14sb

its the best mower of alltime -none better

lawnboy dan said:

its the best mower of alltime -none better

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Yep -that and the JX75/JX85 you can get healthy and keep for many years. I love both of mine and can't believe I got both for less than $100.!

GTP, What do you like better for bagging and pick up performance? Your Deere's or your Snapper's.

snapper is peerless for bagging.

What does it have for an engine? Both of the Snappers I've had were the old vertical B&S that everyone seems to hate.

You can't beat an old Snapper Hi-Vac on bagging, and this mower has the Kawasaki engine on it.

My old Snapper has a Tecumseh 4-cycle on it. Starts first pull everytime.

BUY IT!!! I got one and it is the best mower ever! It starts first pull every time with almost no effort. It uses almost no fuel.

BTW, if the bbc makes a terrible screeching hit it with a high pressure water stream. I did this and mine makes no noise.

I would go for it. There is one on iron search for $150 some times they are way over that. If the deck and tranny is good you could always strip them off and stick them on ebay. You would probably make your money back and then some. Here is the link to the mower on iron search: http://www.ironsearch.com/Farm-Trac...ohn-Deere/Mower(fs)Walk(d)Behind/1412537.aspx

the snapper in my avatar is a powerful bagger, fills up quick tho,
dunno if i there's a bigger cap bag for it
hey forty bucks,
jump on that like a hobo on a hamburger man..........!

those suckers are a tank

$40 is dirt cheap, go for it!!!

IMHO my JD bags as well if not better than my Snapper(s) any day of the week and even on Sundays I also think the JD fills the bag better than the Snapper.

The one advantage of the Snapper is that it will suck stuff (leaves, etc.) out of the grass but the JD will not.

For example a good part of my yard is boardered by bark chips and I can run my JD over the bark to pick up dry leaves and virtually not pick up any bark where as the Snapper will suck up the bark quite easily.

a snapper will eventually kill your yard if you bag all the time. sucks the soil up from around the roots of the grass . i worked for a guy who insisted we bag everything and i saw a steady decline in the lawn health and some yards even died!. i only use hi vacs during leaf season for this reason

1st spring mow,& 2nd to last of the year.
if it gets really tall from rain,thru the year,
i'd want to bag 1st cut, the re-cut with mulcher

eric67m said:

GTP, What do you like better for bagging and pick up performance? Your Deere's or your Snapper's.

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The snappers with a gator blade will suck worms out of the ground. You can literally see leaves from about 2" outside the deck of the mower being sucked in...:thThumbsU

Even for mulching they will grind everything up and leave a nice lawn. The Deere's are decent baggers (small bag however) with the mulch blade and better mulchers for grass only but leaves and grass=SNAPPER HI-VACs !!

My snappers really only get used in the fall for leaf clean up. Most of the year I use the JDs and LBs. I have a hilly yard and I cut it in different directions each time. I will alternate between push LBs, JDs and my 323/324/10520 depending upon whether I have to lug straight up a hill or not. If I can push it....the 7268 gets alot of work but I always marvel about the JDs....wonderful machines!!

fwiw

JD bag 2.5 bushels
Snapper homeowner bags 2.5 bushels
Snapper commercial bags white bags 3.0 bushels, black bags most 2.5 some 3.0

I'm sorry I have a snapper walk behind from the mid 90's. One of the ones with the Ninja recycler on the deck. I have also ran the 14 series John Deeres and the ones just before the 14 series (the ones that still had a green deck other wise the same kawi motor and bbc) the John Deere in my mind was a better machine and made a nicer cut on the lawn. I don't have numbers to back it up at the moment but the machines that were pre 14 series had huge bags on them and they would also suck up that leaf that was 2" out from the deck. The grey series tricyclers weren't quite that good but still a well built mower (better for multching though). I have heard that the 80's snappers were really good but I have never had the chance to run one myself. I'm sorry I hope I didn't affend anybody. I just wanted to toss my 2 pennies in since I have been running this snapper for the last couple of years and I really am not very happy with it.

mowersnob said:

fwiw

JD bag 2.5 bushels
Snapper homeowner bags 2.5 bushels
Snapper commercial bags white bags 3.0 bushels, black bags most 2.5 some 3.0

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My black commercial snapper bag is WAY bigger than my JD and White Snapper trap door bags (HI-VAC) easy dump bags. It will take in about 5-6 rows down and back where the other mowers and bags barely make 3-4. I am not sure o f the size but it really holds alot more-wonder if its a certain kind of commercial bag?

Also my 2 cycle WR snapper commercial (steel deck is as thick as a man hole cover)I believe is from the late 80s and with a gator blade mulching or bagging it works very well on leaves and thick grass/leaves. I have the RPM set to about 3800rpms.

Overall quality is the best by far on the John Deere... by far. The snapper is a tank. My wife won't ever consider moving it around the garage let alone using it. It scares her.. The JDs easy to start easy to use..lasts forever..best mower out there IMO.

i much prefer the drawstring bag vs the trap door on the snapper.

On snapper hi-vacs (I'm sure my next purchace).....

1. Are they all steel decks of the same thickness or were aluminums made also?

2. Engines were 2 stroke WR, 4stroke (briggs, techmech(sp?), any others) or any to avoid?

3. Self propelled. Are most single or 6 speed.

4. Any models to look for or avoid? (want simple, light weight, prefer inexpensive to replace/add to a 8401 Lawnboy.)