Craftsman Riding Mowers

Just want to let you know that all these big box mowers are Garbage only designed to last about 350 hours. Why? Same reason as light bulbs to make more money. They are in the business of making money not building quality products. I purchased a Craftsman Kohler pro 42 inch single cyl with hydraulic valves and hydro transmission back then in 1990 for $1600 and so far it has lasted 1500 hours for 20 years no smoking. That is quality. They stopped making the CV16.5 so they can put China plastic crap and sell it to you every 5 years. This is across the board in big box stores. Your choice is a selection of China Junk. Look for a used USA built Kohler engine powered mower or commercial used. It's a monopoly or crap mowers in any consumer brand.

Sears Craftsman Riding Mower DLS 3500 20HP 46" - Bought the mower new in 2007. I mow a 1 acre lawn twice a month 8 months a year. I still have the original drive and deck belts. Great riding mower! I do perform meticulous maintenance.

Have had this lawn mower (model 917.20390) for going on three years. First year transmission needed replaced with 10 hours on it. Repairman for Sears stated they put cheap plastics parts on this. Then they had to come out two more times for the same issue. Couldn't get an appointment due to understaffed until 2016. Second year same issue with the transmission again. Pull it out this year same issue but when you get it going it will not stop and the reverse sticks, you have to shut it off to get it to stop. I will not keep buying the extended warranty at 300.00 a year for this junk. I bought a Craftsman lawn tractor from Sears in 1998. Never an issue with this one so after it was time to retire it thought, "Hey Craftsman. Great product." Boy was I wrong. They don't stand behind their product anymore. Even their tools have turned to junk. This product should be recalled before it kills someone. This one only has 91 hours on it. JUNK JUNK JUNK.

One of the worst experience I have had. I thought a Craftsman would be a good mower. Sadly no. In the 5 years I have owned it, they have been out 19 times to repair it. I have been trying to repair it for the last year and they have made multiple trips. Blown head gaskets and carburetor problems. They have been unable to fix the carburetor problems. They contract out to repair people sometimes and they do not screen them properly. TV repairman who needed work were coming out to repair the mower and they were not competent. Extended warranty says if they cannot repair they will replace but they will not. My last resort is taking them to small claims court which I will do. Customer service is in the Philippines. DO NOT BUY A CRAFTSMAN MOWER. No wonder Sears is on the brink of bankruptcy.

Lawn tractor repair unacceptable - Belt on deck came off numerous times. Tech put belt back on & supposedly leveled deck. Deck now vibrates terribly when engaged. Tech said use 'til tears up & will repair. Tech don't know what he is doing. Want repaired by qualified tech or replace deck.

In 2012 I bought a Craftsman 42" 17.5 lawn tractor. Two years and two weeks later it quit running. Stopped. Called Sears. Was told it was out of warranty and would have a service charge and additional parts. Called a local repair shop, told them what it was doing and they diagnosed it over the phone. They told me that the particular tractor I bought had a manufacturing defect causing the valve lifter rocker arm to come off. Usually just after the 2 year mark. It was repaired by putting the rocker arm back on. It failed again a year later. I was constantly replacing belts, spindles and more. Sorriest excuse for any power equipment I ever owned.

I have had my Craftsman riding mower for over 19 years, I change the oil religiously and had to replace 1 tire! I say this is not bad for a riding mower almost 20 years old!

Nothing but trouble with this model. We used it with care but it was constantly needing repairs. When the warranty ended, we were fortunate my husband is a master mechanic - until we needed a part available only from an indie supplier who told us Craftsman was living on its old reputation but was no longer worth consideration. Sad commentary for the price we paid.

A little overpriced but in general a good mower. Good safety devices and good on gas but a little uneven on grass cut over lawn. Could not get to adjust out all the way but still better than major brands.

I have had other Craftsman mowers & never had a problem. I have had this one for 2 seasons & have had nothing but problems. Thankfully, I bought a service contract that covers a little of the cost... not nearly enough!

We purchased a 42" Craftsman Riding Lawnmower summer of 2015. I have replaced every belt multiple times, constantly breaks down and found out that Sears just put the Craftsman Name on cut rate manufacturers. I was told to order the correct parts I need to tell them who the manufacturer is so I am guaranteed correct part. You tell me who it is, and support the crap you sell. I would never recommend purchasing another craftsman product. Sorry terrible customer service and support of their products. Not the Sears or Craftsman products from years ago. Had old Craftsman Rider for 20 years no problems just got old and needed to retire. Wish I still had it I would be able to cut my grass.

I’m tired of being taken advantage of when purchasing so called "quality products". I bought a rider because of the hardware in my back. I have a regular 50150 lot so the hours were really low until I left the key partially on, but anyway, I was sold on the front end being solid cast and it being a 24 hp. If I knew I couldn’t take the mower in for maintenance and would be forced to pay $95 for a guy to come to my house I would never have bought this POS.

In 2013 I purchased a 42" deck Craftsman riding mower (T3200 48" tight turn). Exactly a year later (2014) I had to call them to replace a plastic pulley for the drive belt because it broke in half. They told me that it would be a month before a service tech could come out and "diagnose" the problem. Then they tell me the part I would need is on back order for 30+days before they could get the part in. (Keep in mind we are in the middle of June where you have to cut the grass every week if not twice a week or else you're walking through a jungle.) Well after being hung up on 7 time and speaking to several representatives, 2 managers and threatening legal action, they agreed to replace the mower. I could go pick out one but only to the total cost that I paid for the old one.

My $2700 G-T Craftsman 54" B&G Twin Plat. Model#917.204080 has 39 hrs. on it. The front right wheel just fell off. It was assembled by Sears, required, without adding grease. Also, the engine is losing power. Called for warranty service and was told that since it was 2 months over a year since my purchase, the mower has a two-year warranty, it could have been me that caused the grease to be removed and the engine problem could be poor maintenance.

This Sears Craftsman Riding Mower is the worst thing I have ever bought. It is the worst piece of engineering I have ever seen. It is the hardest most un-user friendly mower I have ever seen. It is the worst riding and worst driving mower I have ever seen. It is the most flimsy, feeble mower I have ever seen. It has the worst steering I have ever seen. It is the hardest thing on a back I have ever seen. You have to turn the key to a different position and mash a different petal just to get it to back up, then hard to get the key back in the correct to go forward, then it jumps and pops your back. The wheels will turn so far it pushes in a curve and will stall. There is no lock to keep the front wheels from locking to far over. I bought the extended warranty that says "covers normal wear and tear" to find it does not although the salesman said it did. I could go on and on but the best advice I could give you is TOO RUN AWAY!!

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.

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??

I love this third upgrade brand new Craftsman Pro Series 42" Auto 20 HP HP V-Twin Kohler riding mower... My complaint stands that Craftsman riding mowers are not reliable and made with bad craftsmanship. I remember Craftsman brand as tough made to last. It was the best. I received this upgraded mower 8/20/16. Cut my grass on 8/27/16 with 15 minutes smells something burning. I had read my owner manual, did my oil check, and even recheck brakes, recheck everything. Everything check out okay so I assumed it was a new engine smell. Got done cutting my yard but the smell is still coming from somewhere. This mower cost me more money than the last one because it should be a better model. So I continue my search for where it could be coming from.

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.

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!

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.

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.