OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Off Topics Supa-Swift SP - A Mower I've Truly Loved to Hate

SupaSwift were evidently good mowers in the early days, but possibly not so good today. As a case in point I purchased a brand new SupaSwift 757KSP a few years ago with a sturdy Kohler engine and a belt drive. I would have to say I was very disappointed. The mower had evidently been put together in a big hurry by someone in a workshop somewhere, with several critical parts missing and loose bolts everywhere. For one thing the retaining washer had been left off one of the blades, which flew off at high speed and bent one of the blades. This was about 2 days after I had purchased it! I went back to the store and received an apology and a set of complimentary blades.

But that was not the end of my mower woes. The worst problem by far was with the belt drive. The belt will not stay on the thing, no matter what I try. I buy a new belt and it goes for about three days before falling off again. It takes half an hour to put the belt back on, only to have it run off after a few laps of the lawn. This is frustrating beyond belief and always ends up with me hot and bothered and foaming at the mouth. Meanwhile the lawn does not get mowed. By the time I put the belt back on I'm too tired to mow it. Then one day the entire drive pulley fell off. I ended up putting a thread on the spindle and screwing it through to hold it on there. I thought that may have been the cause of the belt problem, but no such luck. The belt still runs off.

I've come to the conclusion it was just very badly designed. The grass catcher would not stay together until I fastened it with some nylon ties, but then every time I hit a slight bump it falls off sending grass clippings all over me. The mulcher attachment does not fit very well and for that matter does not work very well either. And despite the ball bearing wheels, the mower is extremely heavy to push without the belt.

On the plus side I guess the engine is okay, but that is about the only good thing I can say about it. LOL!

I am seriously considering selling it or trading it in. I guess we have all had mowers in our past that we have just not got along with. I had a similar bad experience with a 1990s era Italian-made Stiga ride-on. I was very relieved to watch the rear end of it leaving my driveway, even though I sold it for a loss of about $700. I spent loads of money on it but no matter how much I spent it was still plagued with every sort of problem imaginable. It had a very bad habit of losing the brakes unexpectedly. So most times the brakes worked fine, then all of a sudden you would push and get nothing. It was after I ran up the curb due to a brake failure I decided to get rid of the monster as "spare parts". But the Stiga is a whinge and whine I'll leave for another day. lol!

Mine is the OHC Hondas, expensive waste of time

Some time in the 2011-2014 bracket, Allpower Industries 'outsourced' SupaSwift mower manufacture to China. Wouldn't surprise me if they ceased to do their own design work in house as well.

Probably a rebadged Sham-li!!

G'day all
It's a shame that these once-great-brands are being used on dubious designs.
vint_mow, it would be great to get an image of your machine.

cheers
---------------
Jack

Okay, I'll try to take a photo. Nice looking machine, but plagued with lots of silly problems. I am beginning to think the plastic pulley (jockey wheel) is the cause of the problem. Plastic tends to distort easily under pressure, and plastic moving against metal parts is always a bad idea. I wonder if I could replace it with an alloy pulley of similar dimensions?

One thing to note, the mower I bought was evidently released as a small run and quickly replaced by the 767KSP. This makes me wonder if it was in some ways "experimental" and the problems were ironed out with the later models? I guess the only good point about this is it possibly makes the 757 a rare model.

Incidentally I contacted Allpower about the problems several times. I never received a single reply. Contacted one of their agents in the nearby city and was told to bring it in and they would have a look at it, but I would have to pay for any repairs as the problems were "not covered by warranty". I decided to not bother. They sold me a new belt telling me it was the official part. When I received it I found it was just a standard belt with a number on it. Looked up the number online, only to find the same belt is available for a third the price. Really, it is all about the selling these days! Service has become a thing of the past, and parts are often "no longer avalable" from the moment a new model of mower leaves the shelves.

Sounds like SS are trashing their reputation they built up over many years.

Allpower has been owned by an investor syndicate since Keith Billing, one of the ex Mobilco founding partners, sold out to them in 2007.

So the bean-counters rule; and they are the greatest corporate curse of modern times, IMHO.

Sold out all right!! I might start collecting older SupaSwifts now.