Joe1
Platinum Member
John:
I happened to stop into my JD dealer today. I got to talking to my favorite salesman about lawn tractors/garden tractors. He said they had a machine for around $2500, around 17.5 HP and 38" cut. Don't hold me on this.
I asked about the Home Depot models and he said the ones they sold at the JD dealerships were just better built and more of a heavy duty unit. They do not sell the same models as HD. The Box Store (HD) models were mostly for the home owner. This JD dealer will NOT service the HD sold models. He said that JD just dropped the fact on the dealers that they were selling lower end models at HD and the dealers had no say about it. His reasoning for not servicing the HD models is that they have a limited service facility for their own customes and don't want to make their customers wait for service while working on HD's customers models.
He also said he heard that JD was working out some kind of deal with HD customers for a service/repair facility.
I asked about engine life and he said JD used the Kawasaki industrial engines as their prime mover in their expensive stuff as well as Briggs and Kohler in the units they sell at the dealership. He did say the Kawasaki were the best of Briggs, Kohler or Kawasaki. He did admit, however, that with proper maintenance, you'd probably wear out the rest of the machine before any of the engines croaked.
For whatever this worth.
By the way, I wasn't trying to steer you to a Craftsman, or away for that matter, you mentioned the Husky and they were about the same for seemingly more money. I don't own one, remember so don't have any brand loyalty.
If you were happy with your Honda walk behind, how about a qualtity self propelled Honda walk behind again? A lot cheaper and you get some exercise. You've got the "big tractor" for any real work.
Good luck.
Joe
I happened to stop into my JD dealer today. I got to talking to my favorite salesman about lawn tractors/garden tractors. He said they had a machine for around $2500, around 17.5 HP and 38" cut. Don't hold me on this.
I asked about the Home Depot models and he said the ones they sold at the JD dealerships were just better built and more of a heavy duty unit. They do not sell the same models as HD. The Box Store (HD) models were mostly for the home owner. This JD dealer will NOT service the HD sold models. He said that JD just dropped the fact on the dealers that they were selling lower end models at HD and the dealers had no say about it. His reasoning for not servicing the HD models is that they have a limited service facility for their own customes and don't want to make their customers wait for service while working on HD's customers models.
He also said he heard that JD was working out some kind of deal with HD customers for a service/repair facility.
I asked about engine life and he said JD used the Kawasaki industrial engines as their prime mover in their expensive stuff as well as Briggs and Kohler in the units they sell at the dealership. He did say the Kawasaki were the best of Briggs, Kohler or Kawasaki. He did admit, however, that with proper maintenance, you'd probably wear out the rest of the machine before any of the engines croaked.
For whatever this worth.
By the way, I wasn't trying to steer you to a Craftsman, or away for that matter, you mentioned the Husky and they were about the same for seemingly more money. I don't own one, remember so don't have any brand loyalty.
If you were happy with your Honda walk behind, how about a qualtity self propelled Honda walk behind again? A lot cheaper and you get some exercise. You've got the "big tractor" for any real work.
Good luck.
Joe
