Stiga ride on mower

[woodworm]

Has anyone had any experience of the Stiga ride on articulated mower (Stiga Park), and if so what are they like reliability wise.

[Rich2484]

Very good. I know of a few and they have been fantastic.

[woody paul]

Customer of mine has the big 4 wheel drive model, it pulls my timberwolf 18/100 around garden which is not flat.

[GardenKit]

I am probably a bit biased, as I have sold hundreds of them over the last 20 years.

 

Many of them are still going strong now which is a good indication of their quality.

 

The Park range consists of the 'compact' machines which are domestic, and the larger chassied traditional 'Parks' the cheaper of which are domestic quality, and the 'Pro' machines which are the heaviest duty.

 

Even the cheaper 'domestic' quality are very well made and extremely reliable and the PRO range are just legendary.

 

The main differences are engines and transmissions, the more you pay, the more you get.

 

The best engines by far are the Briggs and Stratton VANGUARD models. There are no better engines used in the industry than the Vanguard. It is built by Daihatsu.

 

The weakest point on older models are the decks, which often fail due to rust after around 10-12 years. The early 3 bladed decks were adequate for the intended use, but suffer from blade shaft and bearing failure if abused.

 

The new decks are much improved and mulch far better than any other mulching mower on the market.

 

You certainly wont buy better than a Stiga.

[Garyjp]

Husky rider much better lol

 

can we have a husky v stiga thread

 

 

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[GardenKit]

Huskie are indeed well built, but...

 

They do not mulch anywhere as well as the Stiga

 

Although the have an ariculated rear axle, they are not truly articulated. The rear wheels do not track the front wheels, and the rear of the body swings wide when turning and hits things. (Not a problem to everyone, but caravan sites hate them)

 

Reliability is good though, every bit as good as Stiga, but no better.

[ukminch]

I'm afraid my experiences of using a stiga ride on weren't good. Cutting grass commercially, mulching only worked if the grass was short, which cutting once every two weeks it wasn't. Shear pins on the blades wouldn't last a day, this would cause belts, beating etc, also found it a lot slower in a straight line in comparison to a lot of machines

 

May have just been a bad one I had tho.....

[likeitorlumpit]

we have 2 park pro's.

Used by us as contractors, we find a lot of breakdown issues although it has to be said they are used a lot and on pretty rough terrain.

The 4wd facility means you can drive straight down a 45 degree slope and the machine doesn't run away even when wet.

Mulching is very good and the articulation is superb. I just wish we could get the spare parts quicker.

Replacement costs are about 8 grand from memory so it's not a domestic option unless you are rich.

Tell you what, I am selling one of ours to buy new if you are interested PM me.

[GardenKit]

I'm afraid my experiences of using a stiga ride on weren't good. Cutting grass commercially, mulching only worked if the grass was short, which cutting once every two weeks it wasn't. Shear pins on the blades wouldn't last a day, this would cause belts, beating etc, also found it a lot slower in a straight line in comparison to a lot of machines

 

May have just been a bad one I had tho.....

All very valid comments, but the problem lay in the choice of machine for the task.

 

Mulching simply does not work on 2 week cutting cycles in normal grass growth. The Stiga deck is the best mulching deck out there for leaving a good finish, but is designed around regular cutting of fairly short grass.

 

It works by holding the grass in the deck and recirculating it until its cut into tiny pieces. This it does extremely well, but going too fast, or cutting too long overloads the deck and strains the drives. (hence the machine is not designed to be fast)

 

The shearbolts on the old 'timed' deck do not break until the blades hit something solid. The mower was not intended for rough terrain or objects in the grass.

 

Because of its front deck and its manoevrability it is often used in situations it should not be in because the operators like to use it, and its not fair to blame the machine for failing through 'misuse'

 

The new range of decks are V belt driven 'non timed' decks and hence have no shearbolts. They also have a removable rear skirt, which when taken out allows the grass out of the deck quicker, enabling longer grass to be tackled and faster forward speeds. The standard of mulching with the skirt off will not be as great, but it does at least allow cutting on a 2 week cycle. It is also possible to lift the rear of the deck slightly to allow even faster discharge.

 

And, for Likeit, spares availability is not usually a problem, with excellent 'pick rates' from Plymouth.

I can have spares 'next day' with a carriage cost, but the standard delivery to a dealer is 2-3days, carriage free, so this method is the norm. I also carry stock of common parts so my customers do not normally wait long.

Edited September 9, 2013 by GardenKit

[Dorset Hedgelayer]

Mate had 1 for a few years , 5-6 years ago,

sure he said great machine WHEN working (like all things). but was for ever getting through the "steering chain" as he called it, bottom end of steering coloum, and the shear bolts as mentioned above, and longer wait on parts than other makes.

But as i say this was 5-6 yrs ago might be even longer times fly's