San Antonio Lawn Care/Equipment Thread (Spring, Happy: for sale, Home Depot, buying)

[BroadStreet/PattisonAve]

Has everyone started their Spring yard cleaning yet? I managed to get through "Winter" by using my trimmer to keep my yard neat.

I'm looking at buying a new mower. Does anyone have any recommendations? I've researched and I'm aiming towards a Lawn Boy 10606. Does anyone here have this mower? I can only find this mower at Home Depot and Amazon.com for $329.00. I'm thinking that in the next couple of weeks all mowers may be on sale, so I'm contemplating whether I should hold off a bit.

Happy Spring everyone!

[ShaneSA]

Hold off if you can. A trimmer does a good job and is good exercise. I need a new mower also and am waiting for Lowe's to throw a sale.

[ItsTheTruth]

I would never buy any mower that isn't a Honda.

[TrapperL]

I'll agree with the Honda. I bought a new Honda HR214 back in 1986. It starts the first pull every time and uses very little gas. It runs extremely quiet and next to no maintenance required- change the oil every year and forget it. I have had to replace all of the wheels as they've worn out but it cuts like a new one. Once you get accustomed to the rear wheel drive and the blade clutch, it's hard to go back to a cheap mower. To get the same mower today you'd have to move up to the Honda HRC commercial rated mower and they're about $1250.00 retail list. It's like the commercial said years ago: "You can pay now or pay me later". Buy cheap and you'll be back buying another in a short time.

[huckster]

I bought a lawn mower from Sears last March. Well , I was looking at the dispaly models when an older sales clerk gave me a very good deal inadvertently.
What happened was after I selected one , he goes to the back, and returns , No. Don't have it yet, only the 2011 display unit is on hand until we get the rest of the units in. The very same thing happened after I had selected yet -two more floor display models for purchase. They did not have any in stock yet.
They had not recieved the shipment of units that could be sold , only one each of the on display mowers that were not for sale, just for looking at.
So I said, well then just go back there and then let me know what models you do have on hand that I could buy.
What a surprise... all he had in the back were "last years display models" that were, after speaking to a manager 1/2 off the original price. The only one he had left in stock was a great big one, 24 H.P. " We need to get rid of them."
"I'll take it." That is a lot of mower for the price I said. He agreed.
Hell, I bought a YTS 4000 Craftsman riding mower that, was, $2100.00 for $1150.00.
It was random luck, I was in the right place at the right time, maybe this could work for you too.

Originally Posted by BroadStreet/PattisonAve

Has everyone started their Spring yard cleaning yet? I managed to get through "Winter" by using my trimmer to keep my yard neat.

I'm looking at buying a new mower. Does anyone have any recommendations? I've researched and I'm aiming towards a Lawn Boy 10606. Does anyone here have this mower? I can only find this mower at Home Depot and Amazon.com for $329.00. I'm thinking that in the next couple of weeks all mowers may be on sale, so I'm contemplating whether I should hold off a bit.

Happy Spring everyone!

[pfil]

recently picked up the troy-bilt 21" (so far love it) but here's the question:
with st. augustine's , do i ?
1. weed and feed (scotts bonus s) first and then fertilize (also scotts)
2. fertilize and then weed and feed

after fertilizing, how soon can i let dog wander back yard freely ?

[TexasRedneck]

Generally speaking, the product bags will answer those questions. If not, they'll have an 800 number shown you can call to get the correct answer. Not going to try to answer here, because it can vary from one product line to another, and I don't want to tell you something that damages your yard OR your pet!!!

[lb1947]

TrapperL (or anyone else who knows): Would you shed a little light on how you got the wheels off of your Honda HR214 mower? I'm trying to replace the tires on my Honda HR214 self-propelled mower -- how hard could that be, right? After removing the old shredded tire from the right rear wheel (as you face the rear of the mower), soaking the new tire in hot water, soaping up the wheel and the new tire, and making 4 or 5 attempts to install the new tire (all the while trying to not lose my religion) I've come to the conclusion that there MUST be some trick to putting on new tires that I don't know. I'm at the point where I think I need to remove the rear wheel in order to get a new tire on it, but I can't even do that -- I put an adjustable crescent wrench on the hex head at both ends of the axle, but I can't get either one to loosen. Incidentally, the new tires I bought today are genuine Honda replacement tires that I purchased from a mower dealership so the difficulty I'm having isn't due to an incorrect tire size.

Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

[lb1947]

Well, I was finally able to get the rear tire mounted. After soaking the tire in near-boiling water, and that, too, not succeeding, I went primitive. Instead of using two screwdrivers as mounting tools, I moved up to using brute force with the hooked end of an 18" flat pry bar -- though probably not the most "elegant" method, I did get the tire on. Now all I have to do is mount the two new front tires, and I'll be done.

I would still be interested in hearing better methods if anyone knows any. Thanks.

[TrapperL]

WOW! Yer an ardent person. I would never attempt to replace just the rubber part. I bought the entire wheel assembly which means all I had to do was remove the center bolt in the wheel, pull it off, install the new wheel and cut grass. Frankly, I didn't know you could replace just the rubber.