[fouracres]

Yard is half covered with snow and the 4 acre feet of pond is still frozen over, good time to buy a new GT! Will have to wait a couple of weeks for delivery.

Got a really good trade in on a Ferris PROCUT30. Best way to go was the visit we made to a Ferris/Simplicity/Cub Cadet dealer that is having an open house this weekend. He said that he can move the PROCUT30 fast and gave us a good price on the Prestige. The Ferris will not cross over our two bridges, too heavy, so I won't have to use neighbor's yard.

I went to other Simplicity dealers and the trade value was a lot lower.

Is it true that if you want to trade a mower, you should go to a dealer that sells that brand?

A local JD dealer said even trade for a GT235 (18/54). Seems that the Prestige is a little more bang for the buck with power steering, hydraulic lift, deeper deck.

Bill

 

[simple_john]

congrats 4 acres.. wow that tractor was about a year in the planning huh?


great machine.. ive got a 20 hp with a 50" deck... i think they are all standard w/23 hps this year..



congrats great machine...
:fing32: :fing32: :fing32: :fing32:

 

[bontai Joe]

Yard is half covered with snow and the 4 acre feet of pond is still frozen over, good time to buy a new GT! Will have to wait a couple of weeks for delivery.

Got a really good trade in on a Ferris PROCUT30. Best way to go was the visit we made to a Ferris/Simplicity/Cub Cadet dealer that is having an open house this weekend. He said that he can move the PROCUT30 fast and gave us a good price on the Prestige. The Ferris will not cross over our two bridges, too heavy, so I won't have to use neighbor's yard.

I went to other Simplicity dealers and the trade value was a lot lower.

Is it true that if you want to trade a mower, you should go to a dealer that sells that brand?

Bill

Yes, it is true that you usually get a better deal at the dealer selling the same brand. He has parts in stock to service it before resale, and it is what most of his customers are looking for. Most places treat off brand equipment like an unwanted orphan. That's why I shop for old Deere stuff at my Simplicity and Toro dealers. They don't really want it on the lot, and I can usually get it cheaper than at Deere. By the way, congratulations on a nice tractor! I think you got a better machine than the Deere GT235. Deere has been having some carb problems with some GT235s.

 

[fouracres]

The wife says she gets the first run at mowing the yard. Might just have to post some pics of her first stripes!

simple_john

It seems like a long time planning this purchase. Lots of research. Thanks for your posts and I might keep a heat gun in the garage for the cables if I want to winter cruise the Prestige (did you post that your cables froze?), our RT5000 does the winter chores of blowing our 15 to 20 feet of snow.

I read ALL of the forums, rarely post. I was on travel in Austin last week and had a couple of hours before my flight and visited a JD dealer. Really pumped the fellow for information, he asked me if I worked for John Deere.

Trade in is all funny money but we did get a heck of a deal on the Ferris/2005 Prestige trade. The local Simplicity dealer that brought one out for a yard trial went out of business this winter. We are out of the free pick-up and delivery range for warranty/repairs but over the past 10 years our Sabre went to the dealer twice and the Honda RT5000 never in 16 years.

What really made me consider the Prestige was when I engaged that DEEP mower deck and heard the howl. Grass looked like I had spread viagra instead of fertilizer!

My only concern is that I will probably be gone when it arrives. Going to search for and recover a missile in the Bahamas or over to Indonesia to recover an AV8 Harrier.

I love my wife, but she better not...

 

[AlbanyBob]

Congrats fouracres:

I think you will be very happy with the performance of the Simplicity. Make sure you post pics of it when you get.

And be careful going for that missle we want you back.

Bob

 

[simple_john]

The wife says she gets the first run at mowing the yard. Might just have to post some pics of her first stripes!

simple_john

It seems like a long time planning this purchase. Lots of research. Thanks for your posts and I might keep a heat gun in the garage for the cables if I want to winter cruise the Prestige (did you post that your cables froze

Well 4acres.. she was the one who liked the simplicity right.. so she should get first go at it...

As for my cables freezing... yup, happened last year and this year.. but both times the tractor was in the shed.. and it was about 20 below in both cases...
the 1st time, the cables froze.. the 2nd time water had built up on the throttle lever area and froze solid..

good luck with your new machine..
and try to see if the wife will let you use it once in a while ROF

 

[simple_john]

4arcres...
does it come with a kohler or did they switch ovr to briggs?

 

[jodyand]

Glad to see you back fouracres and glad to see you bought that new tractor. Congrats and have fun with it :congrats:

 

[fouracres]

AlbanyBob

I know we will like the Prestige. Simplicitys are not big up here, pretty much box store stuff, Cub Cadet and a lot of John Deeres. As far as the missile goes, thanks for the concern but I have been doing this since the CHALLENGER blew up in 1986. I've still got 10 fingers and toes, knock wood. It's the black wire that you cut, have to watch Goldfinger again before I go. Try recovering one of those black ops helos, armed to the teeth.

simple_john

Far from having my wife's thoughts pegged, I know that she is a hands on person. She drove and LOVED an X485SE. Dealer and deal really left me with a bad taste. Found Simplicity offered basically the same for less, no brainer for me. Asked the fellow to bring out a Prestige, Legacy was too heavy for our two bridges. Cathy loved it, played right into my hand that time.. Looks like a lot of RT5000 seat time for me this year, might just put the 46" deck on it for a change.

Admin

23 Kohler Command, bet next year there will be a lot more Briggs in the line up. Nothing wrong with either, all small engines have their good and bad quirks. I've been around Kohler engines before and know how to shut them down without a backfire.

jodyand

Nice to see your name too. I remember that you have a Cub and I really went to this Ferris/Cub Cadet/Simplicity dealer to get Cathy to sit on a 3000 Cub Cadet. She did and the look on her face told me that we were getting the Prestige, oh well. Spent a month or so down your way in Morgan City one summer not too long ago resurecting some equipment for a Discovery Channel TITANIC dive. A bad drought year, HOTTT, but but the locals said it was not humid and mosquitos rarely a bother. I like to work on my yard but I'll take a good 24 hour 5 foot snowfall over that humidity! Believe it or not, but we don't have AC in our house, always cools down at night.

Now for a small hissy fit aimed at no one. As far as pictures go, we are dial-up as the local cable company deems our rural road not economical to service. Don't see the need to pay DirectTV for another dish and the monthly **** fee. I wish these forum type sites would only post a small picture with a link to the BIG pictures, up to you whether you want to see the larger picture. Most of the time I probably would opt for a pass on the download, you see the same picture on the other sites, same problem.

 

[fouracres]

bontai Joe

You are right on the money about trading in at a dealer wher your trade is sold. That's why we also went to the JD/Ferris dealer where the PROCUT was purchased. Those guys offered $1500 less than the Simp dealer for a trade to an X485SE. Made no sense to me, I walked away smilling but shaking my head over that.

 

[fouracres]

Prestige delivery update

Dealer tried to locate a 54" deck for the 23/44 he had in stock. NADA available so he ordered a 23/54 from the factory. Have to wait until next weekend...

Lots of LCO interest in the Ferris trade and he might come up early to get it next week. Said he would bring a loaner so I can roll the yard, might just get some Cub seat time after all!

Raining really hard up here, water is highest ever in the pond and the two bridges are 2" and 4" inches clear of the water (normally 1' and 2'). Pond is quite large and the outflow creek is now two creeks.

 

[simple_john]

its like a jail sentence waiting to be able to use your new machine..


the year i got mine.. the dealer delivered it in October.. all i could do was drive it to the shed and store it for the winter... (no thrower on it at that time)

I'd go out to the shed every week or so and sit on the thing.. start it up.. but there was snow everywhere and i could not do anything more than look at it and long for spring to finally get here...

man it was a long winter that year... you are lucky at least you will be able to use it year round... just gotta get it....

I dont see the book simplicity used to push on their web site.. 'picture perfect'

Heres a link at amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1575041510/qid=1112536158/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl14/102-3214741-5156956?v=glance&s=books&n=507846


its shows good examples of striping and how to do it.. its really not rocket science but it helps in the beginning...

 

[fouracres]

Admin,

Thanks for the book link.

When I got out of college I spent a couple of years land surveying. Thought I would wing the stripes by laying out some stakes centerline in the different sections of our yard and work my way out to the edges with the stripes radiating from our back deck/pool area. I like to never repeat a mowing pattern twice in a row so there will be that challenge. Probably a ninety off initial and then a 45.

Move in day of previous owner mowing...

 

[AlbanyBob]

Hey fouracres:

Is that your home and yard I see there?

Well if it is I want to come and live there and mow your lawn for you :bump9:

Nice looking place you have there.

Bob :Tractor2:

 

[fouracres]

Albanybob,

Mowing is all mine, I only have to get the wife to believe it. The main reason for this GT purchase is that she needs power steering and an HST to mow when I am gone. The Honda RT5000 has power 4ws/4wd but is manual and it's not the way for her to mow. She is getting excited about our next adolescent fantasy mowing machine.

I would let you sit out by the pond and take care of the muskrats, your call on weapons.

Up to 150 geese a day in the back sections. Pesky blue heron eats fish, have to get a decoy. Only two mating pairs of geese so far but looks like a few baby wood ducks swiming about so far.

Bill (Patiently waiting)