Ranch King Lawn Mowers

I own two Ranch King riding mowers. I bought the first one, a 18.5 horse for mowing the lawn, and the second a 12.5 horse for snowblowing. Nothing but problems with both of them, especially the one I snow blow with. Have owned it 7 years, only use it during the winter, and have been through 7 batteries. I am to the point where I take them out after each use and store them in my heated garage on the work bench with a trickle charge on them. Still won't start--this piece of junk.

First I thought I just got a bad battery, but 7 of them? Have had this last one checked, and it is reading as fully charged and good. I bought the best battery available this last time, also. I am very disappointed with this junk.

In May of 2005, my Ranch King lawn mower caught on fire after the fuel line got a hole in it. I believe this was the result of how the fuel hose was routed in the engine compartment. The mower burned up beyond repair and I had to invest $1,800.00 to buy another mower.

My sister has recently divorced and has two small children (4 and 2 years old). After recently parking her Ranch King mower (model number 13ag6956206 16hp, 42-inch cut) in her garage and leaving it overnight there. The following day as I was sitting on her porch her 2-year old little boy came and jumped up on my lap. I noticed the strong odor of gas on his shoesI was greatly alarmed because I was smoking a cigarette. Talk about panic. Nothing bad happen but after trying to find out where it came from I found that the gas line to the lawn mower had been damaged and leaked out a puddle of gas running down the floor to his tricycle.

Again, nothing bad happened but the thought of what could of happen is sickening. Now my sister has had to pay someone to mow her 5 acre yard for the last month being a single mother of two. In the middle of divorce, she can not afford it. I was gone to try to fix it for her when I ran across this site finding that other Ranch Kings has resulted in fire. How come she was not notified of this problem? And she needs a mower.

My husband got off the lawn mower and instead of it turning off like its supposed to, it ran over his foot and just shredded most of it. My husband has now lost most of his foot and is at risk of loosing the rest of it.

I purchased a Ranch King Garden tractor sometime after 1998. The tractor was a hazard from the first day of use.There were several recalls that I was not made aware of. Within the first weeks of use, the bolts that held the back wheel backed out and the back wheel fell off. Then the bolts that connected the front of the tractor and the transaxle would back out, fall out and caused the rear belt to slip off. Once the belt came off, there would be no braking ability or control of the tractor. After contacting the dealer, I learned of a "fix" that eventually made the tractor even more unsafe. The dealer is now out of business. I am unable to contact the company.

Fortunately, I was not killed as I was mowing on a hillside when the above mentioned failures occurred. Economically, I did not get what I paid for. I have had a totally worthless tractor taking up space in my garage. After reading some of the other complaints on this website, it is hard to believe that MTD can continue to place consumers at such a high degree of risk.

I don't want to complain about L&M. They have tried to help fix the lawn mower but it is a pile of junk. It is a Ranch King 2002 Rider. We have had nothing but trouble with it. It will never start. We are selling it and buying a John Deere because we can not keep the mower working. We have had for a couple years and have used it maybe 5 times and have had trouble with it at that time.

I own a Ranch King 42" riding mower. I have had this unit about 6 years. While mowing my yard 22 Jun 03, the mower started to slow and I assumed I was running out of gas, so I stopped my mower and after taking it out of gear and turning off the motor, the front of the mower started on fire.

I raced to the house for my fire extinguisher and put out the existing flame. After the extinguisher was spent, the flame reignited. Fearing the fire would ignite the gas tank, I ran to get my hose. I finally managed to dowse the fire, but only after the entire front end of the mower was melted, the spark plug wire burnt, the exhaust system charred and the remaining cover also charred. The wheels were spared, but I had to push the unit back to the corn crib to put it away as I was afraid to try and start it.

I have bruised my left arm getting away from the mower as I caught it on the lever which lowers and raises the blades, and twisted my left ankle in retrieving the needed material to dowse the flames. I live on an old farm and it takes 9 hours to mow my grass. I cannot afford to be without my mower.

We purchased a Ranch King lawn tractor in May of 2000. It ran fine in 2000 and in 2001. But then in 2002, it started blowing a fuse - two weeks after the warranty expired. We have taken it to our repairman and he cannot figure out what was wrong with it. We spent $1,200.00 on something that we got out of approximately 11 months use.

I have not gotten anywhere with Briggs and Stratton or MTD. The only information I have obtained is from Farm and Fleet who informed me that Briggs and Stratton starters for lawn tractors could possibly be the problem as some of them were recalled.

We have no lawnmower. We spent $1,200.00 on something that was only used for 11 months. $147.00 to repairman for nothing as he could not figure out what the problem was.

We purchased our Ranch King lawn tractor three years ago in May of 2000. Last summer, the fuse started to blow every time we use it. We took it to a repairman who stated that he could not find anything wrong with the wiring but that he had heard that some of these tractors had a problem with the starter, causing the tractor to short out the fuse. He tested everything and then the tractor just started working again.

I have now mowed the lawn five times this summer and it is blowing a fuse again. I went through eight fuses yesterday trying to get it to run, and it will not. I am very unhappy as this mower is only three years old and was only warrantied for two years. I do not want to have to buy another lawn tractor as we spent over $1,000 on this one only three years ago.

In approximately March of 1998 my family and I purchased a new Ranch King riding lawn mower from a Quality Farm and Fleet store located in Laporte, Indiana. The day the mower was delivered I noticed the rear axle was cracked. I had to take the mower back to the store and traded it for another. Two weeks after that the mower began to run very bad or not at all. I contacted the store and once again I had to take it in for service. Keep in mind I live 12 miles from the store. They kept it for two weeks before it was returned. As soon as I tried to use it the exact same problem occurred. Once again I sent it in for repairs and explained in details of what the problem was. After numerous calls and several weeks, I was told they had sent my mower to the regional repair center and they couldn't locate it. They lost my mower? I finally got it back and the problem had not been fixed.

I finally purchased the appropriate parts and fixed the mower my self. Throughout the following two years I learned that with a little TLC and some luck I could get my new mower running. I always made sure the battery charger was on the battery or I had no shot of success. I have always maintained my equipment at an above average level as I can't afford to buy new machinery each year. Changing plus, oils and filters are mandatory each spring. The number of hours spent on this mower by myself exceeds 100 hours easily. Now comes my latest plight regarding this lemon. Yesterday I finally got my mower running and mowed for 10 minutes, at which time the engine locked up and seized. Now I have to buy a new engine for a piece of equipment that has never run properly. I not much of a complainer and normally just fix things as needed; however, this is ridiculous. I tried to contact Ranch King directly but they don't seem to be reachable via the internet or phone. At this point my only options are to buy another mower or file suit with Ranch King. Can you please help me with this situation? Thank you in advance.

From an economic stand point I have to spend $1,700.00 on a new mower. I have already spent over $100.00 for parts. From a physical stand point I have loaded, unloaded this mower for repairs countless times. I have spent numerous hours trying to make repairs my self. Emotionally, I am frustrated beyond belief, disappointed and irritated. I just wanted to cut my grass.

I understand from your web site that in the USA some Ranch King ride-on lawn mowers have been recalled, due to possible fire risk. In the UK my Lawn King ride-on mower, very similar appearance, caught fire after less than 10 hours use and only 3 months old.

It has caused about 25000 ($37000) worth of damage to buildings and property. Who is the Ranch King manufactured by, and where? The Lawn King in UK was manufactured by CASTELGARDEN in Italy, is there a connection?