Craftsman Riding Mowers

I purchased a Craftsman riding mower on 5-25-2016, it is 5-28-2017 and the mower is not operational. I reported the problem over six weeks ago to Sears and still do not have a working mower. It took four weeks for a technician to arrive only to realize he needed to order parts that would take an additional three weeks. Then the technician did not call or arrive to perform the service. So, to date, I am almost two months into the growing/mowing season without a mower. I have lodged a complaint with Consumer Affairs and will also report this to the BBB. I have a two acre yard and am having to pay someone to mow the grass. Whatever you do, DO NOT purchase from Sears, they are on their way out and it is easy to see why.

Craftsman 71-20383 46", 19hp tractor - I bought this tractor for two purposes, mowing and snow removal. The salesman went over the tractor specs and Attachment Fit-up list to get the right snow blower attachments. Got the 71-25840 50" snow blower, the 71-24434 wheel weights, the 71-24862 chains but did not get the 71-24100 (60lb) rear weight as I had 65lbs of weights that I could mount on the back of the tractor in its place.

Got everything together, took 8 hrs to mount blower as it's a "universal" mount and some parts did not fit exactly right and wiring for lift motor was NOT for this tractors battery, solenoid location. Had to splice extra wire on to get it installed. First try was a disaster. This tractor/blower combination is best for flat ground, pavement use only! It took 30 minutes to go 50' on the lawn. NO TRACTION! It could not plow 8-10" of snow and move at the same time - it couldn't get out of its own way!

If you're a 250-300lb NFL linebacker it might of moved. The weights required and myself did not do the job. Removed the 65lbs of rear weight and replaced it with two 60lb sand tubes. It has traction now, enough that it can get out of its own way and plow snow. If you want to blow snow with this tractor, don't get the 50" blower, get the smaller blower 71-24837.

I purchased a Craftsman Pro Series 7400 Garden Tractor in late summer 2015. One of the big selling points the salesman made was the fact that the mower blades could be taken off by hand without wrenches. After a full year of mowing I can say that this "wrench free" design is junk and does not hold up. I have had the plastic housing around the blade clamps fly off at least six times, twice damaging the housing requiring the purchase of replacement housing parts. I have also had the pins holding the blade clamp simply fall out while removing a blade for service. Why do they try to improve on a simple bolt with a nut which has worked just fine for many decades? Are there really that many urban millennials that complained about not owning a wrench??

Purchased a Craftsman mower. So disappointed, problem is will not start. Had warranty fixed by Sears. Get it home, try and start. Fuel pouring from carburetor until gas tank empty. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY. New mowers are junk!

Bought a Craftsman 7.25 Engine Torque Just Check & Add Front Wheel Drive Mower, as close as I could find to my Yard Man Briggs & Stratton mower from 2000, which was a gem! Should have kept it and just re-furbished it. New mowers not the same. They are made with "disposable" motors and do not even have a parts/number list. This mower ran for less than a month and then started to stall in thick grass/leaves. Brought it to repair facility (not located at Sears- it is a guy working out of his barn 25 miles away-but it is the official gas engine repair facility for Muskegon / Norton Shores Sears store). No explanation for what was wrong just that he made some "adjustments", back a month later same thing. "Tweaked" it again, but still no paperwork, no explanation for what was wrong. Worked until Fall, then 2 hours of mulching leaves stalled it and it would not restart.

By the next summer, warranty ran out, had mechanic look at it. POS machine, plastic carb that requires premium gas or it degrades, coil was shot, gas leaked into the air filter and destroyed it. Took it to small engine repair, and it ran for a day. Next day ran for 30 minutes, then began to idle down and quit. Re-started, ran for another 30 minutes and quit. Then tried to restart and almost broke my arm. Back to the shop (very good service, good reputation and excellent results). Discovered hydro locked motor due to gas filled in cylinder and also found the carbs are known to leak and they commonly put in a shut off valve. Ran for a day, now won't run. Have to go back again. Will buy another mower soon. NEVER, NEVER buy Sears mower again... Spent as much on repairs as I paid for the mower- complete junk.

Purchased the T12000 on March 2015. Mowed 3-4 times, rocker arm broke. Called CS & they sent out 2 under warranty. Mowed 3 more times. My husband checks and has to add oil before each mowing. Started smoking excessively and cutting out. Called technician - said he has ordered new engines for several of these and has put 2 on one ladies in 6 months...so to me this establishes a lemon issue. Mowed 2-3 times on the new engine - same thing, smoking cutting out. It quit in the middle of the yard and had to be pushed back to the shed. Called for a technician. This young whipper snapper took pictures, started it up and said they would be in contact with us in 3-4 days. (I left work to meet this guy because the window is 8-5 then they call you...aauugghh). Never called - called them back after 2 weeks and was transferred 4 different times, it was nuts!

Finally the operator in whatever department I landed in told me that it was determined as customer neglect due to the oil looking dirty! We literally have put 4 or 5 quarts of oil in this machine since it was purchased - again, before each mowing! Disputed this so they scheduled another technician - he called and I was on the other line. He left a msg for me to call him, didn't say he was in my drive or he was on his way or he was anything. Called him back 7 minutes later and he didn't answer (again, we had taken off work and been waiting all day). I called his # 8 times and he never called me back or answered. Called in to complain, they schedule another tech. I request a Friday August 5th after lunch so I can leave work early. The email appt tracker kept ticking and ticking later and later until 7:30 p.m. then it automatically rolls over to a rescheduled appt for...wait for it - SEPT 9TH more than 30 days later. All the while my grass now looks like a hay field.

So I just got off the phone AGAIN for a service tech who will be here this Friday after lunch and I requested the original guy hoping he will order another new motor/engine. In the mean time we went to town and purchased a Cub Cadet today. Never ever will I purchase any Craftsman anything from Sears. Their customer service folks, while decent over the phone, have no power to resolve issues. After reading these reviews it is obvious that there is a product issue. Has anyone looked into some kind of legal class action? This is out of control, so many people have been ripped off.

In April my husband purchased a new Craftsman lawn tractor for $2000. From the very beginning we have had nothing but bad luck with it. Sears will not do anything about it and the service man has been to our home 4 times already since we started using it in May and replaced numerous parts and the tractor still barely runs and stalls out constantly. I have had to fight with the Craftsman customer service and still have lawn that needs to be cut. The only reason why we purchased another Craftsman tractor is because we had great luck with the previous one we owned. I DO NOT recommend this tractor to anyone since I recently found out this model has issues that cannot seem to be corrected. Just an FYI for buyers out there so you don't have to go through what we are going through. Good luck with anything they make at this point. Extremely disappointed in the poor and pathetic service.

We bought the mower around May 4th. They said it couldn't be delivered for 3 weeks. I paid my neighbor $50 to trailer it home for me. We added fluids, rode her gently at first, but noticed immediately it was a 'shaker'. It shook as much as our old one that we gave away, but we plugged on, thinking it would smooth out. At 6 hours, the belt came off. I put it back on. We used it again for another 6 hours, prior to going on vacation on June 4th. The belt came off again, and then it would not stay on. Additionally, the right rear tire was showing a huge bulge in it. I had two local mechanics (loggers/tree trimmers/landscapers) look at the machine. They both said it was a lemon, and said they saw the deck was shaking too much, the belt was either the wrong size or defective, and the middle spring did not work. They added that whoever torqued down the motor and the deck did not do it to specs.

I went to the store and told them of my problems. They said, "Here, call this 800 number and a tech will come to your house. We'll probably give you a new one"... That one sounds bad. No problem, just call this number. So I called the number and spoke with Susan. She said, "We can send someone out this monday, between 0800 and 1700. You'll be there?" "Yes, I will." No one came. I called the 800 number. Where's the tech? Oh... No tech can come until July 17th. I said that is not acceptable. We have a total of 12 hours on this machine, and it was never set up properly. And NOW we are getting the royal runaround. DO NOT BUY CRAFTSMAN... THEIR WARRANTY IS A JOKE. IT DOES NOT EXIST.

Horrible experience from the start. I should have immediately returned it. However, the Craftsman man stated I should adjust the deck, valves, and various things on the tractor and it would work well as he'd had no returns. As such, I'm a year out with a piece of crap $3,500 lawn tractor that won't mow regular grass and now won't go at all. It has 30 hours on the motor, with most of that just general mowing. I would never buy another. Extremely disappointed with the service, the product, the overall experience. I'm done with Craftsman after 30 years. Cannot get service, cannot get explanations, cannot get anything but a piece of crap lawn tractor that won't mow grass.

I bought the Craftsman 46" riding lawnmower in March 2014. The forward motion stopped while I was mowing in Sep 2014. The plastic transaxle fan was laying in the yard. The warranty repair tech told me it's a design flaw and to use the clutch only when you absolutely have to. My warranty expired in March 2016. Same part failed in May 2016. Warranty people said they would not cover it even though the same part failed. I paid $60+ for a new fan online. An obvious problem Craftsman is not willing to correct. Perhaps an aluminum fan wouldn't melt and fail rendering the lawnmower useless like the plastic fan. I will not buy another Craftsman lawnmower! Or anything else except repair parts even though I have two Craftsman toolboxes full of Craftsman tools, Craftsman tiller, Jack, stands, etc.! I'm DONE!!!

LT3200 lawn tractor - I purchased riding mower new last year with the added protection agreement. The front end has failed. The deck has failed. The ignition system has failed. The motor has failed twice catastrophically. These repairs has taken months to be completed when added together. I have maintained the mower meticulously. I clean air filter, check oil, wash and grease deck every time I use it. This time I took a day off to meet the repairman and he never showed. Sears called and confirmed with me that he would be there yesterday. I called Sears and they refuse to repair claiming it's my fault. UNBELIEVABLE. Horrible customer service. This mower cost me several thousand dollars and only has 82 hours on the mower. My protection agreement would have replaced the mower this time had they not blamed it on me. Looking for a class action over this. Sorry to rant. Do not buy this.

When I purchased the Craftsman T2400 lawn tractor I was very excited. I always had very good luck with them in the past. Come to find out the new generation of lawn tractors have a complete different clutching system. Instead of the hydrostatic clutch, it now has a belt drive rear end. It is now VERY jerky and impossible to operate at slow speeds. It is EXTREMELY frustrating to try and mow around obstacles or go slow to keep from plugging the chute. I will NEVER recommend one of these tractors to a friend again. I was told by the repairman, in a very polite and professional manner to get use to it. Because the new, less expensive clutching system was designed to save the company money. I would love to sell this lawn tractor, but I would actually feel guilty dumping this thing on an unsuspecting person.

I purchased a craftsman 7.25 platinum lawn mower from Sears about 2 years ago. I purchased the Craftsman brand because of their reputation of quality and longevity. The first season, the mower ran fine without any issues. It would start every time. Unfortunately, the second has been a complete disaster. I have not been able to get the machine to run consistently. I have done all the required maintenance such as changing the filter, replacing old gas with fresh gas along with the admixture. After thinking about ethanol in gas, I have even gone as far as using premium gasoline. I've cleaned the carburetor several times only to get the same result. I'm basically fed up and have decided to say my piece and vow never to purchase a Craftsman lawn mower again. What ever happen to quality? Extremely dissatisfied customer.

I bought a demo Pro7400 with 33 hours on it. After 5 hours of use, the spindle bearings on one blade burned up. I took it back to the store and they told me I had to have the repair done at home by a service person. They scheduled it 5 weeks out. I asked them to exchange the deck for one in the store on another unit. They said I had to have mine repaired. After lots of phone calls, they called and said they happen to have a service person in the area in a week. Meantime, they called and said they would exchange for a new unit, because they did not want to deal with it.

When I called to cancel the appointment, they had no record that anyone was going to show up on the scheduled date. The new deck has lost the "quick change" plastic blade covers twice. I finally replaced them with the old style blades. A direct swap after removing the quick change contraptions from the spindles. While doing that, I noticed one of the aluminum latches was hanging by one pin and about to exit the deck, probably followed by the entire blade. Possibly causing serious harm to something or someone.

2013, bought a Craftsman 22-HP Riding Lawn Mower. Paid $1900.00 thinking I was getting a top quality product. Used mower the late part of season, mower begin to leave strips of unmowed grass. Replaced blades, did not help. Next thing, the left front wheel came off. Called Sears, serviceman came out and serviced the lawn mower. Next thing, the adjustment handle for the deck broke off. The mower is now at my son's house to be repaired & probably traded in on a zero turn mower. I am sure it won't be for a Sears mower. The mower has been the biggest piece of junk I have ever owned.

Purchased a Craftsman LT 1500 on May 10, 2013. We used the tractor primarily for pulling a 20 gal herbicide trailer. The mower from day 1 coughed, belched smoke and lost power. In August 2015, the mower while pulling the trailer, coughed, belched smoke and the engine locked up. Sears via email informed me that the warranty had expired on May 10, 2015. How convenient! Sears informed me that I could go online to get a 20% service discount from the overpriced service rates. The LT 1500 is junk! Craftsman of Sears is selling the junk and will not stand behind it.

Bought May 12, 2013 Craftsman riding lawnmower, delivered 10 days later. Serious problems ever since. Lived in my home for about 28 years and only had 2 riding mowers in those years. And one of the mowers was a Western Auto 18 hp riding mower, second was a riding mower with a John Deere engine purchased from Home Depot. Two great mowers that gave their all. Then came the Crapsman riding mower - with it seemed like a retired used car salesman working the Sears Garden and Tools floor. I figured what could go wrong with a Briggs engine? The mower came off the truck broken and because I did not purchase a maintenance contract I was refused service on a two-year warranty along with brick wall customer service.

The only way I could get help was the frustration of getting no help on an 18-month payment plan and absolutely crying my eyes out on the phone with these brick walls in the no service department. I have read the same complaints as mine throughout these reviews. I feel Sears needs us to file a class action suit. My costs so far are $2,000 on a riding lawnmower that was 1,699 + tax, 100 + tax on tire repair plus gas back and forth, 250 + tax in a maintenance contract.

My Sears lawn tractor (Craftsman Lawn Tractor Model Number 247.288820) scalps my lawn on the highest setting of 5. I've checked the tire pressure and it is accurate. Also, when I'm driving on the highest speed setting of 7 the brake/clutch pedal folds forward. This is a very serious safety hazard.

We have owned this mower (Craftsman 24HP 54" Complete Start Turn Tight Garden Tractor) just over a year. Within the first 2 months of ownership the Complete Start electronics broke. It took Sears repair over a month to replace. Most recently (a year later) a weld broke on the mower deck that the deck supports bolt on to. I called the repair service and told them EXACTLY what was wrong and that it will need a new deck. They told me that the earliest they could get a tech onsite was a month later. A month had passed - I took the day off work for the repair, the tech shows up but without the deck. He looks at the broken mower and deck and confirms that the deck needs replaced (same thing I told them).

Here I sit 5 weeks into the service call reading an email from Sears stating that they don't have the part and are looking to find it with alternative distributors but the only reason I got this email was because I had to email them to find out where the part was because it had not arrived yet and a tech is supposed to be coming next weekend. I am certain that by the time this mower is repaired it will be over 2 months. I will never make another major purchase at Sears for the rest of my life nor will I recommend them to anyone else.

Bought a Craftsman 50" zero turn mower new from Sears. Came broken and took a month to get it repaired. Have had it for 3 yrs now and have NO mower for 1/2 of the summer months due to waiting on someone to repair. Please beware! Buy something somewhere else! So far this summer, it's been 2 months without mower. I am angry and plan on doing something about it.

I purchase a craftsman push mower 08/06/2014. Used it 3 times, cleaned it and put it away. This year when I tried to start it, it wouldn't start. I changed spark plug and did everything the guy in the store recommended. Still didn't start. So I send it to the Sears repair center since it is under warranty, that was over 5 weeks ago. Every time I call I keep getting a run around. I'm told it's on the truck to the service center or it's waiting to be repaired and no one seems to be able to say what's going on. In the meantime I keep having to pay to get my lawn done. Today I call the store I dropped it off at and the guy said it may take another 4 weeks. Just great. I will not be purchasing any type of equipment at Sears. In my opinion, they suck big time, and don't care about their customers.

My new mower had the blades installed with faulty washers, causing the blades to flutter, and damage the deck (first time I used it). I got a new deck installed without charge, but the first time I used it after the repair, the discharge chute fell off, because the push cap holding the retaining spindle in place fell off. I also noticed that the new deck did not have a washout fitting installed, even though there were 2 holes in the deck for it. I called the repair people and asked to have the two things taken care of. I was told that the washout fitting was no longer available and, get this: "I could turn the mower on its side and scrap the grass off with a putty knife, or take the deck completely off to clean off the bottom of the deck!" Are those practical solutions, or what? I've had this mower about 6 weeks, and will attempt to return it and get my money back tomorrow. NO MORE SEARS PRODUCTS FOR ME!

Purchased a faulty 22hp Turn Tight lawn tractor. Turn Tight or Tight Turn TM immediately broke. Can't return it despite obvious defect. Giving me the run around with sales director that won't return call. Can't afford to wait weeks in line to get it repaired. Wish they put a little more money in quality of product instead of faulty marketing claims.

I would recommend to anyone looking to buy a ride on mower to stay clear of the T2400, or any mower in that series. Hell, just stay away from craftsman in general. It is a poorly designed, extremely difficult to maintain piece of crap. It has no power going up even a mild incline and absolutely worse in reverse. Their extended warranty exposes you to the nastiest, most unprofessional repair people I've ever met in the customer business. The handle that engages the blades is located in very close proximity to the steering wheel causing your hand to hit it when you make turns, the blade chews up your mulching kit cover rendering it useless. And one of the worst parts is the cleaning. It has a hook up for your hose that is supposed to allow you to clean under the deck by turning on the hose and starting the blades in motion.

It doesn't work worth a damn. You wind up having to go under the blade table with a rag. And the ultimate worst is that, per its design, a huge amount of grass clippings get caught on the top of the blade table under the floor plate and foot rests and the only access to the area is to unscrew and remove the cowls on each side and physically stick your hand between the twin pulleys and drive belts that rotate the blades. It's a nightmare and this still doesn't adequately reach all the pockets of grass. You have to use a compressor blower to remove the rest. And, you have to redo this procedure each time you cut your lawn.

It takes an hour to cut my lawns, front and back and another 45-50 minutes to clean the beast. If you don't clean it every time you use it, the grass gets so packed under there, it's much harder and longer to remove, and it hinders the movement of the pulley belts which will make a squealing sound. So, if you're masochistic and have a lot of time on your hands and enjoyed being aggravated, by all means, this is the machine for you. Shame on you Sears. May your business fall into as much disrepair and the equipment you sell.

I purchased a riding mower in 2013 --- yt3000. Every time I mow I have to get down on my hands and knees to clean out the grass from on top of the mower deck. In the blade housing grass also accumulates so much that the blades ceases to move until it is dug out with a screw driver... Over engineered pile...

I had an old John Deere but decided to buy a new mower. I was a fool and didn't look around enough and bought the Craftsman 7400 Pro Series lawn tractor. To begin with, reverse is a total joke and trying to reverse up a very slight incline is impossible. The so called tight circle steering ends up placing the inside wheel at almost 90 degrees stopping the tractor cold. I have done 8.5 hrs of mowing and there are squeak coming from the front wheels..

Updated on 08/09/2015: I wrote a report on May 8th, 2015 and now I would like to update that report. Where do I start? Try to mow up or reverse up a very slight incline, forget it. Try to make a sharp turn, forget it as the inside wheel turns at 90 degrees and brings the tractor to a dead stop. Tried putting up with these small problems but when the deck belt flew off on more than one occasion it was time to drive this piece of garbage to the bottom of the yard and let the plants claim it as their own. I have spread the word to everyone who will listen not to buy one of these pieces of utter garbage. It's a pity because many years back Sears had a good reputation but now I guess everything they sell is made in China.

Craftsman lawn tractor p/n 917.288250 s/n 032808D005842 bought in 2008 no longer has brakes. The replacement brake pads p/n 407133 are no longer available and there is no replacement part according to Sears & Husqvarna so what is an old man to do. THANK YOU.

I bought a Sears Craftsman 160cc Honda Engine about a year ago. Use it for about 10 times, now the Mower start up and run for about 20 to 30 second then STOP. Since the mower under the Craftsman 2-year full warranty, I call the warranty service center. The operator told me that I can drop my mower to the nearby Sears and they will take care of it. When I got to Sears they told me that Sears no longer take drop off. So they told me to go to the Overland Park Sears service center, it's about 20 mile from where I'm at now. Up and go I went to Sears service center. After standing in line for 30 min. the service man told me that Sears now farm out their Lawn mower service to “KC Lawn mower repair” and this happening about a week ago. He give me an address is about 15 mile from where Overland Park Sears service center.

Just to let you know Sears customer service has NO clue of what they are doing. Kansas City buyer beware your Sears Lawn mower service, it's the same place where you buy PET FOOD down on Southwest Boulevard. That's right. I said PET FOOD the place - it's smelly. After 5 min in there, I wanted to threw up. Here you get the same service as Sears NO clue at all. The service guy told me to call him in a week if I don't hear from him. It's been over 10 days and I try to call every day and NO one pick up the phone. I leave message and NO one return my call still. Save yourself the headache and go somewhere else to buy your Lawn mower.

21 hp 42' deck lawn tractor - I have read so many complaints about Briggs motors on these tractors. You think it’s the battery then a starter and replacing clutch safety switches. Mine is sitting in my yard right now. I am a single women that don’t mind getting dirty but this has been very costly and annoyed that all of you having same problem and a big name like Craftsman just close their eyes at all of us having the same problem and doing nothing.

I’m sure most of us work hard all week and a nice weekend you would like to enjoy getting your yard work done. I can't find the one gentleman that said if you take the spark plug out it cranks right over. It does work but does anyone know what to do after the plug is out - you have to put it back in because it won't start without it. My mower is out of the trailer I put it in. Now it’s in my yard, and like I said, I'm a single female. I can't leave it just sit out. Now I have to push it all the way back in the trailer.

If anyone knows what to do after the plug is out and it’s cranking freely, what’s next? I bought it in summer 2012 and then it seemed to me that’s around how old some of the other complaints have been around that year. Has Craftsman or Briggs ever heard of the lemon law? Something needs to be done for all of us with this lemon of mower.