Another "death" in the family--Simplicity & Snapper DOA

[Docwheelhorse 2,660]

Good Evening All,

While I never really cared for Simplicity or Snapper (I did like there older push mowers) it's sad to see the door closing.

 

Much like Toro did to Wheel Horse in 2007---I understand as a business if you not making money then things gotta change.

 

But still sad... No more Bolens, Wheel Horse, Real Craftsmans / Sears and now Simplicity and Snapper among others I'm sure I've forgotten. 

 

Go give your WH a hug...

 

Tony

[Tonytoro416 1,034]

One of the first time I ever actually mowed grass was on a rear engine snapper like Forest Gump has in the movie.  I remember it had a 30” deck and honestly it mowed like a dream. I also learned to prime metal with a rattle can on that rear engine rider. Good times really.  It’s a shame these brands are almost all gone 

[Kenneth R Cluley 515]

Thats what I'm still using a 30" snapper rear engine. Briggs 9 HP.  Bought it for $100.00 as it was apart and PO stated it needed coil. Put coil in it and it runs like a dream. Either that or my 633. Snapper will cut just about anything you can run over with it!

[Lee1977 6,656]

On 9/8/2023 at 11:24 AM, Kenneth R Cluley said:

Thats what I'm still using a 30" snapper rear engine. Briggs 9 HP.  Bought it for $100.00 as it was apart and PO stated it needed coil. Put coil in it and it runs like a dream. Either that or my 633. Snapper will cut just about anything you can run over with it!

An old 30" rear engine Snapper is just is just a self propelled 30" Bushhog. I did drill another hole in the lift bracket so it would mow higher. 

[John2189 450]

Too bad. I have a 20 hp Simplicity Sunstar I bought new in 1996 and would not trade it for anything. Well built and the Kohler runs great 

[sergeant 291]

On 9/7/2023 at 7:40 PM, Docwheelhorse said:

Good Evening All,

While I never really cared for Simplicity or Snapper (I did like there older push mowers) it's sad to see the door closing.

 

Much like Toro did to Wheel Horse in 2007---I understand as a business if you not making money then things gotta change.

 

But still sad... No more Bolens, Wheel Horse, Real Craftsmans / Sears and now Simplicity and Snapper among others I'm sure I've forgotten. 

 

Go give your WH a hug...

 

Tony

Real Craftsman   MTD has been making Craftsman products for years. They overtook the majority of tractor production in 2011, but they had been making some Craftsman products since the late 1970s.

Roper was a major supplier of Sears products until 1989, when Roper sold off their outdoor power equipment line to Electrolux (a Swedish appliance company)  and American Yard Products was formed. Sears had owned Roper until 1982, when they spun it off to be its own company again. Roper Pump Company is still around as its own company.

 

Electrolux had spun off all outdoor power equipment under the Husqvarna label in 2006. In 2015, Husqvarna announced it planned on getting out of the OEM supplier business and making tractors for other labels than what they owned

 

Also in 2011, Simplicity made the Craftsman Model, which was based on a Simplicity Prestige with a mounted mowing deck. Then for 2012, Simplicity made a Regent, Broadmoor, Conquest, and Prestige Clone in a gray and black color scheme for the Craftsmen Line until the New Briggs CEO at the time (a former Simplicity Design engineer) canceled the partnership as he didn't want to see Simplicity in the Box store. Yet simplicity had already been in the box store years before, in Montgomery Wards and JC Penny In the 1960s and 1970s, until both Wards and Pennies went to Gilson and Wards went to MTD In 1984.  In 1988 Gilson sold to Outboard Motor, and in 1989 Lawn-Boy Parent who In-turn sold Lawn-Boy to Toro in 1989

So Craftsman is still the real thing, but they don't make garden tractors anymore.

 Stanley is the parent company of both Craftsman and MTD. There really no such thing as a real Craftsman  as they were always Made by someone else for the Craftsman Line

 

Murray Made some Craftsman Tractors as well. Even John Deere Made a Craftsman Model Tractors Based On the Deere STX/Sabre Lawn tractor

 

[Docwheelhorse 2,660]

@sergeant Hey Sarge, I was refering to the 5 lug Garden Tractor style that Sears sold... I dont care who made them for Sears... they all seemed to be pretty damn good. My favorites being the SS15 Suburban from the early 70s and the last of the breed GT5000s and GT6000s with Briggs or Kohler twins

 

@Sparky has one bought new by his wife for fathers day I think around 2001... yes im jealous.

 

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Docwheelhorse

[sergeant 291]

1 hour ago, Docwheelhorse said:

@sergeant Hey Sarge, I was refering to the 5 lug Garden Tractor style that Sears sold... I dont care who made them for Sears... they all seemed to be pretty damn good. My favorites being the SS15 Suburban from the early 70s and the last of the breed GT5000s and GT6000s with Briggs or Kohler twins

 

@Sparky has one bought new by his wife for fathers day I think around 2001... yes im jealous.

 

 

The Suburbans were made by Roper (Sears as the parent company), and later one was AYP, but they were basically a Roper-designed frame that was used until 2006. Starting in 2007, they went to a new garden tractor frame that gave you a walk-through platform and eliminated the Master Lift. I prefer the Craftsman's Made 1982 to 2006 myself with the Master Lift. I liked the look of the Suburbans, but I didn't care that the implement or attachment had the lift controls that they use today on the Cub Cadets, Troy-bilt, Husqvarna, and Deere 100 series. The exception was the Tri-Hitch (the Roper version of a 3-point hitch) on the Suburbans, which had a hand lift or an electric actuator. But the point is that the Craftsman line has always been a clone of another brand's machines. The most common lawn and garden tractor manufacturers' machines were clones, except for Deere and Cub Cadet.

 

Ford Used Jacobson, Gilson,Shibaura ,Toro

 

Allis Chalmers were clones of Simplicity Tractors, even though Allis Owned Simplicity from 1965 to 1983

 

AGCO & AGCO-Allis Simplicity clones

 

Massey Ferguson used Dura, AMF, Snapper, Ingersoll, and Simplicity.

 

White Jacobson and MTD

 

Oliver used Jacobson

 

Minneapolis-Moline used Jacobson.

 

 Even Snapper used Power King in the late 1990s to manufacture some of the Snapper Garden tractors pre-Simplicity ownership. Then Snapper tractors were clones of the Simplicity tractors with a fully mounted deck on an undercarriage.

 

The Zero turn and the Sub Compact has basically slowly killed the Garden tractor!!!