[clogger]

These starters are CRAP. They are not man enough for the job. I have burned out three. The reason the last one burned out was that the starter solenoid welded shut and kept the battery connected to the stalled starter, which started to smoke. I have taken apart two and found the wires all black and burned. The basic problem is that they have skimped on copper in the windings. There would be room for 50% thicker wire, but they wanted to save a few pennies.
I have had two Murray riding mowers and I am not kidding when I say I have to fix them every time I want to take them out. I have just replaced a solenoid with a heavier duty one from an automobile and need yet another starter. The belt comes off regulary. The belt tensioner spring broke; the bolts fall out of the deck levelling mechanism so they cut unevenly, and one time when my teenage daughter was mowing the lawn and that happened, it churned up dirt and flung it through the windows of my car and one window of the house costing $1000. The batteries don't hold a charge or don't get charged by the generator, so I have to charge the battery every time I want to mow the lawn. I have had two deck spindles where the aluminum flange just fatigued away and fell out due to poor quality Chinese die casting; a new spindle stripped the thread holding the pulley on, so the nut would neither tighten nor come off, so I couldn't get the pulley off and so couldn't remove the spindle. My fix was to put a second nut on to the unstripped part of the thred. If that flange ever fatigues, I will have to saw it off with an edge grinder. The hydrostatic transmission went so the mower couldn't go uphill. Both mowers suffered from blade vibration that ultimately causes the blade to cut a channel through the deck housing. The engine in one obviously threw some piston rings and smokes like a chimney. The starter ring gear, which is just made of plastic, wore its teeth down to nothing and had to be replaced. I could go on and on, but somebody needs to produce a riding mower that is man enough for the job. I have no experience with any other make, so they may all be as bad as each other.