Exmark 26 bag problem no dealer waranty?

[sildoc]

I purchased an 26" exmark mower this spring in april. I use it 2 days a week averaging 5-6 hrs of use a week max. I am having it rip where the two metal pieces in the middle come together and in the corners. this is after maybe a total of 150 hrs max. I took it to my dealer and he said that it is normal wear and tear. I understand normal wear and tear but not on a new mower. I have a residential lawn boy that has well over 500 hrs on it and bag is better off than this bag. I also had a honda commercial mower that had well over 1500 hrs on it and never had to replace the bag. I can make a couple of suggestions. 1. warranty these bags for a reasonable amount of use. and 2. add extra material to the corners and stress parts of the bag.
This is upsetting more on the part that I can not get an accelerator bagger yet for this mower and do not want to shell out 100 bucks twice a year for a new bag. Please respond with a solution.
Thank you.

[eXmark]

sildoc,

Can you be more specific as to where the ripping is occuring? We have heard of some bags ripping where the spring for the rear height adjuster contacts the left side of the bag, but haven't heard of the bags wearing out.

I'm not saying what your dealer said was right or wrong, but since 26s don't have hour meters on them it is hard for us to determine how many hours the bag has been used. Therefore, it is the dealers call to determine if the bag should be covered under warranty.

Are you using your 26 in wet conditions? From my experience in Oregon, most landscapers are bagging lush, wet grass. Compound that w/ a much larger capacity bag than a Lawnboy or Honda, and it's undoubtedly going to wear much quicker because of the weight of the grass.

All that being said, It would be great if you could post pictures of the bag. I'm also going to pass your information on to a couple people here at the factory and get their opinion.

Thanks,
Casey

[sildoc]

I will post pics when I get it back from my dealer. He is doing some other minor warranty work. Hopefully it will be by friday.

[sildoc]

Casey,
Here are some pics of my bag. Like I said this is from mid April till the end of September. That is less than 6 months. I will show you where there is a design flaw and a place the bag will rip regardless how much the grass weighs. several pictures to follow.

First picture is where the major rip is at and the design flaw. the lower loop is welded to the upper loop on the outside, providing a sharp edge to eventually tear the bag.
second picture is of one corner, the other looks the same, here there should be some sort of reinforcement. The corners take a major brunt of the weight and these are the same thickness of bag material as the rest.


If you have any questions you can call me at 541-951-3636 or pm me and I will try to get you what you need.

My dealer has also submitted a review via email to whomever.

There are other discrepancies that are minor yet very important to a overall good product. I am sure you know about them but, if you would like my input I would be happy to discuss in another form other than this forum.

Thanks,
Andrew
Crater Landscape Mangement

[sildoc]

To the Top!

[cgaengineer]

Nevermind, I will PM OP.

[sildoc]

In front of your face again!

[Andrew's Lawn Maintenance]

I have a lazer z hp with 180 hrs on it, that has the same problems, although my whole bager is all worn out. Exmark won't do anything and I am very dissatisfied with their service. Awsome mowers, great baging system idea, but awfull quality on the bager.

[Gruneich Lawn Care, Inc.]

Looks like its just been used alot, I would be carefull about throwing the bagger on concrete, after you empty it. I see alot of guys around here doing that, that could wear through pretty fast if you do that alot...

[sildoc]

Looks like its just been used alot, I would be carefull about throwing the bagger on concrete, after you empty it. I see alot of guys around here doing that, that could wear through pretty fast if you do that alot...

Never threw it on concrete. The rest of the bag looks new compared to those stress areas. right where it rubs in the corners and right where it rubs on that piece of metal.

[sildoc]

Looks like its just been used alot, I would be carefull about throwing the bagger on concrete, after you empty it. I see alot of guys around here doing that, that could wear through pretty fast if you do that alot...

What do you consider a lot? I consider a lot well over a year used every day for 5 hrs a day. (face it no one uses a mower straight unless you are mowing acreage and you don't mow acreage with these mowers). this is used 3 days a week maybe 2-3 hrs a day max as we have 4 other mowers on the rig that get used in a 10 hr day. so 6x4=24 weeks x 2 days max =48 x 3 hrs max = 144 maximum and this was a problem way before 6 months just couldn't due with out the mower till now. Lets just add a few extra jobs on top of it and we are still under 200 hrs and that is mostly during the dry time not wet lush grass that weights a lot.
I had a honda hrc 216 for 5 years before and sold it with the same bag it came with, well over 2000 hrs. I have 2 lawn boy home owner models that are 3 years old and still the same bag and well over 500+ hrs more like 1000+ hrs. No holes in those. Yeah bigger bag but you need to compensate for larger bags. They want well over 60 bucks. No way not 2 x a year am I paying that much.

[Gruneich Lawn Care, Inc.]

That sure doesnt seem like alot of use, Im curious as if Exmark might have switched to a cheaper bag material in the last year or so, I have heard of a couple other commercail guys complaining about bags around here also...

[Andrew's Lawn Maintenance]

I was wondering the same thing!!! Are they cutting corners to save money???

[shane mapes]

i have a metro 26 i bought last year and the bag is fine . i use it about 15-18 hours a week , all year long . we don't stop mowing in the winter. no snow here and it doesn't get below 35 that often. also i keep this mower in an outside storage over the winter. but i noticed my bag is a heavy black bag , not like the one you have ... only thing i had was the handle break completely off down by the bolts. thats it

[sildoc]

i have a metro 26 i bought last year and the bag is fine . i use it about 15-18 hours a week , all year long . we don't stop mowing in the winter. no snow here and it doesn't get below 35 that often. also i keep this mower in an outside storage over the winter. but i noticed my bag is a heavy black bag , not like the one you have ... only thing i had was the handle break completely off down by the bolts. thats it

Thats interesting. the bag is black, well faded gray now, but is fairly thin. I would think they would buff up the corners at least.

[sildoc]

Alright Talked to my dealer and he is still awaiting a response from you all at exmark. I am still awaiting a response here. How long does it take for some one to look at this and say, hey, there is a design flaw here, lets fix it.

[AdvoCare15]

This is kind've irritating. I'm an exmark dealer for the walk behinds. My demo unit that has maybe 40 hrs on it is tearing at the rear height adjustment bar and wearing thin in the same areas. And the stinky part is, exmark only has a 90 day warranty on bags. I'm beginning to wonder if I made a right choice picking them up. They are a good unit overall but the bags are a HUGE disappointment. I wish I had an answer for you, other than I know exactly what you are talking about. Exmark needs to step up the customer service. There IS competition out there.

[eXmark]

Alright Talked to my dealer and he is still awaiting a response from you all at exmark. I am still awaiting a response here. How long does it take for some one to look at this and say, hey, there is a design flaw here, lets fix it.

PM me your contact information (name, phone number, email). I would like for you to explain your issues to one of our engineers, if you would be willing. If we do in fact have an issue, your input may go a long way into helping us solve it.

Thanks,
Casey

[newz7151]

This is kind've irritating. I'm an exmark dealer for the walk behinds. My demo unit that has maybe 40 hrs on it is tearing at the rear height adjustment bar and wearing thin in the same areas. And the stinky part is, exmark only has a 90 day warranty on bags. I'm beginning to wonder if I made a right choice picking them up. They are a good unit overall but the bags are a HUGE disappointment. I wish I had an answer for you, other than I know exactly what you are talking about. Exmark needs to step up the customer service. There IS competition out there.

Read PA020107

[eXmark]

This is kind've irritating. I'm an exmark dealer for the walk behinds. My demo unit that has maybe 40 hrs on it is tearing at the rear height adjustment bar and wearing thin in the same areas. And the stinky part is, exmark only has a 90 day warranty on bags. I'm beginning to wonder if I made a right choice picking them up. They are a good unit overall but the bags are a HUGE disappointment. I wish I had an answer for you, other than I know exactly what you are talking about. Exmark needs to step up the customer service. There IS competition out there.

AdvoCare15,

Who is your distributor, and have you talked w/ them about your issue?

Bags are wear items, not unlike brakes on a car. This is why there is only a 90 day warranty on the bag.

Also, as I stated in the #2 post, we have had some issues w/ the height adjustment spring tearing the left side of the bag. This sounds like what you're experiencing. We have since moved that spring to the back side of the angle iron bracket. Now the end of the spring points backward (toward the operators feet), instead of to the right (toward the left side of the bag).

Casey

[AdvoCare15]

I should have been more clear. My apologies. What I was meaning was, that if he is getting the jerk around, Exmark needs to step it up. Although, I understand it is a wear item, the quality should be meeting the demand - not abuse, but demand that it can go through, at least for one season. I don't find it unreasonable for a customer to have to buy 1 bag a year if their using it a lot (30 hrs/wk or so). My distributor is Lucky, but I haven't seen a sales rep since Tom T. reitired in about May. The only thing I'm getting at is I think that Exmark can do better at any rate on satisfying the customer. It makes life easier on the customer and most certainly the dealer. To be honest with you I haven't talked with Lucky about the bagger yet because I have been expecting my (apparently non-exsisting) sales rep to show up here. I will say again, the 26" Metro is a good unit, it's just still got a few bugs to work out. I don't know how many belts I've replaced on one of the units I've sold and they are not hammering the blade into engagement. I do have a couple of the "prototype" belts now, and that, so far, seems to be working. But the bag situation is disappointing. As a matter of fact, I'm going to call Lucky right now and talk to them. I'll keep you posted. Also, don't get me wrong, I'll sell this 26" to anyone, but I will be worrying a bit about the belt and bag but nothing else on it.

[AdvoCare15]

Things make a little more sense. I just got off of the phone with Lucky. Evidently there are updates that should have been sent out to all dealers and some how I haven't been getting them. They are getting the ball rolling on this situation and I think things are probably going to start rolling better. I will say after talking with them that it is nice to know that Exmark is, I repeat, IS stepping up and at least producing updates to try and stop these problems. So, yes, I do feel like I still have about half of my foot in my mouth. :) It sounds like Exmark really learned a hard lesson on doing more testing first though. But, the nice thing is, this probably is likely to NOT happen again.

Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack the thread.

[sildoc]

AdvoCare15,

Who is your distributor, and have you talked w/ them about your issue?

Bags are wear items, not unlike brakes on a car. This is why there is only a 90 day warranty on the bag.

Also, as I stated in the #2 post, we have had some issues w/ the height adjustment spring tearing the left side of the bag. This sounds like what you're experiencing. We have since moved that spring to the back side of the angle iron bracket. Now the end of the spring points backward (toward the operators feet), instead of to the right (toward the left side of the bag).

Casey

This is true but the bag when half full or better still rubs on that bracket. I have a spot on the bag that isn't all the way through but has thinned it out from this bracket.

[sildoc]

Just received a call from my dealer. Exmark warranted the bag. I am still willing to help with any details of the machine from the consumer stand point.
thanks again.

[tallimeca]

Things make a little more sense. I just got off of the phone with Lucky. Evidently there are updates that should have been sent out to all dealers and some how I haven't been getting them. They are getting the ball rolling on this situation and I think things are probably going to start rolling better. I will say after talking with them that it is nice to know that Exmark is, I repeat, IS stepping up and at least producing updates to try and stop these problems. So, yes, I do feel like I still have about half of my foot in my mouth. :) It sounds like Exmark really learned a hard lesson on doing more testing first though. But, the nice thing is, this probably is likely to NOT happen again.

Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack the thread.

All the updates are handed out at service school every year. They are also emailed to you as they come out. They are also mailed to you as they come out. They are also posted on the dealer extra net.

Not tooting Exmarks horn but they do a great job with service bulletins and making them available to dealers. There is no reason a dealer should not have the information unless they don't bother reading mail, or emails. Or , don't want to take a minute to look for it.

on that note, as far as the bags go, they are a 90 day warranty. The bag is a material bag which is considered a wear item. From those pictures, those corners didn't get worn out like that from just sitting on the machine collecting grass. Sorry.

On the other hand, maybe Exmark should look at beefing up the bags a bit. 1500 bucks for a walkbehind, the bag should last at least a year. Maybe some plastic wear strips around the edges or something.

I will tell you, I have sold nearly 2 dozen of these machines to bother commercial and homeowners over the past 3 years and i haven't seen a bag come back looking like that.