Lawnmower..front vs. rear drive

Posted by NickySantoro on April 23, 2006, 10:19 am

I have to get a new mower soon and have been seeing a lot of rear
drive types advertised. Are there any significant advantages or
disadvantages to the rear drive as opposed to the front drive I am
used to?

Posted by Sacramento Dave on April 23, 2006, 11:56 am

>I have to get a new mower soon and have been seeing a lot of rear
> drive types advertised. Are there any significant advantages or
> disadvantages to the rear drive as opposed to the front drive I am
> used to?

I bought a troy built about a 2 years ago Front wheel drive before I
had a snapper rear wheel drive. They both do the job I see no real
dereference in drive systems. As for lawn mowing they cut the grass but seem
weak on sucking up the cuttings, The troy built IMO is a little better, but
I would not buy ether brand again ( neither of them were cheap) next time I
will buy a cheap piece of crap so when I toss I won't care kinda like the
VCR theory.

Posted by Stan on April 23, 2006, 1:24 pm

>>I have to get a new mower soon and have been seeing a lot of rear
>> drive types advertised. Are there any significant advantages or
>> disadvantages to the rear drive as opposed to the front drive I am
>> used to?

> I bought a troy built about a 2 years ago Front wheel drive before
> I had a snapper rear wheel drive. They both do the job I see no real
> dereference in drive systems. As for lawn mowing they cut the grass but
> seem weak on sucking up the cuttings, The troy built IMO is a little
> better, but I would not buy ether brand again ( neither of them were
> cheap) next time I will buy a cheap piece of crap so when I toss I won't
> care kinda like the VCR theory.

Gosh! For anything less than say an acre of grass is it not better (and
healthier) just to use a regular, $120/$160 4 stroke 3.5 to 5 HP walking
type mower? If you insist on collecting the clippings a 'bagger type'
probably works fine for few extra bucks. I can't quite hang up our gasoline
mower, as my neighbour does with his electric. He only has a total of about
4000 to 5000 sq. feet. And occasionally he will do part of our backyard, I
returning the favour on occasion with the gas mower. Gas mower doesn't take
much space to store wintertime in the shed. Most of them you can detach
(unclip) the handle if you want to.
Front yard approx, 160 x 50 = 8,000 plus back yard (at max) 80 x 60 = say
5,000. Total 13,000 sq feet. Takes a couple of hours with tea-breaks for
this slightly wobbly knee-ed pensioner. But thank goodness grass grows
slowly in this cool climate!

Posted by Joseph Meehan on April 23, 2006, 1:27 pm

NickySantoro wrote:

In general the rear drive provides better power but the front drive
provides better control. With a front drive you can push down on the handles
lifting the wheels and you now have a steerable manual mower.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

Posted by Kevin Ricks on April 23, 2006, 3:43 pm

I have a early 80's Toro with rear drive. I don't know about newer mowers
with rear drive, but with this one the rear tires don't rotate backwards.
They really do but not easily. This makes it hard to drag the mower out of
my shed.
For the same reason when mowing and doing a 180 deg. turn on my driveway the
inside wheel does not turn so it just grinds on the pavement leaving little
skid marks at each pivot turn. Note, I am disengaging the drive as I make
the turns.
When I got the Toro from my BIL, the rear tires were well worn, I replaced
them a couple of years ago ($20 each). They still look OK but I am sure they
ware out much faster than the front tires on a FWD mower.

Kevin

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