ASSEMBLED IN MEXICO. AND VERY WELL, TOO. CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

You mean Toro is outsourcing to Mexico now? You mean they aren't made in Minneapolis anymore? That sucks.

Neal

'You mean they aren't made in Minneapolis anymore?'

You, too? Its 'assembled', not 'made' in Mexico. I'm sure Toro hasn't abandoned their deck-casting facility. I still can't see how it's cheaper to send a bag of parts to Mexico and get mowers back than it is to just put them together here. I'm sure the Honda commercial engines are not 'made' in Mexico either. I will take a look at my engine tomorrow to see if I can find any clue as to origin. I can tell you that nothing on the mower or packaging said 'Made In Mexico'.

Honda engines are manufactured in one of the Carolina's

When I say "made" I meant assembled. I am suprised. I seriously thought that Toro still assembled their mowers/snowblowers etc in Minnesota. Oh well, what can you do?

Neal

Yeah, I don't really like it either, but its the mower I wanted and there are definitely no assembly problems with it.

Toro SR4 and Lawn-Boy Insight Gold lines are still assembled in Minnesota. Along with most of their commercial lines, I believe. My SR4 20092 was assembled in Minnesota.

Sad that the lower lines left the US, but when people spend days searching the internet for a $10 discount on a $300 product, that's what happens. I'm a strong believer in buying everything I can from locally-owned companies and favor American-made (not just American-branded) products. Those dollars come back to me and help strengthen my community. Most people just don't make that logical connection anymore, getting the best deal is their greatest concern. In the long run, it isn't such a great deal.

'Toro SR4 and Lawn-Boy Insight Gold lines are still assembled in Minnesota. Along with most of their commercial lines, I believe.'

Evidently not. We're talking about a 22271.

Your Duraforce was made in the USA, wasn't it? You could have rejetted.

It didn't need rejetting. It ran fine. I just got tired of 2-cycle mowers. I never liked the offset front wheel. I didn't like 'Easy-Stride' (Personal Pace). Changing modes of operation was a pain (bagging/mulching). I didn't like the process for cleaning the air filter. I didn't like occasional episodes of a stuck float dumping all the fuel on the floor. It was too loud. I feel fortunate in being able to get rid of it for what I got on ebay. I grin every time I get the 22271 out of the shed. I'll give a 10550 and $400 for one of these any day.

One thing I like about the 22271 is the steel wheels with dual sealed roller bearings. Perfect for the low usage commercial and should have been on the 22261. I always feel like Toro ripped us 22261 owners off selling a commercial mower with plastic one piece rear wheels with sleeve bearings. The wheels on the 22271 are orange versions of the steel commercial wheel Toro has used for years, with each part of the wheel avaliable separately, even the rubber tire tread can be replaced separately. Now that is nice.

Its so nice that I am currently engineering a pair of these to work on my 22261. Then I feel I will have the ultimate 2 stroke commercial mower for homeowner residential use with the rear wheels that it should have had to begin with or at least close to it.

I hope those wheels work for you on the 22261. The only thing you have to watch for on the steel wheels is corrosion from lawn fertilizer. You should take them all off and wash them each year before storage because the most likely problem area will be on the inside surfaces that you can't normally get to, particularly on the rear wheels. Just hosing them off every so often is better than nothing.

Thanks Sax, Ill post pics when I get them ready.
I usually wash my mower off after each use, especially when the grass is moist enough to collect under the deck.

From initial measurements and rough fit, it appears the holes for the gears are in the same placement for each wheel type, so I believe this will only require swapping the gears. I have a number of extra wheels, some pretty worn for thier gears.

On a side note, I noticed the new wheels arrived with a sticker on them that said assembled in mexico. I wasnt too shocked about that, but I was a bit dismayed when I separated the shells of the wheel to see made in China on the rubber tires. :(

Mission Accomplished.... works like a champ!

{{gwi:129077}}

Now that is cool.

Thanks Sax. These tires seem to grip a heck of a lot better than the stock wheels and the whole machine tracks a lot better. Im well pleased.