Lesco mowers, anygood?

[stockie]

Hey guys
I was wondering if any one has used, or has has any Lesco walk behinds, im looking into buying a 36 inch mower, and im considering all the options, but dont know too much on the Lescos. Any feedback?
Thanks alot

[lakegastonla]

I've got two of the 48-inch belt drives and they are tough machines!! The belts, spindles, and blades are all interchangable with the scag mowers. Basically, they are a really good copy of the scag machines with pretty much the same quality anda good deal pricewise. I have had no trouble with my machines, and would reccommend them to anyone! Made like a TANK!!

[JML]

i have a 36 and a 48, both about three years old now, I have had no problems with them and they are excellent machines, and you can't beat the price..

[geogunn]

stockie--the purebred lescos are great machines as far as the walk behinds are concerned.. there are however some hybrid lesco/mtd machines out there that may not measure up, according to reports on this forum.

I have the original lesco belt drive 48 with the 14 kawasaki motor. it has been an outstanding machine. dependable and gives a very professional stripe. I'd rate the quality cut equal to any comparable machine and probably better than some.

GEO

[1st impressions]

I bought a 48" gear drive last year and had no problems
with the mower itself.The 15hp. Kawasaki is another story.
The mower itself is built like a brick s*** house.The
funny thing is is that my workers preferred my '93 Bobcat.
They said the Lesco was too heavy and the grips are hard,
even for me,to squeeze.
The price for the machines are very competative but I will
probably go with Bobcat next time.
.

[G & S LANDSCAPING SERVICE]

We have a lesco 48" hydro. float deck with a 17h.p. twin. And also have not had any proldems with this mower.Check with your local dealer on,parts,do thay offer a lowner if yours breaks down.The main thing is dealer support and service after a sale.

[Santa]

We have three lesco walk behinds,all belt drive.Two have lots of hrs. on them.Only problem has been base gasket's on kawi motors, but its no big deal to change.These mower's can run forever, they may be on the heavy side but they are though.Also I think they give one of the best cut's on wet or dry grass.Dealer service is lacking in my area but part's are no problem and these machines are simple to work on.I must point out that these are fixed deck machines .(not the floating deck ones.)

[lakegastonla]

For $2500.00 I don't think you can beat the Lesco 48 inch belt drive if you had to! Get a set of Jungle wheels for your bigger properties, and go to work, make lots of money, and be happy.
(Did ya notice my smile symbol is Lesco green?)

[bob]

Let me get this straight, Lesco makes great walkbehind mowers, right? But their Viper ZTR is a piece of crap, right?

[Santa]

bob

I believe these are walkbehind's we are talking about.

[Runner]

I'm not sure who manufactures their walkbehinds, but the Vipers are made by MTD. And this particular model is a pain from what I understand. Cub Cadet uses the same one.

[Santa]

Runner

I'm with you. Lesco also makes two hydro walk-behinds with floating decks. I believe these are made by MTD which lesco may have purchased, but not sure. Lesco P/N 48"701079, Lesco P/N 54"701080

[lakegastonla]

The Lesco Vipers (a ZTR rider) were very prone to breakdowns/problems when they first came out. Over the past two years the bugs have been worked out,supposedly
but the bad publicity these machines got out of the gate may prove too much for them to overcome. The upgrade info came from my Lesco center in Raleigh, NC. Most of the problems were with the decks and pulleys. A new deck is supposed to be shipped with the units this year and is supposed to be a major improvment.
No, I do not work for Lesco, and the Viper looks like a nice machine. In my opinion, they waited too long to work the bugs out. If they can make these machines RELIABLE, I would like to have one, though.

[eslawns]

I think all the Lesco mowers are made by MTD. I looked at them side by side with MTD Pro mowers and can't tell them apart except the color.

[geogunn]

Originally posted by eslawns
I think all the Lesco mowers are made by MTD. I looked at them side by side with MTD Pro mowers and can't tell them apart except the color.

eslawns--did you compare all of the lesco models against all of the mtd models? it is my impression that some models have a mtd clone and others do not.

the 17 hydro, 48" fixed deck that I posted about a couple weeks ago doesn't seem to me to be a mtd clone.

GEO

[Eric ELM]

A Lesco employee told me that the Viper is made in a factory building right next to the MTD factory using MTD parts. The one other difference in the 2 is they use different motors too, or at least used to. Lesco gets all their equipment from other Mfgs. I think their best line is the aerators, made by Classen.

I'm not sure who makes the W/B mowers, but I don't think it's MTD. I read in a post here that the Scag parts fit it, so maybe Scag makes the W/B mowers for them. MTD does make the new Cub Cadet as well as all the Cub line since they bought out International about 15 years ago.

[jaclawn]

I read on the Lesco website a while ago the press release about its "assoication" with MTD PRO. The press release is no longer on the site.

Lesco has entered into a joint venture with MTD PRO and created a subsidary called Commercial Turf Products. This company, CTP manafactures equipment for Lesco and MTD PRO.

Lesco machinery is not simply the MTD equipment painted green. It is certinly not the same as the home store MTD that most people are thinking of.

[lakegastonla]

JClawn is dead on. The machines came out of a joint venture between the two companies. Lesco had a hand in the design and specs of the machines. To help offset costs, MTD markets the PRO line now, to try and pay for all of that expensive tooling and production line equipment needed to launch a new line. They had that agreement since day one, and Lesco seems to be moving quite a few walk behinds, now. Good machine, Great price.

[JML]

The local lesco guy and I have become very good friends over the years. He told me to stay away from the Viper as a friend, it has gotten better since it came out, but there are a lot more defects to get out of it. He also told me that Lesco builds their own walk behinds now, in their own factories..

[Michael Fronczak]

Last I knew Lesco & MTD were still in their joint venture.
I have a Viper 60", very few problems has around 600 hours on it problems: 2 spindles(we hit somthing though), belt (again) we hit somthing, charging system-wire came loose they fixed in ten minutes, hour meter (LCD keeps craping out they keep giving me new ones). Machine is now 2 years old, I very happy with it overall, in heavy wet grass tends to have poor cut, & really throw clippings. I would definatly buy another one, I think their comming out with a 48" unit, I'm looking right now, wait to see what contracts come in. All my big sites are locked in allready, residentials I have had a while, bidding on a lot of sites now in the 5-25 acre size and if I get them a 48" will be a waste, I'll get another 60". I hope prices stay consistant to what they've been, around $ 1000-$ 1500 less than Exmark.

[Scraper]

Boy! I remember when everyone used to bash the Lesco mowers. What happened to all those opinions? I personally wouldn't buy one. So there's my $0.02. Go ahead...bash me. ;)

[Eric ELM]

I'm not sure Scraper. :)

I remember Lazer saying something like this: "If we all gave our honest opinion on them, we might all be banned." It was something like that.

My opinion hasn't changed on this subject of the Viper. I did demo one, but I can't see me buying one this Millennium.

From reading about every post in here, the W/B's seem to be much better. I have heard of several happy owners. Someone mentioned the Scag parts are the same. Does anyone know who makes the W/B's for sure?

Michael Fronczak, yours is barely broke in, so it shouldn't have any problems yet. Does yours have the hydro cooler on it? If so, beware that it will crack and start loosing oil. It is located underneath and if they crack and loose the oil, then you run the hydros out of oil and then have big problems. A fellow lawn maintenance friend bought one and that happened to him. Instead of replacing the cooler, they just took it out and left it out. The dealer told him, he didn't need it. :)

I told him if it didn't need it, why did they put it on there in the first place. He ended up having so many problems, he ended up getting a lot of his money back for it and went and got a Dixie Chopper. He has had 0 problems with it.

Do check to see if they have a cooler buried underneath your machine. It could save you $'s.

Eric

Eric

[Michael Fronczak]

I do have the hydro cooler on it, is this a problem with only your friends or a general problem. After two years I hardly consider it just broken in though. I have no intention of keeping ANY mower longer than 4 years, the tend to become unrealiable after that point, I have realized that I can't be every where at one time to correct problems. Mowers in general don't depreaciate that much once a year old, so why not sell when still in good working order, and buy new. I don't have room on my trailer for unrealiable equipment, and I have a 20' trailer, if I can't trust it, it's gone. I'd rather spend the money than deal with the head aches.

[Eric ELM]

Michael Fronczak, The dealer told him the new ones wouldn't have the coolers on them since they were having problems with them. I haven't talked to anyone that has a new one to know for sure.

One of the reasons this guy bought the Chopper was, my oldest Chopper was 5 years old at the time and had 2650 hours on it after that season and it hadn't been in for any repair work. This season we put almost 600 hours on it and it went it for new moduals and I had them replace the bearings in a spindle that was a bit loose, from the time I purchased this machine. This was the second time I had it in to the dealer. The other time it needed an intake gasket because it wouldn't idle right.

I guess I am the opposite, I use them for many years and then I sell them to a homeowner. Dealers won't give you as much for them as a homeowner will.