I told you Ken,,,leave the drain plug "a little loose" so that it blows up after you start cutting the grass!!
Now comes the hard part,,,get your SWMBO a new mower "of her very own" !!! OR get her some fencing and a goat or two!
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With this little gem here now, I can sip mint tea while SWMBO cuts the grass!
Go ahead, ask her next time you are here who's tractor the Deere is.
Karl: That's a really nice tractor alright! Deere builds some fairly heavy duty equipment. That should be great to attache a snow blower to or possible some rear implement such as a drag blade as I believe you can get a three point hitch for it if it doesn't come with one?
Dad and I had an older David Bradley [DB] Riding tractor that Sears used to sell which had a very heavy duty frame to it like some of the little larger Deere's. We also bought most all of the various implements for it as it had a three point hitch on it. Not as heavy as the Deere's but with the X bracing attached to it, it worked just fine. He rigged up an 18" rotary lawn mower with a tow bar that we used to pull behind it and we'd keep about two acres of ground mowed down but what a pain as we made turns due to the over lap problem especially. So it meant going back over an area several times to cut down what you missed on the pass before. Oh, I'm talking field Oats and grass that easily can get to be two and three feet tall.
So when Dad passed away in 1989, God rest his Soul, I realize I needed something with a lot more capability to use on my acreage. I had been looking at a tractor that Montgomery & Ward sold which I liked the looks of the best and I worked for them too for awhile, but Dad had always leaned towards the Sears tractor so after he passed away, in early '89 I bought an 18 Hp, High wheel Garden tractor with a Briggs & Stratton Horizontally opposed engine and a manual transmission with three gear ranges with a high & low setting also, giving me essentially 6 speeds forward and 2 in reverse and a fairly heavy duty frame. It also has a triple blade 44" mowing deck to it and that really mad the mowing a lot easier and faster, but when it comes to the tall Oats & grass some of it still gets laid down and not cut on the first pass. The only problem was it didn't have the ability to accept a three point hitch like the old DB had on it and all of our implements required to be attached. So I got to looking at the three point hitch and talked to my neighbor friend who a machinist and also knows how to weld about an idea I had on how to possibly convert the old three point hitch to work with the new garden tractor and he helped me rigg it up and I've been using it ever since. In fact I may be one of the few guys who have a Craftsman Garden tractor with a 3 l^l point hitch on it. Oh, I did find I had to also stiffen the back hitch frame to withstand the gaff but once I did that everything has been fine. I tried to find the shots I took prior of it but they don't seem available any more?
Since getting the tractor I increased the area I mowed to three acres and have mowed as much as five at times.
Anyway, a decent size tractor really can cut the work load/ effort back considerably.
Oh say, I just happened to think, I would believe that Deere has a cab attachment for your tractor so when the weather gets cold and Snowy you can, Oh, I mean your wife, can ride in comfort to clear the drive of snow and such. Maybe you can even hire her out to clean the neighbors areas?? Extra train money? LoL
Karl, I'll see your Deere and raise you THIS:
This machine got an average rating of 4.6 out of 5.0 among 203 reviewers. I like the 50" mowing deck, with 2 acres of grass I need to save as much time as possible and this will do it!
Say Ken: That also looks like a nice riding mower for smooth even ground but I don't think it would handle anything like my property being so uneven. Indeed I have to ride my tractor side saddle in several cases as I'm going along a bank area which is at least a 45* slope for a bit so I get plenty of exercise shifting my weight from one side to side by having my feet on either side of the center console especially when making U turns on some hill sides which requires I turn around, I go from one side of the seat to the other to maintain my center of gravity in the process of making the turn.
Karl and Ken .... You ain't seen nothin' ....
Say Garry: What make of older tractor is that? It looks familiar but I can't place it.
Say Bill: I didn't realize they made a quad with a body that resembles a Jeep, let alone with a belley mower under it. That's kind of cool but as stated above to Ken I need to shift my weight quite a bit and something like what you have doesn't like it would work too well for my place but I imaging you have a much flatter area to contend with?
Again, I'd love to post some pictures of my tractor but I can't seem to find the ones I know I had? Probably they are on my old hard drive. It's been a very serviceable tractor with only minor problems. Right when I got it I put an Hour meter on it which now reads 1,005.0 Hrs.
