I sold my Lawnboy (v-series) and Toro 20038 - the TimeMaster 30 was able to get everywhere I needed - so time to clear some garage space. Have mowed 3 times with the TM30 now - when loaded down with a full bag of grass, she gets pretty heavy - otherwise I am liking it alot. I have cut some pretty tall grass and it handled it well - I feel the same about bagging - I have mulched and it does a very good job in that role. The deck has alot of "head room" so you really have to try to bog it down in the deep stuff to have an issue. So far I have no concerns about power....seems to have plenty to handle cutting and propelling the mower. I have alot of experience with the B&S 190cc Intek from my 20038 - this 190cc does seem to have a bit more grunt as the torque rating indicates. My main gripe about the old Intek was hot starts - I found you MUST have the right spark plug and gap or it was a real pain in the rear to hot start (cold starts were always easy). And plugs don't come gapped to .020.....so you have to change it. That is the plug gap on the TM30. My only other complaint is the traction assist handle gets in the way of using the normal personal pace. I could remove it - but I want to see if I get used to it. I have pinched my fingers on it a few times - not bad, but annoying. 10+ years on my 20038 spoiled me into putting my hands pretty much anywhere I wanted on the drive handle. You have to be a bit more selective with the traction assist handle. There are no grease zerks for the rear drive wheels - which is a bit of a concern for longevity of the mower. Things seems pretty well built - but the "standard" is more a step up from a Recycler than a Super Recycler. The 3 year warranty sort of confirms that as well. That all said - there is no competition for this size of mower in the residential market - so Toro can charge a premium. I would assume a competitor will show up fairly soon - which may drive the price down closer to the 800-900 range where it probably belongs. Next on the list.....consideration of a blade upgrade (next year). I have read a few comments the TurfMaster blades are better than the "atomic" blades that come with the TimeMaster....I might go that route....especially once I see how it works in the fall with some clean-up bagging/mulching. I have not been able to find any other blade options.....maybe in a year or 2 "Gator" will have something.....loved the Gator on my Lawnboy. This post was edited by jimbosc on Tue, Jun 18, 13 at 16:09

I bought my Toro 20332 Personal Pace lawn mower last Spring and it did everything perfectly for the first 4 uses. Then it became harder and harder to start often taking 10 -15 pulls of the rope. Saw many of the suggestions on websites to no avail. However, yesterday I discovered the problem and wanted to share the fix with those having a similar experience. Upon close examination of the carburator, I discovered the choke is not being set to the closed position prior to startup due to a slipped alignment of the choke-vane. Will explain... Checking for problem: Remove the air filter and look into the throat of the carburator. The brass flap(choke plate), nearest the air filter side of the carbuator should be in the closed position. This allows more fuel to be drawn into the engine during start-up. Once the engine starts, the fly-wheel fan blows air against the choke vane (piece of plastic), that levers the choke into the open position, thus leaning the mixture. If the choke plate is not in the closed position, gently press the vane arm (piece that runs along the top of the carburator and is responsible for positioning the choke plate), towards the engine. note: Press on the side of the vane furtherest away from where it comes into contact with the carburator. As you move it, so will the choke plate. Move it until the choke plate is in the closed position- that's it! note: To gain access, may have to remove the plastic engine cover (two screws on top cover) and the plastic piece located just above the air filter (one screw). Also, may have to remove the three 8mm bolts that secure the plastic piece around the mouth of the carbuator - I should have paid more attention. Fix can be made in less than 5 minutes, however. Once I made this "re-adjustment" mower is back to doing everything perfectly - even starting on the first pull of the rope. Good luck, Mike

When you are looking at the governor spring, it hooks onna front facing tab. Sometimes it gets bent back when pushing head on into shrubs etc. So the remedy is to bend it forward again until you hit the proper RPM. If the spring looks kinked though, it is best to replace it.

If you're buying a new snowblower the only company in the USA that both engineers and builds the engines is Honda and of course they are primarily for commercial use. I'm based in Canada and we can get them at local dealers only, for about $2,600 - $8,000. Much more than you would pay for a Toro or Ariens. There's a good article here explaining who makes what - https://movingsnow.com/2020/2020-snow-blowers-who-makes-each-brand/ Also for OEM Engines like many products there is a design, build and test component. I've seen many people complain about LCT Engines, yes they are "built" in China, no they are not designed or tested there. LCT is very clear on their website - the Corporate Office is in Travelers Rest, SC. "Operations Management, Design Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality Assurance, Production Control, Warranty / Technical Services, Logistics and other Administrative functions are solely based in South Carolina, USA." LCT also has a Shanghai Office - "LCT has a dedicated staff of professional Engineers, Quality Assurance Teams, and Logistics/Sourcing Personnel based in our downtown Shanghai, China offices." So yes, LCT has Chinese Engines, but that doesn't mean that Ariens is using an engine that was designed, built and tested in China because it's 10-20x cheaper for them to do that so they can increase profit margins. Not at all. I don't get the feeling that products made outside of USA or Canada are "cheap". I've been in both mechanical, medical and software engineering and this was never the case. A good example is Loncin, they were known as a Honda clone at one point but they're known globally for their quality engines so much that they sell about 3 Million engines per year - "It has annual production capacity of 2,500,000 motorcycles, 3,000,000 motorcycle engines, and 150,000 all-terrain vehicles (ATVs)." Loncin builds engines for Toro that rival anything Honda or LCT make and there are other brands such as PowerMore that are good quality as well - you will find these on Cub Cadet and Troy-Bilt. Briggs & Stratton? Tecumseh? Yep, built in China too, Briggs owns it's facility there and Tecumseh is part of LCT now. In reality USA companies are using facilities in China to build engines, not necessarily designing them there except in the case of Toro and Loncin. At the very minimum the design spec comes from the brand company and they are doing their own quality assurance. The engine doesn't just show up at the assembly plant and they slap a sticker on it, there's a little more to it than that. Overall I think it's a good thing, product manufacturers in every market are getting sub-components from niche market companies that specialize in them. Think companies like Toyota or Honda are manufacturing every component in their products? They don't make their own steel, aluminum, plastic or crude oil do they? Ever seen a Toyota Oil rig? At some point it must be OK to buy a component from somebody else, and they don't need to be your next door neighbour. I mean... do you ever go to the produce section of the grocery store and think hey, how long has this fruit been in season? It's OK to get your fruit 12 months per year from somewhere but it's not OK to build an engine outside of the border?