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Originally Posted by glc
....and the engine doesn't have an oil drain plug. To change the oil you have to tip the mower over and dump it out the fill tube. Not only that, when the bag is not hooked up (using it in chute or mulch mode) the rear skirt folds under and blocks the wheels when you try to pull it backwards.
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The Craftsman with the Briggs engine that we got last year is the same way, G. No oil plug. Gotta tilt it up on it's side and drain it out the fill tube. Kinda stupid way to do it, but it's even in the manual as being the correct way to empty it. They must've figured out they could save a few million dollars a year by not putting drain plugs on them.
And as for that rear skirt folding under, ours does that too, but it's not wide enough that it blocks the wheels. I'm beginning to think they're doing that so people WON'T pull the mower backwards and instead just push forwards like they wish we'd do. That's not real practical though when you come up to a corner (like the corner of your fence in your yard) and have no choice but to back up. I've even read that some mowers are incorporating a locking mechanism on the rear wheels so they won't roll backwards.
On a side note, our Craftsman riding mower doesn't seem to be too gung-ho about going in reverse either. It'll move along real good going forward, but reverse goes about as fast as a slug on a hot, salted sidewalk. There's even a "special" ignition key position for it. If you have the key in the "safety" position with the blades running and you try to back up, it kills the engine. With the key in the other position, you can back up, but it's at that slow-as-molasses speed.