Who Makes Craftsman Lawn Mowers? (Are They Good?)

Do you know who makes Craftsman lawn mowers? Well, you are at the perfect place to find the answer to such a question.

While lawn mowers may be a dime a dozen, quality lawn mowers are a different story. Craftsman has been on the lawnmower game since 1946 when Sears purchased the David Bradley Manufacturing Company. But who makes craftsman mowers and are they any good?

Craftsman has been owned by several big brand manufacturers over the decades and up until 2017, they were manufactured by Husqvarna. However, Stanley Black and Decker acquired Craftsman in late 2017 and now, Stanley B;D uses their Modern Tool and Die company to manufacture Craftsman lawn mowers.

Modern Tool and Die is another company that Stanley Black and Decker acquired, and Stanley uses the MTD manufacturing facilities to develop and put together Craftsman lawn mowers of every kind.

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Are Craftsman Lawn mowers Any Good?

One thing is for certain, Craftsman mowers have been on the market for decades and they wouldn’t have made it this far if all they ever produced was subpar product after terrible product.

If you want to know whether or not Craftsman mowers are any good, you have to look at the company behind their creation for the last four years, which is MTD.

Modern Tool and Die have an excellent reputation within the industry but you don’t often hear about them outside of the industry.

That’s because MTD does most of the hard work, while the engines that they supply to numerous name brands are applauded under the name brand that uses them.

For instance, when John Deere brings out a new line of small engine tractors and lawn mowers, you won’t hear the acronym MTD.

Although MTD manufactures many small engines for John Deere’s more recognizable small engine tractors and lawn mowers. MTD manufactures small engines for many name brands and it doesn’t stop with John Deere.

If you are riding around in a Craftsman mower, then the odds are, that someone is riding around in a John Deere equivalent that is essentially the same mower.

Reviews for Craftsman Lawn mowers

According to Consumer Affairs, Craftsman mowers maintain a 3.6 out of 5 stars. Consumer Affairs is a compilation of reviews from actual consumers, so it is far more likely to reflect the accuracy of public sentiment towards a product than paid-for adverts.

The only issue is, that the Consumer Affairs site includes reviews from those who own Craftsman lawn mowers that were manufactured prior to 2018, meaning they own Craftsman mowers that didn’t use MTD engines, but whoever manufactured them previously.

So, for a more accurate representation of what MTD manufactures and the quality of those components, we jumped over to Consumer Affairs’ compilation of consumer reviews for MTD products.

When it comes to MTD, the compilation of reviews came to an average of 4 out of 5 stars, which is a .4 jump from the overall reviews for Craftsman lawn mowers.

While none of it is a scientific certainty, there seems to be a higher degree of positive sentiment for MTD,

Since MTD now manufactures Craftsman mowers, it stands to reason that the overall quality of the products will improve from previous engine manufacturers.

Who is MTD?

Modern Tool and Die company is a little-known company, despite their enormous acquirements over the years.

Many would be surprised at the number of major brand companies that MTD gobbled up over the years before, in turn, being gobbled up by Stanley Balck and Decker.

Cub Cadet
Craftsman
Troy-Bilt
Remington
Robomow
Yard Machines
Bolen
Columbia
Rover
Wolf-Garten

Now that MTD has been acquired by Stanley B&D, Stanley basically oversees all of the brands that MTD acquired over the decades.

It’s an interesting story of millions of dollars, exponential growth, and exponential acquisitions by a company that got its start manufacturing perforating dies and rolling machines.

MTD’s humble beginnings included only having 12 employees, a number which grew to 60 employees the very next year.

MTD is one of those surprising companies that hide behind so many major brands. MTD is also the private label behind 247 products.

If it has something to do with small engines, then the odds are high that MTD had something to do with it at one time or another.

Now, they manufacture Craftsmen lawn mowers, and, seeing as MTD has a pretty stellar track record across the decades, Craftsman couldn’t be placed in better hands.

Are Craftsman Lawn mowers for Those on a Budget?

Kind of sort of. While a Craftsman zero-turn mower is probably going to be priced much better than a John Deere zero-turn mower, you’re still going to easily pay $3,000 for one of them.

It’s not quite like buying generic cereal in other words. Companies like MTD are able to keep the prices for their Craftsman mowers down because they manufacture much of it in-house and they also bring in a sizeable profit from all of their private label contributions.

If $3,000 is still too rich for your blood, and it is for most people, Craftsman mowers are often purchased in used condition or completely refurbished.

Craftsman Lawn Mower Replacement Parts

This is a source of confusion for many Craftsman owners and it’s because Craftsman has jumped from hand to hand over the years, with numerous brands owning the company.

When it comes to replacement parts, who to turn to?

Almost all Craftsman lawn mowers manufacture in the year 2018 and afterward, are going to need MTD parts to replace worn or broken parts.

In fact, Craftsman customer service agents will frequently refer their customers to MTD when it comes to finding the right part.

Since MTD does the vast majority of the manufacturing, you don’t have to worry much about a multitude of different manufacturers all contributing to the same platform with all of their different parts.

All Things Considered

Craftsman mowers are now owned and manufactured by MTD. Over the years, Craftsman has caught a bit of a bad rep, thanks to some previous ownership not directing many resources to the Craftsman brand.

Fortunately, MTD has a better reputation and that should mean, as the year’s progress, better and more improved Craftsman Lawn mowers.

References

https://www.craftsman.com/products/outdoor-tools-equipment/lawn-garden/lawn-mowers