Joined
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796 Posts
Got one of these last year for my birthday to replace my bad cutting salvage R70 for mowing, I have used it for one summer so far. It has been a wonderful running tractor with only a few annoyances, which are below. It is a six speed tractor with pretty much just the basics, the way I like them.
The engine is a 17.5 OHV Briggs. It has a tendency to hunt on startup. It will sit and kind of run on and off until it gets going warm. This is my only complaint about the engine. Its quiet, smooth, and overall a great runner.
The chassis is fairly well built, it seems solid for a lower-end lawn tractor. The reason I got it is because it is the only tractor with a fender-mounted shifter. I despise hydrostatics, after having to drive one, and never much liked the shifters that were like throttles on the dash.
The deck however has a bad vibration when its on, it is mostly smooth then a semi-rough shake then smooth again in an even pattern, its almost as if a pulley or belt is out of balance or maybe a blade is off balance. This may just be that my tractor has a flaw. It also has no deck wheels, this allows it to go down into the grass more on the sides, leaving gouged cuts in my uneven yard.
The wiring is somewhat of an annoyance as it is loose where it's running to the lights, and without being taped up into the hood it rests on either the exhaust of the valve covers causing the wiring to melt and make a mess, as well as cause bare wire. This I found out the hard way, so now that is taped up nice.
The tires are somewhat hard, but most modern tractor tires are from my experience and this is why I have a tendency to keep the pressure down on my oldies. The mowing gear is also somewhat slow, it says to use third but that is the speed of second gear on most tractors, so I run in fourth which is just fine. The clutch/brake is also a bit touchy.
To be honest I mainly mentioned the negatives there. The positives are the fact that its a good well-geared easy-running tractor. It always starts right up and will run a good hour and a half on a full tank while mowing moderately thick grass. I can do about an acre on a tank, which is around what this was made for. It has good maneuverability although the steering takes a few more turns to crank it around than most. It's responsive engine-wise and quiet, very strong brakes that will stop you on a dime. This is the first new tractor I myself have owned and I just put it away back in September. It will be coming out again some time around April, so pics will be gotten. It'll get a good wash and wax and a nice dusting off. I love the looks of the tractor and the lights are good and bright. It has been a nice experience knowing that parts wont fall off and that it will start right up when its needed to.
Overall I'd give this tractor a four and a half star rating, just because of the slight bugs, but overall I really like it and intend to keep it for a very long time.
