement interval the low end OEM companies are designing there equipment to that replacement average. IE, not over engineered.

This is depressing information. What is interesting is the fact that the average person has no idea that there is such a difference in engines. Most would think that a kohler would be a good choice.. I do notThis s--ks think I would buy a riding tractor if I thought it would only last for 5 years. This s--ks.

I think a lot of the problem started with the got to keep up with the Jones' and the mentality of a throw away world. If people are going to upgrade their equipment every few years then the equipment makers are going to engineer to anticipate this. If people would demand that equipment would last 15 years then they would build it. The problem though is the cost would go up a lot, and people would not be able to afford the equipment.

A do repair work for Aaron's Sales and Lease and there cash price on riders is about twice what you would pay for the same mower at Walmart, but they can't be out the full amount to purchase outright, so they have to make payments. After interest and the high priciple they pay about $2000 for a $900 riding mower.

The down side of the cheap mowers is people don't want to pay to repair them, they would rather replace the mower after 2 years than spend $100 to fix it (which is the reason for the short average lifespan, in turn leads to cheaper equipment because of replacement interval). Was informed Monday that Poulan has changed their warranty policy to units that will cost over 50% of replacement cost, I have to call dealer tech and request a replacement unit, instead of the old policy of we don't pay technicians to exchange units just fix it regardless of cost.

Looks like one of those deals where the name is being rented by the store and the mowers furnished on contract with an agreement as to the engines. The name is a trusted one and the mowers just rebranded. Good for all involved I would imagine. Briggs will sell engines , the store will sell markup and MTD will sell units and the warranty stations will sell warranty work and the scrap yards will collect the metals. There will also be aplenty of complaints on the internet about Murrays with engines that will not start when hot, primer bulbs that melt, mowers that will not start in the spring, wheels that fall off of riders even though the person changed the oil and cleaned the airfilter, belts that will not stay on, blades that will not spin even though the owner never hit anything ever and only used the mower for three minutes. And every single one will claim they never got a manuel of any kind with the unit and were ripped off. In other words, same old same old with a different name.