Troy-Bilt TB310B Self-Propelled Lawn Mower Review: This Gas-Powered Mower Is Perfect for Small to Medium Yards and So Easy to Set Up

Keeping your lawn mowed and maintained is hard work, and yet it shouldn’t be difficult. When I was asked to review the Troy-Bilt XP 21 in. 163 cc Briggs and Stratton ReadyStart Engine 3-in-1 Gas RWD Self-Propelled Lawn Mower, I said yes immediately. I’m no stranger to Troy-Bilt yard products or lawn mowers. It’s a quality brand and I soon learned that this particular lawn mower fit right into Troy-Bilt's stellar offerings.

Over the course of a few weeks, I discovered how easy it was to start this lawn mower and use it to mulch and bag the clippings in my yard. Best yet, with a self-propel feature, I could effortlessly move the mower up and down the slopes in my yard. The drawbacks of this lawn mower were so few, especially compared to the pros.

As someone who has half an acre yard, I can confidently say that this 21-inch (53.3 cm) deck mower is one of the best gas types of lawn mowers suited for small to medium yards.

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Alex Temblador

Alex Temblador has been reviewing household products since 2020. She has tested everything from vacuums to coffee machines, mattresses, gardening tools, hot tubs, and more. Alex reviewed the Troy-Bilt XP 21 in. 163 CC Briggs and Stratton ReadyStart Engine 3-in-1 Gas RWD Self-Propelled Lawn Mower in the backyard of her 104-year-old home in the Dallas, Texas area.

Key Specs

Price & Availability

The Troy-Bilt TB310B lawnmower is priced at $519 on the Troy-Bilt website. The price tag makes sense, especially since the lawn mower has self-propel capabilities and can mulch and bag clippings. Even the fact that the user doesn't have to choke the engine to start it up adds to the quality of the product.

Setup

If you’re new to cutting the grass and lawnmowers, you’ll be glad to hear that setting up this particular one isn’t difficult, though it does take about 5-10 minutes to complete. The lawn mower arrived in a large box on a wood pallet. After moving the box off the pallet, I cut the sides of the box so that they fell flat, allowing me to roll the lawn mower out.

The lawn mower itself comes nearly assembled. I only had to lift the handle and add the side discharge chute or the bag, if I wanted.

The handle was folded down against the lawn mower. When storing the lawn mower away, you can fold the handle again. To lift the handle, I had to remove the T-bolts near the back wheels and then lift the handle until the holes aligned before I could screw the T-bolts back in.

There are also T-bolts in the middle part of the handle. I also adjusted those so the handle was at the height I needed. Truthfully, these T-bolts are a bit of a hassle, especially considering that Troy-Bilt offers lawnmowers with EZ-fold handle release levers, making adjusting the handle quicker and easier.

From there, I cut the zip tie from the side of the handle to pull the starter rope and place it in the rope guide.

I grabbed the oil pouch in the packaging and added the entire thing to the oil container. Next, I added fresh gas and then adjusted the wheel height. While the front wheels are very easy to change, I had a lot of trouble adjusting the back wheels.

To adjust the wheels, I had to pull a lever on the wheels out, move it to the left or the right, and fit it on another spoke. Pulling the lever out was a struggle. While it was easier to move the lever to the left, it was almost impossible to move that lever to the right, thus lifting the wheels higher.

For the first testing session, I added the side discharge chute to the deck (and left the plug in the back) as I prefer to mulch my grass clippings and let them discharge out the side.

Design

This Troy-Bilt lawn mower is a gas-powered push lawn mower with a 21-inch (53.3 cm) deck, making it better equipped to handle small-to-medium yards. It’s designed with rear-wheel drive rather than front-wheel drive, which results in improved wheel traction, especially when cutting grass on a hill.

The 163cc Briggs & Stratton engine is easy to start thanks to Troy-Bilt’s ReadyStart technology. In the past, many gas lawnmowers required choke starting – or pressing a plastic button a few times so that it filled with gas. With this lawn mower, there is no choke. You only need to pull the recoil starter rope once or twice for the lawn mower to start.

There are six deck positions, which means the cutting height ranges from 1.25 to 3.75 inches (3.2-9.5 cm). When the lever is placed on the spokes toward the front of the mower, the deck is closer to the ground. Alternatively, when the lever is placed on the spokes in the direction of the back of the mower, the deck lifts.

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If you need to adjust the handle for your height, you can do so by unscrewing the T-bolts and arranging it to your liking before screwing the bolts back in.

Above the handle is the blade control. When you start the lawn mower, it must be held down toward the handle, or the mower won’t start. It’s also what keeps the mower running. Let go of it and the mower stops.

To manage the self-propulsion speed, you pull on the dual levers below the handle. The more you squeeze them, the faster the mower goes. The maximum speed of the self-propulsion feature is 3.7 mph.

In addition to an integrated mulch plug, the lawn mower comes with a 2.3-bushel grass bag and a side discharge chute, both of which can be used or removed.

Performance

One of my favorite aspects of this lawn mower is that it doesn’t require a choke to start the engine. It only took me one or two pulls of the coil rope for the engine to start every time.

My hands felt comfortable gripping the blade control and the self-propel levers throughout the mowing process. I was so thankful for the self-propel feature, especially since I have quite a large yard.

At 86.5 lbs (39.2 kg), this Troy-Bilt mower is not the heaviest 21-inch (53.3 cm) push lawn mower on the market, but it’s not something you want to push around for an hour on your own.

Granted, a maximum speed of 3.7 mph isn’t the fastest among self-propelled mowers, but it’s average. When set at max speed, I walked briskly without the lawn mower getting away from me.

As someone with many slopes in their yard, including one ditch, the self-propel feature was a game changer. I can’t quickly push 86.5 lbs (39.2 kg) of metal up my hills without struggling (or hurting myself). But I didn’t have to do that thanks to the self-propel feature. Instead, the self-propel feature propelled the lawn mower up the slopes with little effort on my part.

Some of the slopes in my yard require me to mow stripes up and down, while others require back-and-forth mowing. When I mowed the slopes back and forth, I noticed the rear-wheel drive, as it prevented the lawn mower from slipping down the slope.

Some areas of my yard had higher, thicker grass, and it would have been nice to have been able to lift the lawn mower slightly. However, since I had a lot of difficulty raising the deck of the lawn mower, especially on the back wheels, I decided to power through the grass despite how difficult it was. The lever design is my biggest issue with the lawn mower.

Most of the time, I used the side discharge chute or nothing, as I don’t mind the mulched grass clippings in my yard. I tested the mower's mulching capabilities on a pile of leaves that I removed from my flower beds, and it quickly shredded them.

I did use the grass bag once, just to make sure it worked. It took me a few minutes to attach it, but once I did, it caught the clippings, which were easy to deposit in the trash.

All in all, I had no real issues with this lawn mower and it performed remarkably well in mowing my lawn.

Maintenance

If you invest in this Troy-Bilt lawn mower, you must know it will require maintenance. It’s no more maintenance than other gas lawnmowers, but it’s more than you’d have to do for a battery-powered mower.

First, you'll need to keep the deck clean of grass clippings. Use a blower to remove clippings around the engine and the top of the deck. You can screw a lawn hose to the deck wash adaptor and wash the bottom of the deck with water. If you don’t do this, the grass will get stuck on the underside of the deck and need to be removed with a scraper.

You will have to sharpen your mower blade or replace it occasionally. You should also check the oil intermittently throughout the cutting season to see if you need to add more. Spark plugs and the air filter must also be replaced once a year.

Before storing tools in the winter, run the lawn mower until it’s empty of gas. Also, remember to give the lawn mower a thorough cleaning.

User Reviews

This Troy-Bilt lawn mower has about 50 reviews, which average around a four-star rating out of five stars (some of the reviews on one site were also found on other sites).

Reviewers rave over how easy this lawn mower is to start. Many others appreciate its mulching capability and the self-propel features. A few were disappointed that some parts around the wheels were made of plastic and were not durable.

Would I Buy the Troy-Bilt TB310B?

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How Does the Troy-Bilt TB310B Compare?

How I Tested the Troy-Bilt TB310B

After mowing my half-acre yard a few times, I got a good sense of this lawn mower and its features, from the pull start to its mulching capabilities and everything in between.

Because my yard is full of slopes, large spaces, obstacles, and different varieties of grass, I was able to provide some great insights into the features of this lawn mower and, ultimately, which the mower will best suit your grass cutting needs.