toro personal Pace verses lawn boy

[Warren Lake]

Ive had a personal pace for 5 years and its pretty rough now. Had lots break on the Toro, last the pull cord and while ordered weeks ago has not surfaced. yesterday borrowed what I thought would be a John Deere, its green but turns out its a Lawn Boy. 15 years old has its own version of personal pace, Worked great and several things better than the Toro. If thats 15 years old and the Toro was five years old ill have to look at the lawn boys before id do another Toro. It didnt stand up to me.

[Nathan Johnson]

Was yours a Recycler or a Super Recycler? The latter has some beefed up components.

[Warren Lake]

thanks Nathan will have to check that. Had this in the computer will check this afternoon what name is on it

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[Nathan Johnson]

I think that's the Super Recycler with the Honda engine. Huh.
Have all your issues been engine related?

I'm on my second Super Recycler. First one had a Briggs and was over 15 years old. Finally did a head gasket and sold it. Now on my second and this has the Chinese Toro engine and no issues to date.

[Warren Lake]

honda motor no issues really. First week one clip side air filter broke off then broke other stuff over the years. No personal pace for last years and its harder to push than if it was not there, pull cord handle broke as it was plastic, put one on from a 25 year old mower rubber worked great never failed just stuff like that., doesnt hold its height setting if around bushes knocks off easy plus lots more I dont remember at the moment, Last thing the pull cord. Lawn boy just better thought out. Will wait till the pull cord arrives. Might take it apart to look into the personal pace if not need to disconnect all of it so its just a regular mower, right now using it is like doing squats.

Bag is not easy to put on and off and doesnt empty well as designed , lawn boy better both ways there and and.

[Bob Coates]

If the toro personal pace allows you to control the speed of mowing, check the drive belt. Here is what I found on mine.
I have a Honda mower that I have done no maintenance to other than oil change and blade sharping. I guess it is at least 10 years old. Any how I had the same problem that the drive would not longer move the mower. Belt looked fine, no tears etc. Took the belt off and went to one shop, sales said looks like old belt was ok and probably the differecnal and not worth replacing. He suggest the just use by taking the gears out of the drive wheels. Need the jolly green giant to push that through the grass.
Took belt to another dealer, said they did not have the belt Butt it may be stretched. hello. So I went back to first dealer and bought the belt about $6. Got home and walked the old belt around the new belt, I estimated a 1 inch difference.
Works like new.
Bob

[Brian Elfert]

I can't imagine a Toro only lasting five years. Toro bought Lawn Boy back in 1989. Any Lawn Boy that is 15 years old is just a Toro with green paint basically. I didn't even know Toro is still selling Lawn Boy mowers, but apparently they are still making them. Menards is the only Lawn Boy dealer locally.

I highly recommend a Honda mower for new. I had one until I moved to acreage and went to a riding mower.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Back in 1975, I hit a piece of 3/4" rebar that was pounded into the ground to keep a hose from dragging across my garden with my Lawn Boy - back when they used a two stroke engine.
It went through that rebar like it was nothing & never even slowed down.

About six years ago we bought a new lawn boy - with the past performance of the old one in mind.
It didn't even last a month.

No problem right - it's under warranty..

Lots a luck there.....finding a warrant center that will take it is next to impossible.

If you do decide to go lawn boy, check out the nearest warranty center that will accept it.

[Brian Tymchak]

Lots a luck there.....finding a warrant center that will take it is next to impossible.

If you do decide to go lawn boy, check out the nearest warranty center that will accept it.

Rich, since Toro owns Lawn Boy (based on Brian's post) Buckeye Power Sales offers Toro residential mowers. BPS has stores in Dayton, Columbus, and elsewhere. Link (https://buckeyepowersales.com/locations/). Maybe they can help you. They have been very good supporting the Lawn Boy and snow blower I've bought here in Columbus.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Brian - thanks - but - it''s long gone now.
It had some sort of problem that was well known. It would start and run for a few seconds, then quit.
There was a part in it that had to be replaced. My wife had our son pick it up to work on it - that was about 6 years ago.
After he picked it up and had ot for a couple years, it grew legs and walked off.

[Warren Lake]

brian I use my stuff hard not abused but its used plus long ditch side of the home. The lawn boy is better no question and guy told me it was 15 years old. Not rushing out to buy one just yet but in the past would have been Toro not so sure now. I could list all the stuff that broke if I spent some time with it. Dont have time now. Going to get a new pull cord and start there. Then will keep it as a back up when I get something new.

[Brian Elfert]

brian I use my stuff hard not abused but its used plus long ditch side of the home. The lawn boy is better no question and guy told me it was 15 years old. Not rushing out to buy one just yet but in the past would have been Toro not so sure now. I could list all the stuff that broke if I spent some time with it. Dont have time now. Going to get a new pull cord and start there. Then will keep it as a back up when I get something new.

I don't understand how a 15 year old Lawn Boy mower would be so much better than Toro since a 15 year old Lawn Boy is just a Toro mower painted green? Today, Lawn Boy seems to be a brand sold only at Menards, at least here in Minnesota.

It could certainly be that a 15 year old Toro would be better than a five year old Toro.

[Warren Lake]

it would take me some thought and looking at it but at my desk from my ancient memory Its lighter, the wheels are wider and front are round so they cover the ground better. I had one mower years ago that i put air wheels on, if you try that you will be amazed how much better it is to use over the stock plastic rinky dink wheels on a mower.

Handle height is higher so more comfortable.

The bag goes on and off easier its not a struggle then its made so it is wide and when you empty it it empties better.

It doesnt have a pull handle made of plastic that broke.

The wheels are easier to adjust and they hold the settings. ive had endless times on the toro its gone off the notch its set on, so much so that on either that one or one other I drilled and tapped 10/32 holds and put screws in to keep them set on what they were set on.

I liked the Toro personal pace, I burned it out, this guys 15 year old mower works fine, it seemed to hesitate a bit but then would take off. If the mower was in front of me id find more. Last thing to break was the pull cord, no big deal sure that happens in time on all of them. Its not left outside and sits in a portable shed. Ive broken a wheel as well dont remember it all other plastic stuff has broken the thing that trails the mower few times I pulled the mower back it went under and hit the blade.

Got a pull cord today and he is out of stock of all Toro stuff said they are not shipping or back log or something.

[Kev Williams]

I have a 4 year old all-wheel drive Toro personal pace recycler mower. I also have night crawlers which means a bumpy as hell lawn, and the AWD works great on it. I notice the newer ones don't have the blue 'accelerator' handle mine does- it's just a stationary handle you grab with your hand, it simply allows you to push the go-bar harder if you want to go faster, or just make it go when you're in a tight 180 turn and can't get behind the mower all the way, just squeeze and go. Front and rear wheel 'go' bias is totally adjustable, and the same cables adjust the push=speed factor. And it cuts good :)

I love the thing...

[Warren Lake]

kev what is the model number on it, dealer out of stock anyway but id look at it if here are you tubes. Im still going to repair mine and try and get it to personal pace again or at least disconnect it all so its not three times as hard as a normal mower to push. Yours is four wheel drive mine was two, Now its -2.

If i cant get it working ill put air wheels on it, they cut resistance in half and are great on bumpy lawns as well. Wish the makers would get it, I know more grief but its way better.

[Dave Lehnert]

I have a 2005 Toro Z400 ZTR and it has been a very good mower. Just had some work done on it thinking I would sell it and get something new. The service Tech talked me out of it saying the mower has a ton of life in it.
The only thing I will add is I kinda been looking for a 21" self propelled rear bag mow. Noticed that store stock is getting low. know that dealers are saying they cant get anymore mowers for the year or very limited stock. I'm going to hold off till maybe next year.

[Kev Williams]

I've no idea how the drives work, never looked under the hood! ;)

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[Brian Elfert]

I talked to dealers who said they are still waiting for zero turn mowers they ordered last fall. They are not supposed to get them until around the end of June. They are concerned that they will end up warehousing most of them over the winter as the peak mower buying season is over in Minnesota by end of June. By July everyone who just wanted a new mower already has a new one for the most part. Many of those who have an ailing mower will try to limp them through the rest of the season and get a new one the next spring. Peak mowing season is over by September 1st or earlier. After September 1st most lawns only need mowing every 10 to 14 days.

[Tom M King]

If cleaning up the cut grass with a bagging mower is important, we bought a Snapper, to cut the dog yards with. It's like a vacuum cleaner went over the yards.

The self-propelled operation is not the easiest, but that was not the important thing for us. It's pretty easy to get used to, but there is a separate lever for ground speed.

We also got the electric start version, which I thought was kind of silly, to start with, but after having it, I feel like it's worth having.

The bag is really easy to empty, and get on, and off.

We've had a couple of other brands over the years, but we always had to blow the dog yards out after cutting with them. With this Snapper, no blower is needed.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Peak mowing season is over by September 1st or earlier. After September 1st most lawns only need mowing every 10 to 14 days.Here in NE Ohio, the peak season is usually over by this time.
Usually we get real thick heavy growth from April until the first part of June, then when the heat of summer sets in, the grass more or less goes dormant (except for the people that water & want lush green grass).

The last few years have been different though.