Well the mowers are put to bed for the season, so I thought I'd put out a little more info on my spring time purchase which now has 41 hours on it.
Still feel good about the purchase. It mows (finishes) pretty nicely, though it's probably not golf course fine - it is more than good enough for me. The deck doesn't collect nearly as much grass under it as my Snapper garden tractor (thankfully). The deck bearings are greaseable, but for some reason the zerks are on the bottom side (like my snapper GT). Not a huge fan of that but since I don't pile on the hours, I guess it's not that big of a deal.
The seat is still nice and comfortable and have no issues with sitting in it for 2 hours while I mow. It's got enough adjustment for my 6' frame and my 5'6" wife to use, with potential adjustment for a taller person too. The controls are nicely adjustable to personal preference and have enough range of motion for finesse (wife didn't quite get the finesse part and found out how abruptly it can actually change direction
). Maybe would be happier with a cloth seat instead of pleather/vinyl since I like to mow without a shirt. I have to drape a shirt or towel over it so I don't stick to it - which then you have to be careful that it doesn't get drawn over the fan shroud air inlet.
The panel with the key switch, parking brake, choke, throttle, blade switch and hour meter is a little too far back for my liking - I have to reach backwards a bit and it's not intuitive to me, but I suppose that's minor complaint for a homeowner. Maybe I'd have a different opinion if it were a commercial use machine.
The front end is bolted on and has a creak at times - an annoying sound, but I guess I haven't been bothered to hunt it down yet.
So far the 2800 hydros have been good, but I honestly don't expect them to give any problems for several hundred hours. I should probably change the oil and filters in them next spring some time.
And lastly the engine - the thing is still a beast! With 25hp on a 48" deck there is never a shortage of power! It starts consistently (the same amount of cranking time) and easily and seems to be easy on gas. It doesn't seem to care if I use E0 or E10 - I use the 2 interchangeably. It runs rock solid, consistent RPM with no pops, farts or sputters. Just a never ending 3600rpm exhaust note. Oil consumption has gone down from minimal to next to nothing. I use Napa 15w50 or the Briggs Vanguard 15w50 - it holds 2 quarts. Every now and then it'll poof out a bit of blue smoke on start up, which is an annoyance but doesn't seem to indicate any issues - the Kohler command 17.5 in my deere has always done the same and it never uses a drop of oil with 670 hours on it. The cyclonic or whatever they call it air filtration seems to work well as the filter wasn't loaded with debris in spite of the dry dusty season we were dealt.
I haven't ever really been a Briggs fan, but this thing makes me happy and I look forward to next season!
Still feel good about the purchase. It mows (finishes) pretty nicely, though it's probably not golf course fine - it is more than good enough for me. The deck doesn't collect nearly as much grass under it as my Snapper garden tractor (thankfully). The deck bearings are greaseable, but for some reason the zerks are on the bottom side (like my snapper GT). Not a huge fan of that but since I don't pile on the hours, I guess it's not that big of a deal.
The seat is still nice and comfortable and have no issues with sitting in it for 2 hours while I mow. It's got enough adjustment for my 6' frame and my 5'6" wife to use, with potential adjustment for a taller person too. The controls are nicely adjustable to personal preference and have enough range of motion for finesse (wife didn't quite get the finesse part and found out how abruptly it can actually change direction
). Maybe would be happier with a cloth seat instead of pleather/vinyl since I like to mow without a shirt. I have to drape a shirt or towel over it so I don't stick to it - which then you have to be careful that it doesn't get drawn over the fan shroud air inlet. The panel with the key switch, parking brake, choke, throttle, blade switch and hour meter is a little too far back for my liking - I have to reach backwards a bit and it's not intuitive to me, but I suppose that's minor complaint for a homeowner. Maybe I'd have a different opinion if it were a commercial use machine.
The front end is bolted on and has a creak at times - an annoying sound, but I guess I haven't been bothered to hunt it down yet.
So far the 2800 hydros have been good, but I honestly don't expect them to give any problems for several hundred hours. I should probably change the oil and filters in them next spring some time.
And lastly the engine - the thing is still a beast! With 25hp on a 48" deck there is never a shortage of power! It starts consistently (the same amount of cranking time) and easily and seems to be easy on gas. It doesn't seem to care if I use E0 or E10 - I use the 2 interchangeably. It runs rock solid, consistent RPM with no pops, farts or sputters. Just a never ending 3600rpm exhaust note. Oil consumption has gone down from minimal to next to nothing. I use Napa 15w50 or the Briggs Vanguard 15w50 - it holds 2 quarts. Every now and then it'll poof out a bit of blue smoke on start up, which is an annoyance but doesn't seem to indicate any issues - the Kohler command 17.5 in my deere has always done the same and it never uses a drop of oil with 670 hours on it. The cyclonic or whatever they call it air filtration seems to work well as the filter wasn't loaded with debris in spite of the dry dusty season we were dealt.
I haven't ever really been a Briggs fan, but this thing makes me happy and I look forward to next season!
