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scgekg

Inherited riding mower

scgekg
11 years ago

(sorry I am wordy)
I bought a house with a riding mower included. It is a Toro 8-25, and is about 17 years old, but seems in very good shape (I am not at all mechanical - but no rust and it was stored clean). I saw some repair bills for about $300 from the year before, and mower was not used for any of last year- they left in January I bought in June). Lot size is under 1/2 acre, and fully flat, and I can mow it with a push mower in under an hour (as a guess, I never timed myself and I used a 20" mower), but that is about how long it took, and usually I finished without a refill of small mower's tank.

I am debating using this "free" mower (which will probably cost me $150 per year to service) or getting a new self-propelled 21 or 22 inch mower for say $500 that would cost maybe $50 per year to service. I am used to using a Toro super recycler on a larger lot - closer to 1 acre.

Is there an advantage to a small rider that I am not aware of to offset the cost of servicing? I don't mind the walking about the yard. I usually just mulch, and even mulch in a large portion of the year's leaves. (Note: I think it was $70 on that last repair for just round- trip delivery, but I certainly do put the super-recycler in the trunk or on a small back shelf that attached to a hitch. My wife has the super-recycler and the bigger 1 acre yard that I still mow, but that is hillier and more obstacles and I don't think switching the rider there makes sense.)

I was thinking of seeing if I could sell the rider for maybe $250 (no idea of value but I see prices like that on mowers that visually look worse to me). That would mean I was ahead with a new mower after maybe 3 years if I had no repairs on either.

It was useful to write this, but I am looking for input.

(The 20 inch push at an hour is slower than I like, but I suppose continuing to use that is the cheapest alternative and as it is I have 3 mowers at 2 houses. The 20 inch is a "disposable" mower that seems to survive longer that I figured - I use to use it for mowing under trees, bought used about 10 years ago.)

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