Inspecting Husqvarna Rider 13 before purchase

shanehobson · Apr 17, 2013

I'm looking at buying a 7 year old Rider 13 to replace my Yardman.

I've read about the troublesome TuffTorq K46 transmission, seen the rebuild descriptions.

The mower is parked in town so I won't have much chance to test drive it on hills or even cutting grass.

Are there any suggestions as to what I can do to check condition of the transmission (and anything else of critical importance) with it parked on a flat, mown lawn.

I can take tools with me to jack it up etc if needed.

cheers
Shane

Gem99ultra · May 13, 2013

I know it's an old thread... but, I have a Rider 155 -identical in appearance but 12 years old. So far I have ~2500 hours on that mower. Never a problem with the TorqTuff K46. Only other problems I've had were a brake cable breaking and a starter solenoid going out. Mower still runs great, easy to drive, and makes a beautiful cut.

That being said, I'll add - I DO maintain my equipment.

murphy1244 · May 13, 2013

Gem99ultra said:
I know it's an old thread... but, I have a Rider 155 -identical in appearance but 12 years old. So far I have ~2500 hours on that mower. Never a problem with the TorqTuff K46. Only other problems I've had were a brake cable breaking and a starter solenoid going out. Mower still runs great, easy to drive, and makes a beautiful cut.

That being said, I'll add - I DO maintain my equipment.

That's a lot of hours for a lawnmower.

Gem99ultra · May 24, 2013

More hours than I ever dreamed that it would run. AND - it hasn't been pampered all this time either. A few years ago we had one of those frog-stranglers, i.e. 6" of rain in about 4 hours. Creek in back flooded my storage shed where the Rider 155 was kept. Due to other things on my place also getting flooded, I had to leave the Husqvarna completely under 2' of water for about 4 days.

I assumed that it was a total loss, but, taking my time, I took every part and flushed, cleaned, oiled/greased, etc. Took me about 6 weeks in my spare time to basically go through the entire mower. Amazingly - it fired right back up and kept right on cutting just like it did before being flooded.

The mower was pretty expensive for 2002, i.e. about $2700 + $300 for extended warranty. But it really has been a good one. Hope my new GTH holds up as well.