walker owners

[bababooie]

do you guys have a problem with the suction tube diameter being too small and clumping up alot,the reason i ask is a fellow landscraper used to own a walker,but now owns the scag couger and says,he never has a clogging problem cause the dia. is much larger.i think he said 8or 10 inches in dia.

[Cleve]

Not a problem for reasons he gave you. If the tube were larger it would slow the air flow down and that might even make plugging more possible.
The only times my Walker has ever plugged the tube was my fault. If the fill sensor failes and you don't know it, the tube will obviously plug. About the only time other than that was when the screen at the top of the catcher plugged with fresh grass and the air flow was cut back so much that the tube plugged. Even then it tended to plug at the deck before the tube would fill. I now have the upgraded screen and that problem was solved.
By the way, that really is not a "suction" tube. Once the grass leaves the deck it goes through the blower assembly and is pushed up into the tube and into the catcher.
Cleve.

[Edited by Cleve on 03-25-2001 at 08:36 PM]

[OBRYANMAINT]

once in a while it clogs in wet and tall grass when mowing at full speed.........sometimes in deep leaves.....generally good....i will slow it down a bit in areas i know may clog it..........these are in situations that would build up heavy even under a walkbehind

[Fantasy Lawns]

she clogs when it's wet or the dumper is near full

[landscaper3]

It does clog in wet conditions or you over fill it. We owned 2 Scag Cougars and sold them both 1st one kept breaking gearboxes and spindles at 500hrs then the frame cracked at 650hrs. The 2nd broke 3 spindles and a frame crack in same spot. 5 other cougars in our area had all the same problems with frame cracks in same area plus spindle problems and no IT WAS NOT OPERATOR ERROR!!! Accourding to dealer they had problems and he said next year he was no longer carring Cougars to many returns!! as far as all our Walker mowers only problem was a starter on one of the walkers not bad for a total of 3 Walkers and 3000hrs of maintenance free mowers! Im not dissing Cougars only stating at least a dozen had the exact problems and were ALL returned to dealer.

[lawnboy82]

i have never used a walker. i have used a turf runner. pretty much the same machine as a walker (old version of the cougar) i loved that machine. did great on hills and did not scalp. soon i have to go buy 1 walker and most likely 1 tiger. i will never use anything other than scag or walker. however i had tried a cougar one day. put it in the back of my truck and took it to my demo place. took it off and started cutting. it scalped the lawn and those scalps were visable for over a month. it couldnt do dry hills that the turf runner could do when it was wet. the cougar i think the problem with it is the tires are too tall and not wide enough like they are on the walkers and runners. as for the decks, they are heavy and i feel that they do a real bad job. i have used a tiger though and love it. just for small areas it is not the way to go. i feel that a good rig would be a walk behind a walker and a tiger.

[captdevo]

It happens, but not very often. If it does it is operator error. They (Walker mfg.)are talking about going to a larger diameter blower wheel.

[gene gls]

My Walker is a 1996,rectangle drive shaft. It clogged very easy all the time.I made several modifications to the deck but it still clogged. I bought a new 48" GHS deck last year and its like night and day. This one will only clogg in tall wet grass. My dealer can't explain why there is such a differance because the deck parts are the same except for the drive shaft. To me there seems to be a big differance in blade tip speed, it sounds altogeather different. My dealer is glad I am finialy happy with the unit.

[SLSNursery]

We don't have many clogs usually, but did replace the blower at about 1600 hours. There was that one time when it sucked up 4 feet of 3/8" chain though.

On a related topic, anyone have an EFI machine? If so, how does it perform? I have the diesel model now, and am torn on what to get next. After reading about the Scag I might hold off on a Cougar (we have 4 Scags and only 1 Walker at this point).

[bababooie]

thanks for all the replies,you are right he didnt tell me how fast he was going.

[MOW ED]

I have the 26EFI and it has lots of power. I run a 42"deck with this motor and it sucks the worms out of the ground. I have had no trouble with plugging the tube. What used to happen to me (before I learned how to mow with it) was I tried to go too fast in wet grass and plugged the deck at the entrance to the blower. The only time the tube plugged is when I didn't believe the full hopper horn.

I would highly recommend the 26efi as the fuel economy is great and the thing starts on the second round EVERY time, cold or hot. Earlier posts on this forum talked about this motor having close to 30 hp and I would have to believe it. I have a speed-up kit on it and it makes it move. It does take a little practice because the steering response is much quicker with the kit.
I can't wait to get on it again.

[bababooie]

if you have to slow down for the tall wet grass,are you still saving time,compared to wbs in that certain situation. thanks for your informated reply on the engine size. one more question,how do you dispose of the grass clippings that you have to dump out?

[MOW ED]

I try not to get into the situation of tall wet grass. Tall grass is ok but wet and tall isn't. You are right the wb works for that and thats why I have a Toro Proline 44 side discharge hydro.
Grass clippings can still be disposed of for free in my cities compost site. Last year it was open 24hrs a day but now they have hired an attendant since idiots were dumping pallets, logs, garbage, oil and everything else that didn't belong. I still charge a premium for removing. Some of my customers have their own compost area that gets the clippings. Others I am trying to convert and its slowly working.
Good Luck.