[AT] Yard Man mower 1 year update

[dfolske at nccray.net]

We bought a Huskee from TSC about 4 years ago. and mow about 4 1/2 acres with it. It 
was a couple of steps up from the cheapest. It's been a good mower but I wish I had 
gone up another step or two. The Briggs V-Twin is great. The deck has been ok. This 
does not have the cast front axle and has bushings in the front spindles and wheels 
which are showing a lot of wear. The biggest problem has been the manual deck lift. A 
flat blade on the lift handle fits into notches on the side of the dash to set the cutting 
height or hold it fully lifted. I've had to build up the blade with the welder and renotch the 
register? a couple of times. We have a lot of tight corners and small areas that my wife 
will spend an hour mowing with the tractor what can be done in 10 minutes with a push 
mower so the front end and steering gets a lot more wear than the 4 1/2 acres would 
normally call for.

Dan

On 26 Apr 2005 at 9:32, Indiana Robinson wrote:

> 	Weather note: I recall a wooden (with glass tube) thermometer that my folks had that 
> said (from memory) "What a blamed infernal thing this pesky weather is. First it blew, 
> then it snew and now by jing its friz"... Its been that kind of week after being quite 
> warm for a while. Raining at the moment.
> 
> 	I thought a few might be interested in a one year update on the Yard Man (MTD built) 
> lawn tractor I bought new last spring. Some may recall that I said then that as a past 
> lawnmower / small engine mechanic I had been a long time non believer in the stuff like 
> MTD, Murry etc. stamped out cheap mowers. I had gotten to looking and decided that MTD 
> had grown up a lot especially if you moved up a few models from the bottom of the pile. I 
> had talked to several owners that were quite happy. I last bought a brand new mower back 
> about 1966 and had since been buying older better line tractors and fixing them up. Last 
> spring when the deck on my old Wheel Horse was having a total nervous break down due to 
> the patches being 4 patches deep and still coming apart I bit the bullet and bought a 20 
> HP Yard Man from Wally World. I wanted something ready to go out and mow without 
> repairing it first. I started looking at the $999 special and moved up a couple of steps 
> to the 2 cylinder with the cast iron front axle model. IIRC I paid about $1300 for it.
> 	We have used it very heavy now for a year and I am happy to report that it has been 
> absolutely great. It has been almost completely trouble free. I said we used it heavy... 
> We mowed about 6 - 7 acres with it and last year we were cutting a lot of tough old stuff 
> that had only been bush-hogged in the past. There were some areas and lots that last 
> spring were as tall as the hood of the tractor and a lot of the yard was over the front 
> tires before we bought the tractor. That kind of mowing was really tough on the deck belt 
> and I wore one out last year. I also replaced one tiny spring on the deck. I must buy it 
> a set of blades this year as we have about worn the originals to a frazzle. The cutting 
> edges are not all that bad but running all of that rough material through it has worn the 
> paddles off of the top of the back edge so it does not throw out the grass quite as 
> aggressively in this wet weather. Everything else seems to be just like it was when we 
> bought it. I forget how many "name brands" are now produced by MTD but it is a lot of 
> them. Troy-Bilt for one. I think Cub-Cadet too. Lots of store brands too like Huskee 
> (TSC) etc.
> 	I had planned to just keep this one one year then buy a new one and sell this one. I 
> looked it over this spring and can't find a reason to replace it. Maybe next year... At 
> this point I would buy another like it in a flash. I recently looked at the model that 
> replaced this one and I believe it has 2 more HP and an improved seat adjustment. My 
> daughter in TN just bought a new one (with the Troy-Bilt name) last week. Hers came from 
> Lowes.
> 	One note. I do not consider this a load pulling/snow plow tractor except for maybe a 
> small cart. If pulling is in your needs give that careful consideration.
> 	I know some will never buy an MTD built product (though a few may have and not known it) 
> and others are stuck on one brand or one color. That is fine. I just posted this for some 
> that have maybe been looking and wondering and maybe don't have quite as deep of pockets 
> available to them as others...
> 
> 	What else can I say, I'm happy with it.   :-)
> 
> -- 
> "farmer", Esquire
> At Hewick Midwest
>       Wealth beyond belief, just no money...
> 
> Paternal Robinson's here by way of Norway (Clan Gunn), Scottish Highlands,
> Cleasby Yorkshire England, Virginia, Kentucky then Indiana. In America 100 
> years 
> before the revolution.
> 
> 
> Francis Robinson
> Central Indiana USA
> robinson at svs.net
> 
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