Replacement for Hayter mower?

[JohnN]

Fantastic gardening weather today (Sat). Decided to mow the lawn and my 20 year old Hayter started 1st pull - good old Briggs & Stratton! But it's burning oil, so I may have to replace mower this year. I've heard Hayters are not as well made as they used to be, is this true? What would you good folk recommend - rear roller, 18-20in wide?
John N (Apologies if this should have gone on machinery page.)

[peter]

They're based just two miles away from me.
Not as good as they used to be, maybe.
Better than the competition, probably.

Have you considered an engine rebuild or replacement?

[Primrose]

Decided to mow the lawn and my 20 year old Hayter started 1st pull - good old Briggs & Stratton! But it's burning oil, so I may have to replace mower this year. I've heard Hayters are not as well made as they used to be, is this true? What would you good folk recommend - rear roller, 18-20in wide?
John N (Apologies if this should have gone on machinery page.)

We ordered a new Hayter mower this morning John as our 25 year Mountfield has become more trouble than it was worth and would never start, either on the pull chord or key start. Surprised to see it had no pull chord and a push button start rather than a key. Not having bought a mower for a very long time I was truly shocked at how much a good quality mower costs these days. I was pleased to read your Hayter started 1st pull thought. That is my main requirement from a motor mower these days as ai get older !

Not sure about whether they are less well made these days. I'm not a mower expert but I guess all consumer goods are "re-engineered" within an inch of their lives these days so you will probably note differences between new models and your old faithful. We settled for 16" wide model. The next size up felt very heavy and would have been difficult to manoeuvre getting in and out of its storage area at right angles.

[robo]

JohnNy,you might get away with replacing the oil scraper ring ,you can pick a Briggs and Stratton engine up on eBay for a reasonable price what size engine is it

[Ricard with an H]

I replaced two perfectly good mowers last year after doing some research and identifying that the problems I had were me rather than those mowers, they were far too heavy and the modern mowers I chose were half the weight but lots of money.

I need to be able to pick up and I need to mulch, I'm advised that combination mowers don't do either very well so once again I bought two and it was the same money.

Ok, I could have bought a cheaper mower but like you Primrose I have my priorities. Cutting grass has to be easy start and easy everything else. Messing about changing blades and etc if I chose a combination mower wouldn't get done. I like my grass to get cut quickly but I don't enjoy it, I have so much grass my neighbors think cutting grass is a hobby for me.

I'm a very practical and persnickety bloke, I can't fault these machines. Plastic carburetors are new to me but the only problems I ever had with machines was the carburetor and mostly it was to do with fuel. All my machines now run on either Alkylate or unleaded with B&S stabilizer.

[JohnN]

Thanks for your comments. I don't think spending a lot of money on an old mower would be wise, and our local mower engineer, who overhauled it 4 years ago, has closed down. I've heard Honda's are good, they certainly make good cars, so any views on their mowers? - price is not too much of a problem.

[tigerburnie]

I used to work for a horticultural company back in the early 1980's in Leicester, a lot of our customers used to replace the engines on these quality mowers, Honda made good little engines.

[Ricard with an H]

Honda is about the engine, they make cheaper mowers but it is about the engine and I had a Honda for many years without any problems though because we don't have a Honda dealership I ended up buying Viking which is Andreas Stihl of Germany.

For the same quality I paid the same price, one machine has a polymer (Or something) deck, the other an aluminium-alloy deck. Steel decks are much cheaper and it's mostly about the engine and spares availability.

Having said that, some years ago I invested in three Kawasaki machine because they were the undisputed brush cutter champions but they aren't made any longer and spares are either very expensive or difficult and whilst we did have a dealer we don't have one now or anyone interested in locating spares. Direct from China has been the best option for Carbs.

I now have two different engines, Kohler and B&S on Viking machines. To be honest the Kohler sounds like a turbine compared to the B&S chugger but they are both excellent engineering.

I'll include photos, the mulched is a 21 inch cut with a Kohler 2.2 kw engine. The pickup which has a very useful handle arrangement is an 18 cut with a B&S £ kw engine, . The weight of each of these machines is close to half the weight of my previous machine. One was a Harry, the other was a Swedish machine with a Honda engine called Klippo.

Close to £900 for this pair, RRP was close to £1000.

[richard p]

about the only difference between mower makes is the deck and the handles , everything else is bought in .

engines are either briggs and stratton , tecumseh or honda.... or a chinese copy on the diy shed machines

youll even see the same decks with different names on.

plastic decks are light and dont rust , but hit something with the blade and the engine mountings will crack off the deck.
allyminium doesnt rust but is expensive, steel decks last a long time if the paint was put on properly, rust quickly if the paint job was poor.

ride on mower brands are a joke... hayter just buy in with green paint on... used to be lawnflite or countax

honda ride ons were made by castel in italy....same mowers sold as castel with a briggs engine as a budget brand... or honda with a honda engine and premium price.

[Ricard with an H]

I bought my Westwood ride second hand just after Countax had bought the name, fortunately it was the old Westwood build. All steel, no plastic, and it's still in good condition. I binned all the pickup paraphernalia, it was a rotating brush that swept the grass and threw it into a collecting basket, lovely for a golf course but I don't want all that grass to get rid of so I leave it to rot though it rots in straight lines and clumps. Since I used a mulches I now wish for a ride on mulches but the cost for a decent machine is far more than I can afford. All the "Also ran" machines are a joke as Richard says, there is no longer any heritage. The once proud Hayter name is just a collection of parts with a different paint job. I had a Hayter with roller on the back when I lived in suburbia, a quality machine with a B&S engine that traded in for nothing when I had to buy bigger and more machines.

The mulching deck on this Viking mower works very well, even though they seem to have re-engineered the blade last year the original blade does work well by re-lifting the grasses in cutting them into ever smaller bits though you do have to cut before the grass gets long and whilst it's dry for a good result. Problem with mulching is I walk the cuttings into the house.

Please god, can I have a good quality ride on mulcher for my Autumn years. I'll continue to be a good boy, care for my neighbors cat and not tell neighbors to F-Off when they irritate me.

[Geoff]

I have a Hayter ride-on purchased in 2006 that is a re-badged American machine. Good B&S engine and steel deck that I scrape and wire brush every year and paint with red oxide (I was given a hoist and slings for the garage which makes this fairly easy). It picks up all the grass that I either add to the compost heap, mulch my Christmas tree patch or just stack in a corner then eventually spread under some shrubs. It has loads of design faults; the pick up bag hangs on an angled plate so you are bound to spill grass as you empty it, all the controls for speed, cut height, etc. stick out so going close to trees is tricky. It is not keen on wet grass but luckily it rarely rains here. By picking all the grass up I have weakened it to the point that some areas I manage to leave to every three weeks though that nearest the house is done weekly, doesn't look that brilliant but suits us.

[Ricard with an H]

Its not keen on wet grass but luckily it rarely rains here

What ?

I'm cutting the paddock every four days to a week during summer, if if I leave it I just end up with extra clumps that take ages to rot away.

I tried picking up, I spent so much time conveying and dumping that it took four times as long though did look a lot tidier. A neighbor often remarks, " Why is your grass always so green".

I love being surrounded by grass though it is hard work keeping it tidy, local council do the same as I do on roadsides to save costs.

If I drive my ride on backwards it cuts like a mulching machine, that got me thinking but the solution was very complicated.

[tigerburnie]

I gave my old Suffolk punch away, I'm turning most of the grass over to fruit and veg production so a hover really is a lot less bovver lol.

[Geoff]

Sorry about the irony, wet again today after a nice day yesterday. It's easier now I'm retired as I usually find it dry enough sometime before it gets away from me. The part near the house I try and do every Friday and because it is kept short I rarely miss.
About to start mower service.

[Ricard with an H]

About to start mower service.

Really ? Mine needs it before I cut next but I keep procrastinating. I drop the deck and slide it out, then the reverse procedure to put it back. Its a rainy day job but I'm still doing decorating and other repairs.

I need a devise to tip it over enough so I can replace the main gearbox/drive belt. Lifting on a hoist isn't an option because my ceiling hight is low. How do you do it Geoff ?

The machine I have is a Westwood T1400. Its a petrol twin with a B&S engine, its so old that Westwood no longer, if ever, make a mulching deck. If they did it would be somewhere between £700 and £900. To much money to spend. A new machine of this quality would be close to £4000.