[AJD] Re:Chris' John Deere 111

Sat Nov 26 22:20:35 PST 2005

Hey! I've NEVER brought a lawn tractor to a show to ride around!!!!!

;-)

Greg

Sheesh, RC planes too.....too many irons my friend...

Greg Stephen
The Old Tractor Company
Stephen Equipment Company
PO Box 709
Franktown, CO 80116
303-663-5246
303-468-0377 FAX<<--GREAT WAY TO REACH ME!

On Sat Nov 26 21:28 , Chris C <jdnutinwa at yahoo.com> sent:

>Greg,
>
>      Yes,  it has the fuel tank under the hood.  I
>will try and get some pictures of it in my Yahoo file
>folers soon.  Thanks for the info.  I don't plan on
>doing much with it until spring time.  The guy I
>bought it from just had some work done to it,  and I
>have service records for it showing some of the
>repairs that you mentioned.   The person I bought it
>from said it came with the house when he bought it (he
>lives 3 miles north of me)  10 years ago.  The
>original deal paperwork says it is from Oregon.  
>Pioneeer Implement Corp.  Hermiston Ore.  
>
>      I am planning on using the little bugger to mow
>the runway for my remote controled airplanes.  My
>cousin has a 1200 foot grass runway for his
>cropduster,  I mow a secion of it shorter for my
>little planes.  Usually it is mowed with a TO30 with a
>finish mower on it,  unless he lets it get to tall,
>then the 3020 comes out with a 6' brush hog.  I keep
>about 150' of it down to about 1.5 inches for the
>little planes,  so the 111 will get to work a little. 
>That and I am going to take it to the show in Lynden
>and use it to travel around the showgrounds like all
>the fat old guys...
>
>               Chris
>
>--- greg at theoldtractorcompany.com wrote:
>
>> Chris
>> I also have lots of memories of the 111. From a
>> dealer's point of view, it was really the first 
>> real small bagger capable mowing tractor to come
>> out. We could NOT keep them in stock, felt 
>> like we sold millions of them. 
>> 
>> You mention it's an early one. I take this to mean
>> that the fuel tank is under the hood and not 
>> under the seat like later ones? Deere quickly
>> figured out that having a fuel tank up above a 
>> hot engine wasn't the best design feature and the
>> fuel tank was moved under the seat, where it 
>> remained on all subsequent tractors.
>> 
>> 11 hp B&S motor, mostly bulletproof if serviced
>> regularly, manual trans was pretty reliable 
>> too. With age we did see wear in the main shaft that
>> took power into the trans, it was even 
>> possible that the case would wear from the shaft and
>> then we had to basically replace most of 
>> the transaxle. A few keys or gears would shear from
>> time to time also. The mower was a steady 
>> performer except the main pulley shaft required
>> fairly regular bearing replacement as did a lot 
>> of the idlers. We noticed that when one idler went
>> the others would soon follow. 
>> 
>> The first units had the big one bag bagger, later
>> ones had the better two bag bagger system.
>> Also a hydrostat option was added later in
>> production and was dubbed the 111H. More power is 
>> always better so the big brother 116 was offered. A
>> twin cylinder engine and more power but 
>> basically the same otherwise. Also a hydrostat was
>> available on the 116. 
>> 
>> Deere next offered the one year wonder, the 112L (so
>> as not to confuse with the venerable 112)
>> This was the intial offering of the Kawasaki engine
>> in a lawn tractor from Deere. It was an 
>> instant hit and Deere quickly announced the
>> 160/170/180. And talk about selling, the new 
>> Kawasaki powered lawn tractors were unbelievable
>> performers and sold like wildfire. I think we 
>> only had two engine failures in all the years they
>> were out and both were operator neglect. 
>> Great tractors and solid mowers too.
>> 
>> The first lawn tractors I sold were 111's (my first
>> customer's name was Brad Doors and I 
>> actually ran into him last year,we swapped stories
>> and enjoyed talking about his old lawn 
>> tractor)but I heeded the siren call of the Rust God
>> after the 180's and left sales, at least so 
>> far as new lawn equipment went and went to the parts
>> side once and for all.
>> 
>> I think a 111 in good condition is an excellent
>> choice for an all around mower. I suppose you 
>> could spend some time collecting all the variations
>> in that family too.
>> 
>> If you need any info, I know for certain I've kept
>> all the sales books on these series so let 
>> me know.
>> 
>> Enjoy, it should serve you well
>> 
>> Greg
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Greg Stephen
>> The Old Tractor Company
>> Stephen Equipment Company
>> PO Box 709
>> Franktown, CO 80116
>> 303-663-5246
>> 303-468-0377 FAX
>> 
>> On Fri Nov 25 23:17 , Chris C jdnutinwa at yahoo.com>
>> sent:
>> 
>> >LOL I accidentally sent this to Dean instead of the
>> >entire list...Sorry for the duplicate Dean...
>> >
>> >Howdy all,
>> >
>> >     I picked up a 111 Lawn mower with a bagger off
>> of
>> >Craigs list.  The main reason I wanted it is simply
>> >becasue my grandpa used to have one and I have a
>> >picture of me mowing with it when I was much
>> younger. 
>> > This one is much earlier than the one he had,  but
>> it
>> >seems to run well,  looks pretty good (original)
>> and
>> >has a bagger with it.   I don't know much about the
>> >111's,  were they a late 70's into the early 80's
>> >vintage?  It also came with a parts manual and
>> >original sales literature,  that also show the
>> model
>> >68 (I have one of these too)  so it was nice to
>> come
>> >across the info on the other mower I have.
>> >
>> >
>> >                    Chris
>> >     
>> >
>> >
>> >	
>> >		
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