# Consumer Reports --- Reliability/Problem Rating



## Chris (Sep 15, 2003)

I recently read the 2004 Consumer Reports LT/GT guide and I noticed where Craftsman was number one in routine repairs and reliability per # of units sold etc. (riding mower section) Noticed that Simplicity had nearly twice the % of repairs and Cub Cadet had even much more than that. Any ideas on this? Were there some CC or Simplicity models that were particularly troublesome?
I can tell you that I put my 96 Craftsman LT through hell (cutting pastures with extremely tall and tough grass on many acres plus 1 acre lawn care etc for years) and back and while it does show wear, it still works flawlessly in nearly all areas of operation. So, maybe I have been lucky. :lucky:

Andy


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## jodyand (Sep 16, 2003)

*I have never use CR*

They rank the cubs at the bottom all the time last year they was talking about one Cub LT and had a picture of another Cub LT. i have had my Cub 1525 for a whole cutting season and love it if i had to do all again would buy the same no mater what anyone says about it. The price was right and had more fetures then any LT in its price range.
Jody


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## Michael (Sep 16, 2003)

Consumer Reports takes surveys and tests and then publishes the results of the surveys. I do wonder sometimes as to the reliablity end because when I had my old Craftsman it was more broke then running. Then take my Murray(PLEASE TAKE MY MURRAY) it is a pos that ran on a spash lube engine for 18 years before it finally gave up the ghost. It had a lot small parts break but nothing serious and it was cheap to fix. I put a new engine in it and it still runs today. Its got the tiller and the plow and the blower.
This past March after another breakage with the Craftsman, I became so pi$$ed off with it I fixed it one more time and gave the tractor to my nephew and I went and bought a JD L-120 POS and it has taken 75 hours in the first year without a problem that would disable the tractor (a ribb nut broke on the hood and a bolt in the right hand spindle was sheared off from the factory) Service guy has it fixed in a day. 
The consumer affair info source I am leerly about is e-pinions.com because it only takes surveys and accepts advertising.


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## Chris (Sep 15, 2003)

I don't and never have placed a great deal of confidence nor judgement in Consumer Reports reporting structure --- but I am guessing they are getting the data from somewhere ---- who knows ------ I think it is all a crapshoot anyway 

Andy


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## Chipmaker (Sep 16, 2003)

*Hey Jodyand*

What are you doing in the image you have by your name. Unloading or loading up that JD? See you have the mower deck caught on those plank ends. Sort of reminds me when my older son asked to borrow my old JD 180 to cut grass at his girlfriends house one time when their tractor was tore up. I said sure, just be carefull with it. I had always parked the truck next to some cribbing I have a ramp built up against and them I only had about a 10 inch difference to makeup and a plank worked fine. But Nooooooooooooooo, that meant he would have had to move a couple of empty 55 gal drums from in front of that ramp to use it. He grabbed two planks I had there, and propped them up against the tailgate, and tried to drive up and in the pickups bed. The tractor hung up on the top of the plank edge, and spun the one plank out from under the tractors tire, and off it rolled. Final talley was a new carb, and manifold, hood and other assorted odds and ends. He knew better as he saw me load it and unload it and other stuff at my ramp numerous times. Luckily the only injury was to bruise his shoulder, and to be honest I should have bruised his backside.

Planks and pickups don't mix. My friend that I built the mower for his ATV was by today to try it and take it home. He routinely drives his large ATV up and down two short planks laid on his tailgate on a 3/4 pickup truck that sets way up there. I cringe each time he loads and unloads it, and usually just walk away until its either in the truck or on the ground. He just shruggs it off and says if you go fast enough, and don't pause or hesitate it is not gonna slip out on you........no thank you!


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## jodyand (Sep 16, 2003)

*Re: Hey Jodyand*



> _Originally posted by Chipmaker _
> *What are you doing in the image you have by your name. Unloading or loading up that JD? See you have the mower deck caught on those plank ends. *


I think he trying to load it looks like he pushing:smiles: Glad your son was not hurt to bad and sorry to hear all the damage to you tractor. Yea planks are not the best things to use but they are the cheapest until you drop it off and it hits the ground. Then it would have been cheaper to buy something that cost more and does a better job.
Jody


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## leolav (Sep 16, 2003)

I have a trailer now that is low to the ground. Drive on, drive off with no issues. It even has a dump mechanism that aids in loading/unloading.

Works slick on firewood.


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## Groo (Jan 17, 2020)

Most of these machines run the same engines and all of them run the same hydrostatic


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## fuddy1952 (Mar 6, 2021)

My Dad was Sears service manager years ago. Consumer Reports rated one model refrigerator as the best. 
It was so bad, Sears took it off the market.

Sent from my SM-S205DL using Tapatalk


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

Considering that this thread is 18 years old, I wonder what Consumer Reports would have to say about some of the junk on the market today. $2,500 at Lowes for a Toro Time-Cutter Z-turn with a Chinese Loncin engine would be an interesting read. I've seen 3 of them that have dropped valve seats since October. None of them had more than 150 hours, but they all were just out of the 3-year Toro warranty......


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## Groo (Jan 17, 2020)

It takes some serious R&D to get something that just barely outlasts the warranty like that.


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