Post Your Riding Mowers, New and Old

toxcrusadr · May 27, 2015

We were talking in another thread about mowers and someone said it was time for a riding mower thread.

The big news at Camp Tox is all the mowers WORK this spring. :thmbsp: I post a thread almost every year with some kind of problem that I need help with. Well last year I sold off the old MTD (that didn't have a mower deck anyhow), moved the old Sears rider to the rural property, and bought a brand new John Deere D125 to use at home. I gotta say the darn thing really runs, starts every time, cuts fast, and that hydrostatic transmission is just SO easy.

My first mower - in the early '90s - was one of these: ca. 1972 Sears ST-16, single-cylinder 16 hp with a cast iron block. :thmbsp: That deck belt was 99 inches, I think.

What a beast. It had grease-able deck bearings though.

toxcrusadr · May 27, 2015

I was recently in a vintage equipment building at a small town fairgrounds in Nebraska and saw something I would not have imagined: A tiny Cub Cadet with hydraulics and a loader on it. Opened up the hood and the motor was 12 hp. I have no idea how well this thing worked but it's pretty cool. Looked just like this one:

usedto · May 27, 2015

My wife wanted a riding mower, so I bought her one.

toxcrusadr · May 27, 2015

Will it trim hedges if you pop a wheelie?

gadget73 · May 27, 2015

Those old Cub Cadets were surprisingly more functional than you might expect. That looks like a 1960s or early 70s model. They don't have a high volume hydro pump, but they will get the job done as long as you don't mind slow speed operation. Lack of ballast might be a problem too. I don't see wheel weights in there.

Friend of mine has a 1968 Cub Cadet 125 that he's planning to give to me once he gets th right deck for it. We got the motor running, and he got the hydro working. Its got a 10hp instead of the proper 12hp, but it seems to be a healthy engine. I'm sort of looking forward to that. I have an early 2000's TroyBilt thats kind of a POS. I've kept it going a while, but its just not built real well. Plastic sleeves for wheel bearings? what? I was able to melt a coat hanger or two into the spindle to replace the metal that was ground away when one of those failed. Probably burned more acetylene than the spindle was worth.

BigElCat · May 27, 2015

We have a 1967 MTD. It's shaft drive to a hydrostat, with a category 0 hydraulic 3-point lift in back. It needs electrical work. My folks spent $400 on a new starter/generator for it.

I'm going to get it to my house someday.

Here's one similar;

ETLS · May 27, 2015

Old Clinton motor on the Montgomery Wards tiller. It doesn't appear to be original to the tiller and the gas tank isn't original.

whoaru99 · May 27, 2015

Not a great pic but here's the Simplicity. 23hp Kohler twin, hydrostatic drive with diff lock, power steering, and hydraulic lift. 54" mower deck, and have snow blower attachment too.

Kingshead · May 27, 2015

Had one similar to this only mine had the hydrostatic transmission. These Wheel Horse tractors are beasts, wish I hadn't had to sell mine.

gadget73 · May 27, 2015

We had a Wheel Horse like that at the marina I used to work at. It wasn't a hydro drive though.

BruceRPA · May 27, 2015

I had this John Deere 212 for just over 30 years. It had a 12horse single cylinder Kohler engine. It ran great when I sold it to a collector a couple of years ago to buy the Cub zero turn in the last picture.

As much as I like the new Cub zero turn machine, the thing that I miss about the JD is, well, my wife would drive the JD.

She still is afraid of the Cub.

toxcrusadr · May 27, 2015

Wow, 30 years and it's clean enough to eat off of. Nice.

My FIL has a JD 110 he mows the back lot with. Heavy beast for a small mower, it's got a lot of cast iron and steel on it. Last year I went to visit and he'd put out the snowblower and blade attachments in the driveway for scrap. I said what's the deal? Secretly hoping to inherit the JD, and could have used those. He said nobody does their own snow anymore, they just hire people. I'm thinking, you're 84, and YOU don't do your snow anymore, but what about the rest of us? Dangit. I don't think he had a clue how well built that stuff was or what it would cost to replace it. :sigh:

Mark W. · May 27, 2015

Not mine but I do have the Willys and I would like one.

sKiZo · May 27, 2015

What, no love for ZTR?

I love my lil Husqvarna BioClip. The front deck is handy for trimming up tight under bushes. Spin it around a tree, cut square corners ... and no tillers to deal with, so I can still hold my beer!

The deck rotates up for easy maintenance. Never bag trimmings either. Triple level Swedish steel blades make it all disappear. If the grass is really long, I might see a trail of green mist behind me ... it's magic!

exhippy · May 28, 2015

sKiZo said:
What, no love for ZTR?

I love my lil Husqvarna BioClip. The front deck is handy for trimming up tight under bushes. Spin it around a tree, cut square corners ... and no tillers to deal with, so I can still hold my beer!

The deck rotates up for easy maintenance. Never bag trimmings either. Triple level Swedish steel blades make it all disappear. If the grass is really long, I might see a trail of green mist behind me ... it's magic!

Sweet Husky! I had a Husky 400 dirt bike when I was a teenager back in the mid-'70s. It didn't cut the grass. It just made ruts in the ol' man's backyard. Boy, did he get pissed!

I don't have enough property to warrant a rider, so I push.

There's a guy a few blocks away from me that has a rider with a Lazy Boy attached to it. I've never seen it up close, but it looks like he cut off the bottom and somehow attached it to the rider. The first time I saw him cutting his front yard I almost ran into a parked car in the street. Next time I'll stop for pics. Kinda funny...

MaxxVolume · May 28, 2015

Scott`s Model 2554, 25 HP Kohler twin, 54-inch deck. Built by John Deere.

RuffzGuts · May 28, 2015

Toro groundmaster 72

Here's my beast, shes not very happy at the moment...I picked this up a couple of years ago after a horse dying...with the 6' deck it eats big areas when going well..
but as you can see shes a bit tired, the hoods off at the moment as been doing a bit of work on it...looks like it needs a head gasket...any experienced old toro mechanics on board? I've replaced points cap and rotor, its misfiring and blowing a bit of white smoke under load...no oil in water though I'm pretty sure its a head gasket..., no problem doing the job..i can get a full gasket kit for about 160, I'm just summing up whether its worth it as really the whole machine needs a go over...i removed the radiator which has a hydraulic cooler
and looking at state of oil the whole system needs flushed...there's a lot that needs done on it though main concern is engine...

John James · May 28, 2015

Here is mine. (Stock picture) Built by MTD. 42 inch deck, 16HP B & S engine, 7 speed tranny. I wish I could figure out how to bypass the safety cut-off when you shift to reverse.

Huskee-MTD%20LT%204200%20Tarp%20Tow%20System.jpg

BigElCat · May 28, 2015

Mark W. said:
Not mine but I do have the Willys and I would like one.

Wild stuff. Front duals AND manual steering. I bet that's a chore to drive.

jocko_nc · May 28, 2015

I cannot begin to guess how many hours I spent on a Wheelhorse very similar to the one pictured. That was the neighbors property and went about 6 acres.

My dad had an old Simplicity model that was ubiquitous at the time. He also had the vacuum trailer attachment that picked up leaves in the fall. Our grass was only three acres.

Man, when the grass got growing in the Ohio spring there was much seat time spent keeping it down.

My only venture into a decent lawn tractor was an old FMC / Bolens with the twin cylinder Onan engine and a Sundstrand hydrostat drive. Deck lift was a valve and cylinder off the charge pump. That thing was built like a beast for mere homeowner equipment. Drive was a heel-toe rocker pedal. You could do a fabulous forward-reverse skid, even on pavement.

Real similar to the one in the pic. There are so many hydraulic attachments available back then. The small garden tractor has gone so far downhill.

Post Your Riding Mowers, New and Old

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