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Bolens


samson

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At Loews today I saw a Bolens lawn tractor 20 HP for 1049.00 Its hard to believe they can sell it for that. Who makes them, I thought they went out of business.
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As the proud owner of two Bolens grunts (always parked behind the Landlord and the Big 10!)I can assure you, that new fangled thing ain't no Bolens!
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Bolens used to make a real tough garden tractor. Dad has one now and it is made real well.
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MTD will do with Bolens and Troy-Bilt, just as they have with the Cub Cadet. Tack the name onto the cheap, standard MTD in order to reach the low end market for consumers. They will make a little money for a while, as they ruin the reputation of a formerly well built machine. Pat
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Aha! I am now wiser on the subject. My neighbor has one of the old bolens, and it is made very well. I think they were made in port washington Wis. yrs back.
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I have 4 Bolens tractors that were made in the 70's. These tractors are cast iron brutes, all attachments are shaft driven. The transaxles are rated at 45 hp., big gears,cast iron housing, 3 speed, Hi,Lo, range that has awesome pulling power for ground engageing attachments. Floyd
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MTD in my book stands for: Made To Die It really stands for Murray Tractor Division. These are tractors/mowers I wouldn't recommend (the newer ones) Murray MTD Bolens Troy Built I am unsure how the newer Cub Cadets are holding up. I am also unsure of the White brand which is made my MTD. On our local power equipment place's website site they have a list of the equipment they sell. On the list for White it says, "Higher End MTD" So I was figuring if you get 2 years out of your MTD push mower, you would get 5 with your White under normal mowing conditions.
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MTD stands for Modern Tool & Die. Murray is a different company and competes with MTD for the "box store" brands of tractors sold by lots of chains. To my knowledge, the only "box store" that AYP (American Yard Products, a division of Frigidaire, owned by the Swedish company Electrolux) makes tractors for is the Sears Craftsman. The Husqvarna and Sears tractors are essentially the same tractor, with minor differences other than decals, such as location of hydro controls, etc. The Sears model lineup is much larger than Husqvarna, though...
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Too bad they aren't like these anymore. [img]http://www.simpletractors.com/club2/attach/Chris727/Bolens.JPG[/img] -Chris
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Yeah, Thats like the one my neighbor has, went over and took a closer look at it. Wouldn't mind that one in my garage.
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I am glad to see you guys are finally talking some sense!! Love those Bolens. That is what I grew up with. My Dad still has is and just finished rebuilding it a few years ago. He replaced the Onan motor and did something really weird, painted it GREEN!!! LOL I still can't figure that one out. It is a shame that these cheapo companies buy the good name and run it into the ground. Mary
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I traded a 1975 John Deere 214 (with a 48" mower and 36" tiller) for a 1968 Bolens 1050 with a 48" mower, 36" snow thrower, 10"brinley plow, aerator, yard cart, and a scraper/scarifier blade,I will never look back at JD again (unless its free) they were too complicated. That Bolens is one tough cookie but the mower deck DOES NOT CUT AS SMOOTH AS SIMPLICITY!!! JH
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The first Bolens my dad bought in the early 60's was a dark green color with yellow lettering.. Then he replaced it with another one that was gold.Then came the WheelHorse.....
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For some reason I thought MTD stood for Murray Tractor Division. Well, I guess I was wrong. On the topic of Murray, they have a tractor that I saw at Home Depot That looks like a modern day Ford Edsel. Big open grill and the headlights on the two top corners of the hood. We used to have a Bolens 1250 that my grandfather who worked for the department of public works in his town, picked up from the local school system for free. This was before the days of auctioning everything off.
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Yes those Bolens are tough tractors...My brother has one of the bigger one's,not sure of the model but its a 14** with a Wisconin engine.He used it for years but the motor started running bad and he is to cheap to rebuild it.He has all kind of attachments for it(tiller,snow plow,snow blower,and a few others).I have tried to make a deal on it because its just sitting outside getting rusty,but he said he is going to fix it one day.
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I hate to be mean but I have a 19.5hp murray garden tractor that is 7 years old and has religously cut 5 acres of grass weekly.Other than belts and pulleys it has never let me down.It also has weights,chains and a snowplow that this winter cleared 18" of snow on a 440' x 25' driveway.Yes it is not as good as my 916 chalmers but I bought at end of season for $1300.00.The only thing I don't understand about boxstore tractors.Most of the time the price of the tractor with the deck is almost the price of the engine alone.How do they do that????
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Years ago MTD actually built a "Garden Tractor" with a horizontal shaft engine, cast iron tranaxle, and all. Once and while we see one of these old ones show up at tractor pulls (off the lawn class).
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quote:
Originally posted by patrician12
The only thing I don't understand about boxstore tractors.Most of the time the price of the tractor with the deck is almost the price of the engine alone.How do they do that????
It's the price discounts that come from signing contracts to buy hundreds of thousands of engines every year... MTD will use more B&S engines in a day on their production lines than Simplicity likely does in a month, especially since Simplicity offers Honda and Kohler also.... Compare either company to how many engines your local small engine dealer/distributor will sell in a year....
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guys up untill about a month ago i worked at a lowe's in the boston area, let me just start out by saying that THIS AINT YOUR DADDYS BOLENS :( bolens is indeed now owned by MTD which = stamped steel and nylon bushings and cost cutting abound. Lowes has an exclusive deal with MTD to market the Bolens name, my guess is it cost them $$$$$. I always got a kick out of telling the person who came in on a saturday to tirekick and compare bolens mtd and cubcadet's that they are all essentially the same machine with different paint built in the same place. these machines in normal use may see 5 - 8 years Mabee and are meant to basically just mow lawn, one thing I would get a kick out of was telling a customer who was debating buying an 800$ bolens or a 1,000 mtd was " dont deel bad the mower deck on my tractor cost more than either one of these machines" Honestly you get what you pay for obviously us here all know that but many people would think us daffy for owning more than 1 tractor.
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This is my latest $300 find. It is a Bolens 1250, a big brute of a machine. Also, came with a 48" deck, and 42" snowcaster. A little paint and voila. I also have a 1256, which I also consider a brute, but is actually smaller than this one. [img]http://www.simpletractors.com/club2/uploaded/arjr111/Bolens.JPG[/img]
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