[Fishman43]

Sorry for the noob question(s). What garden tractors came with PTO? I am interested in searching for a unit but would PTO as an option ( tiller, snow blower, etc). Thanks in advance!

 

[davidg]

we need a little clarification, the deck is driven by PTO. do you mean a 2nd rear PTO?

 

[Cat385B]

Are we sticking to a certain speed pto here? 540, 2000, W-AO?
Traditional steel rear shaft, with real pto shafts? Or is belt-driven acceptable? Cause my belt driven can kick someone's rusty old shaft right into the dirt.
Are we including Case/Ingersoll? They kinda have it, by some strange magic potion, via two hoses. Two hoses might be better than one, who am I to say?

 

[Fishman43]

You will have to forgive me as I am on the steep side of the learning curve here. I have tuned and built everything from two stroke one cylinder bikes to an o,d Chevy Nova and a Willys panel wagon, but I don't know much about garden tractors other than I am looking forward to wrenching on one.

I was thinking a rear (and front?) PTO so as to power a tiller or snow blower. I only know of shaft PTO options not belts. 540 shaft speed is common on larger tractors but I don't know on garden tractors. I am up for learning about it all.

 

[mbrun]

Sorry for the noob question(s). What garden tractors came with PTO? I am interested in searching for a unit but would PTO as an option ( tiller, snow blower, etc). Thanks in advance!

All tractors have a PTO of some sort. That is what is used to drive the mower on LTs and GTs. In a high percentage of tractors this is a pulley that is electrically or mechanically engaged. So in answer to your question, all garden tractors have a PTO. With this PTO belts are used to drive the various implements your describe.

Some Heavier duty GT have a rear PTO. If the tractor has one of these then rear shaft drive implements can be used. So are you looking for tractors that have these extra PTO on the rear (and perhaps front)?

In the current generation John Deere line you have to be in the x700 series and above to get a rear PTO.

 

[Fishman43]

Sorry, to be more clear yes I am looking for and additional PTO and an older garden tractor like thie one on my local CL:

http://nh.craigslist.org/grd/2825643234.html

But then I see one like this and don't know if it has a rear or front PTO:

http://nh.craigslist.org/grd/2833625167.html

 

[Cat385B]

You will have to forgive me as I am on the steep side of the learning curve here.

Heck, you know larger tractors have a 540, you're almost there. The amount of GT's that have a similar pto (540 rpm) are few. Older Cub Cadets. New JD X700 series. Before that in the JD line up:

X575, X585, X595
X400's
425, 445, 455

The oldest of those (425, 445, 455) started production in 1993. Before that, all the JD's with a rear pto had 2000 rpm ptos. (300 series, 400, 420, 430)

Simplicity built a heavy GT from the late 80's thru the 90's, called the Sunstar, sold under several brand names, including Deutz, Massey, and Agco. It has a W-AO rear pto.

Others will chime in to correct my mistakes, and add others.

 

[Cat385B]

The Sears won't have a rear pto, I believe.

The Simplicity has a belt-driven rear pto. Not a shaft, but rear attachments have a belt and pulley setup to attach to it. Like this:

 

[Fishman43]

Oh wow, didn't expect that at all. The CL photo looks like a shaft collar sticking off the rear of the diff.

 

[Fishman43]

So I have seen posts here of three point hitches and hydrolic lifts/power at the rear. Are those custom jobs? I guess I am/was hoping for a "mini" tractor without getting into SCUT territory and price.

 

[Cat385B]

So I have seen posts here of three point hitches and hydrolic lifts/power at the rear. Are those custom jobs? I guess I am/was hoping for a "mini" tractor without getting into SCUT territory and price.

Nope, not custom at all. Nearly all Garden Tractors had an optional rear hitch. Whether it be a Category 0 three point hitch, a sleeve (one point) hitch, or something brand specific. (like older Sears, with a narrow 3 point, or the Homelite (Simplicity, rebadged) I pictured with its 3 point of a different configuration)

Most garden tractors have a shaft (rockshaft) mounted on the underside of the tractor, that have tabs welded to it. That shaft is attached to a lift lever (manual) or a electric or hydraulic cylinder. Those tabs are attached via cable, shaft, spring, rod, whatever, to lift an attachment. Or the rear lift.

First picture, a Case with the hydraulic lift cylinder attached to the rockshaft. Second pic, a JD 318 rockshaft pulled out of a tractor, and third, a Simplicity with the electric lift option. The electric actuator is the black cylinder mounted above.

 

[Cat385B]

And you definitely don't have to get into a SCUT to get something that can do hard work, and use all sorts of attachments.

 

[TUDOR]

Massey Ferguson MF1450/1650/1655/1855 all had rear PTOs and 3PHs available as options at the rear, and the 1655/1855s had front and mid shaft drive PTOs as well. The other 2 used belt drives for front and mid instead.

 

[OldBuzzard]

BOLENS tractors have live PTO on all of their Tube Frame and Large Frame models, and all of the attachments, front and rear are shaft driven.

Rated PTO speed is 2000 RPM which I think is the 'standard' for GTs.

The gear driven tube frames had an optional hydraulic lift available while ALL of the hydrostatic Bolens have hydraulic lift as standard. The 1886, HT18, HT20 and HT23 large frames also have dual hydraulics which allowed for options like power blade angling and lifting from the driver seat.

All of the tube and large frames had a sleeve hitch available, and the large frames also had a 3-pt hitch available.

 

[gburnett]

The standard for garden tractors with rear PTO was set by the Simplicity PowerMax series back in the early 70's and in my estimation hasn't been beaten yet.It has a direct shaft with an electric clutch that goes to the rearend and the PTO power is thru gears in the rear with the output on the back.2000RPM PTO too BTW.Also had one of the best if not the best Cat 0 3pt hitch ever put on a garden tractor.They are a heavy duty rugged unit.Some of the other better garden tractor rear PTOs in my opinion are the large Massey Ferguson like the 1650 and 1655,Craftsman FF series which has a 1000 and 2000 RPM gearbox,Cub cadet 82 and 84 series.

 

[Fishman43]

So the Simplicity in my post #6 does have a shaft driven PTO? Is this a worth while GT and price to get me started? Thanks all!

 

[gburnett]

The Simplicity in that post is a lawn mower not even a Garden tractor and about 1/4 the size of the Power Max which are Simplicity Models 4040,4041 and 9020 which are the same tractors as the Allis Chalmers 616,620 and 720.

 

[Fishman43]

OK thanks, I am certainly learning as I go!

 

[Dane in PA]

Cub Cadets are good tractors, with hydro lift, and 3-pts and sleeve hitches.

 

[Nouveau Redneck]

If you want something new that's not as expensive as the X700 series that can run a front mounted snow blower and a rear mounted tiller, the current X500 series from JD has the ability to run a rear tiller and front snow blower via the same belt pulley PTO that drives the mower deck.