Why This Craftsman, Isn't.

 The problem is that Craftsman was a Sears & Roebuck brand, and that ended when Sears decided to end their existence by entering Chapter-11, and disappearing from the market. Sure you can still buy Craftsman branded products, but now they are basically higher End Black & Decker, as they were sold off to the Stanley, Black and Decker, DeWalt brand.
Sears did not manufacture the product, however they were not made by MTD.

Craftsman By MTD

This mower, being an MTD, is definitely not the Craftsman of Old, completely made by a totally different company, considering the model number of the mowers usually started with a "944", vs 

Old Craftsman Mower from 1989

 MTD with a model number usually like 11A or 12A, and this Craftsman started with a 11A for the model number, meaning it's just a rebranded MTD product. Not the quality that Craftsman used to be.
Does that make this a bad mower? Not exceptionally, other than the fact that the deck is thin, and the engine is clunky, and poorly built.  It's a Powermore engine, which is a poorly made Chinesuem engine, which MTD is one of the sole sellers of.
Would much rather have Tecumseh make a comeback, as at least those were manufactured in the USA, vs China.

While I did the repair, I found that it was a fairly simple mower, simple design, simple operation, and simply made to fail.  Longevity is definitely not built into these newer models at all, but that seems to be par for the course lately.

Sadly, it's at the point where they pretty much only make junk these days. You either buy poorly built Battery operated equipment, that usually fails within 3-5 years, and the batteries often become obsolete by the next model year, as something changes, or you buy poorly built gasoline models.  They've been bumping the prices of Gasoline models lately, trying to make the "Battery" models more "affordable", when in truth, a well maintained Gasoline Engine will outlast any battery operated model, hands down.
Just be forewarned that modern equipment, is sadly manufactured with obsolescence in mind. Nothing today is made to last, unless you have an enormous pocket, which the average person doesn't.

Personally, I would recommend buying a well maintained, used machine, as they will often outlast anything made today.

They aren't a bad mower, for what they are, and what they do, but they've been made cheaper, and cheaper, year after year.

That's the one thing I've found as I've been working on these machines.  The newer the machine, the more likely it is that it'll fail before the models it was made to replace. For the cost of these new machines, I highly recommend, buy a good, used model.

Anyway guys,

Chat soon!