Snapper Yard Cruiser

by Fred Alvarado
(Abingdon, Illinois, US)

We got my Snapper Yard Cruiser from a local place, that dealt with small engine repair, and selling a lot of commercial and home yard care equipment. I had minimal trouble with it the first year. Everything went fine.

It had a 48 inch cut that made fairly short work of my fairly big yard and my sister's next door. It had 3 blades that I did not mind replacing at all every 5 cuts or so due to the rocks and things that manage to come into my yard because of the dirt road.

The Snapper Yard Cruiser lawn mower handled wonderfully and was easy, although it did have a fair bit of get up and go that gradually decreased as it aged. I kept the engine in fair shape, until one day it just locked up on me and threw a rod.

The steering on the yard cruiser was a joystick type thing, that felt good in my hand, and was extremely easy to use. The key was above it, and did not get in the way of control. The speed/belt engage and what not was on the other side of the mower, with ease of use as well.

Nice cushion on seats and armrests, although the seat cushion fell off the next year. Tried to glue back on but didn't work so well. After about a year, the battery started failing. I replaced it with a recommended part, and it did not even last me a year!

Very very poor replacement. I always had to charge it almost every other use. The fan belts were a little complicated at first, but once you got the hang of it, were fairly simple to replace, just time consuming because of the way the belt fitted on the pulleys.

I did have to replace several pulleys and barrings after a couple years. I did not mind that much, as they weren't terribly expensive, except that the replacement parts I got were not of the same quality as the originals. Which I can positively say for the rest of the replacement parts I purchased, where of the same bad quality. All in all, I would not buy another Snapper yard cruiser, knowing what I know now.