Taking Craftsman lawn tractor back to Sears...

17 years ago

Last Sunday I bought a YS4500, Kohler 21HP, 42" deck, fender mounted automatic transmission. First thing I noticed after I had made the purchase was the tractor model was not the same as in the sales flyers. It is last years model. Secondly, from the moment I started this thing up it has a dry, metallic rumble, vibration, whenever I accelerate or go up any kind of hill. I called the tech line and they said it needed to be broken in, etc... I have purged it many times and it still makes this sound. So much that even now it is louder than the engine at times. I called Sears during the middle of last week and told them I was bringing it in to exchange for another mower, I let the manager talk me into keeping it until a technician could come out to my home "just in case it was an adjustment". Well, I don't need to be a mechanical engineer to know there is something wrong with this thing when it makes so much noise. Even if it just needs to be broken in, the loud noise is an indication to me that whatever is breaking in is going to be broken later, probably the day after my factory warranty runs out. So here I go, load this thing back up on my truck, take it back to Sears, walk in and scan my receipt in the ATM style machine, which I used for the first time when I bought this last week. Hopefully, there won't be any go around with these people and they had better not try and stick me with a 15% restocking fee. I think I will attempt to exchange it for a manual transmission this time around though, seeing my property is hilly. I have a feeling I get another hydro tranny it will make the same noise. I wonder why they are selling last years models and not what they are advertising in the flyers?

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Comments (12)

jfls43
Original Author
17 years ago
Does anybody have any suggestions about how to deal with them when I take it in for an exchange?
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steve2ski
17 years ago
Should be instructions next to bar reader as to its use(ATM looking machine). To return items in the store here, customer service authorizes return and informs you which dock to return to. Suggest checking with the customer service attendent. The service tech maybe able to authorize the return also.
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davidld
17 years ago
Sears is usually very good about these kinds of things and will keep swapping tractors until you are satisfied.
You do have us all curious, however as to what is making the noise and I guess we will never find out.
Sometimes these things are easy to track down and simple to repair.

D
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jfls43
Original Author
17 years ago
I think the noise is coming from inside the transmission. I have been studying the drawings.Whenever pressure is applied to the swashplate, to make the tractor go forward or in reverse, it's worse if your going up a hill. It does it in reverse and forward. The sound can be heard by others standing 50 feet away. I can hear it over the sound of the tractor engine. It's a dry vibration sound if that makes sense. It is not air in hydraulic fluid noise, that I know.
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davidld
17 years ago
That doesnt sound like a cheap or easy noise to repair.

I wouldn't give up on the hydrostat idea for that reason tho. Maybe have them swap it out for the same unit w/o the noise.
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jfls43
Original Author
17 years ago
I took it back and the return merchandise counter sent me back to the salespeople. The salesman tried to tell me they require a service person to come to your home to look at it before they will exchange it for another. So I made a fuss and took it back to returns and got my money back. The salesman tried to argue with me all the way back to the returns dept. Everyone in the store heard me complaining about it. I will not do business with Sears again for large purchases. I stopped at Ace Hardware on way home and got a YTH20K46 for $1549 So far I like it.
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TedBell
17 years ago
Who makes the YTH20K46? What kind of HP?
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bill_kapaun
17 years ago
Same company that makes the Sears
20 HP-46" cut.
2046.... get it?
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dfpmonroe
17 years ago
The YTH20K46 is a Husqvarna 20hp with the single cylinder kohler engine 2 blade 46in cut. Very nice mower, I got one 2 weeks ago and really love it. Hope you have good luck with yours jfls43, enjoy.
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taylorkh
17 years ago
There was a time when Sear had a reputation for good products and customer service. Unfortunately that time is long past. I purchased 2 sets of T handle Craftsman allen wrenches last November on "Black Friday." When I got home I found that the metric set was the ball end type. Oh well, not worth a 75 mile round trip to return them.

So a few weeks ago I finally had need to use one of the metric wrenches. The ball end did not engage the set screw sufficiently, rounded off and also messed up the screw. The next time I happened to travel to Goldsboro, NC I took the set with me and stopped at Sears. I wanted to exchange the ball end set for the standard set (which lists for $5 less). The ball end set was on sale and as I did not have a receipt (who keeps a receipt for Craftsman Guaranteed Forever tools???) they proposed to charge me $1 and change to exchange the more expensive set of the cheaper set! Needless to say I made them give me a new ball end set. I will keep them in the car and next time I am near Sears I will see if the items are at regular price.

Just wait till K-Mart-Sears decides to declare Chapter 11 again and nullify the Craftsman guarantee. What a class action law suit that will make :-)

Ken
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ckr74
17 years ago
I too used to be fond of Sears stuff. Not any more. Crapsman. Nuff said.
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rcmoser
17 years ago
There was a time when Sear had a reputation for good products and customer service

Maybe it's the K factor!
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