Troy Bilt Mower issues

   / Troy Bilt Mower issues #1  
R

RonR

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2003
Messages
1,969
Location
Kansas
Tractor
2003 BX2200
I purchased a customer returned Troy Bilt 7HP self propelled mower last fall. (Yes, I know the recent history of troy and it makes me sad.)

This mower had been warranty repaired with new drive belt, and didn't appear to have hardly any use. Got it for half price. Figured it would run me several years. I liked that it had a "variable speed" drive, since I can mow faster than the old one speed mowers go.

Anyway, it mulched great for the 4 months I've used it. From day one, however, I was concerned that there was a good sized opening for the blade shaft that would allow clippings into the belt drive area and there was no easy way to clean it out.

And from day one, the drive seemed grabby; it wouldn't engage, wouldn't engage, then bam, off it took!

Sure enough, now, the belt was slipping to the point it couldn't pull itself on concrete, let alone in the grass. And all of the belt adjustment on the handle was used up.

I struggled to get the belt shield off (no easy task), and saw that the belt was shot! Wow, four months per belt doesn't sound good, and being hard to replace makes it even worse.

As part of getting the belt off, I noticed the plastic gears in the drive wheels were very chewed up as well. GREAT--replace the belt and the gears EVERY SEASON!

Went back to Lowes and tried to talk them into taking it back, but no such luck. They did offer to send it in via warranty, so I'm waiting to see if it's fixed.

My dilemma now is do I use the mower and try to get another season out of it, or try to sell it now and go ahead and buy a commercial grade mower so I don't have to hassle with this every season...................

I guess also I could rebuild it next year by removing the drive gears and just use it as a push mower??????????

Your thoughts?????????????

Ron
 
   / Troy Bilt Mower issues #2  
Is this the 30 plus inch wide twin blade mower? If yes, it's a pre MTD design, and a pretty decent one. My brother has had one for over 10 years with no problems. Or is this a 22" wide self propelled generic MTD mower with Troy-Bilt decals on it?
 
   / Troy Bilt Mower issues #3  
How much are you mowing? These arent meant for more than a small subdivision lot.

The belt should last around 3 years if tensioned properly. Make sure the springs are all good so that it is always pulling it tight. When it is repalced, and engaged, the belt should have very little deflection. If it is allowed to slip much, I can see one failing in a few months, easily.

As far as the gears being warn, if the gears arent sharp, dont worry about it. Put on some new ones and they'll be like that in a few weeks. They tend to wear round, sometimes it accelerated if the wheels are loose at all.

Dont worry about then until they start to skip.
 
   / Troy Bilt Mower issues
  • Thread Starter
#4  
bontai_Joe,

This is the single blade (21-22").

I suppose it's MTD design.

Lowe's hasn't called that it's back, so I don't know if their repair shop is busy or if they just don't want to talk with me anymore.

I still haven't decided to keep it or not. If I do, I think I'll fab a cover to fit closer over the blade hole to try to keep the debris out of there.

The 25 yr old snapper is doing a nice job on the lawn still.

Our lot is 85x120, so its not huge. We have a lot of flower area, plus the house, so its maybe half that size in lawn.............

ron
 
   / Troy Bilt Mower issues #5  
RonR said:
bontai_Joe,

This is the single blade (21-22").

I suppose it's MTD design.

Lowe's hasn't called that it's back, so I don't know if their repair shop is busy or if they just don't want to talk with me anymore.

I still haven't decided to keep it or not. If I do, I think I'll fab a cover to fit closer over the blade hole to try to keep the debris out of there.

The 25 yr old snapper is doing a nice job on the lawn still.

Our lot is 85x120, so its not huge. We have a lot of flower area, plus the house, so its maybe half that size in lawn.............

ron
Click to expand...

Depending on the size of your town, such a repair could take as little as a week, or as much as 1.5 months.
Just depends on the size of the shop they use, and the amount of returns they get.
 
   / Troy Bilt Mower issues #7  
Good thing speaking up here, I have directed people from MTD to look at this site and see in general what people think about their products. I have really been on them about hydro and belt issues with the CC 1000 machines, to the point where it got new owners upset. I think the only reason MTD has made strides to hold up the quality end of higher cost Cub Cadets is because of dealer input, where there is a stronger foothold on the dealer sold machines- they have more input to the manufacturer where the box stores generally stay out of that sort of thing.

IMHO MTD seems to have no problem in the area of corporate takeovers of just about every name in the lawn and garden equimpent industry- experts in the field. If they focused half that amount of effort in to improving the QUALITY of their equipment and a little less into takeovers to turn old well respected good names into Chinese junk they COULD be a winner. But don't count on it soon. I feel this marketing through Lowes, HD, and TSC is profit from deceit, (From ALL who are doing it, and they are all doing it because they love the profits) and what will ultimately happen is where MTD and others think they are gaining profit, will eventually lose from lack of repeat customers in a few years, along with damaging those old good names. The game is all about feeding the corporate stockholders nowadays, period. To the makers, the customer is a moron.

-Fordlords-
 
   / Troy Bilt Mower issues #8  
I have a 6.75 HP Trpy Built/MTD that I bought last year about this time and have used pretty heavy. About 5 hours a week during the mowing season.
All is still working fine with no problems to report.
Ben
 
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