jptgs1, I understand the pride of maintaining an old machine. Every year at this time I'd get tractor fever, but the my 41yr old Simplicity kept on chugging. This year however, I finally decided it was time. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the main reasons I went with Simplicity, is I knew the cut quality was good, especially with my bumpy yard. The dealer is reliable, and the quality and price of the machine were right for me. While it's not yet mowing season here in CT, I've used my new tractor with my sweeper, and dump cart in prep for Spring. So far I really enjoy the new machine. It is comfotable to operate, and is in some ways, true to it's name...a relatively simple tractor. Also, I find the Kohler engine fairly smooth and quiet for a single cylinder. I'm still trying to guage how easy it is on gas. One additional point I liked about the Regent, is that the foot controls are very smooth in how the engage the transmission. There is no jerking motion I've encountered on a couple Deere LT's & L's I tried a couple years ago. None of this is to say the Deere X300 is a bad choice. I do like the green & yellow, and if price were'nt a factor may have chosen that model. It would be interesting to do a side by side comparison. I'm curious if the X300 feels much different to operate. Either way...best of luck in your search. I look forward to hearing what you decide.

I've noticed that when my blades start to get dull they leave a longer blade of grass. Just keep em sharp and I found they work well. Especially on leaves. Some people love them, some don't think they make a difference. On my grass, I do notice a difference from stock blades, especially if I go over it a second time. They work amazing on the dry leaves we get up here. I think grass type might have a big difference on cut, as well as how long the grass you are cutting is. I mow at about 3.25 inches, and I mow when the grass gets about 5-6 inches high, and I don't notice the clippings on the grass unless I walk through it when its wet...

***"Mounted in plastic"*** Unless Deere has included some sort of "ring terminal" to the mounting, there is no need to separate the PTO switch from the plastic mounting panel. You said that the brake switch had been defeated before you acquired this mower and now the wires are taped to the brake pedal. OK, I don't see anything in the diagram where a defect in the brake switch could cause a problem in the operation of the engine that that occurs ONLY when the PTO switch is turned ON. By this I mean that any problem in the brake switch that could affect how the engine runs..........would affect the engine even without pulling the PTO switch to the ON position, so we can move on from that and go to the PTO switch itself. After studying this diagram at length/depth.......I believe the problem (engine wants to die when PTO switch is turned ON) can only be due to a defective PTO switch. And I think it must be because the PTO switch is bleeding some voltage into the magneto kill circuit which then upsets the normal spark making function of the ignition system. The way I see it, there are 3 ways you can test this: Option A, disconnect the wire pigtail from the PTO clutch and connect 2 independent, temporary wires to the clutch, be sure to maintain the correct polarity, Blue wire is the hot side, Black wire is the ground side. With the temporary wires in place, and the engine running, touch the temporary wire for the hot side of clutch to the "Battery hot" post of the starter solenoid (safer than the battery hot on battery). If the PTO clutch engages without affecting how the engine runs...........defective PTO switch. Option B, Disconnect (or cut) the White wire lead that serves the PTO switch (if you choose to cut, make sure you cut so it can be restored). With this white wire out of the equation, start the engine and turn the PTO switch ON. If the engine runs OK now, replace the defective PTO switch. Option C, Replace the PTO switch and hope for success.

so get this, folks - the same thing happened today with my "new" belt - the blades were unable to cut the grass and the grass is nowhere near as tall as it was last time. I tried to troubleshoot it, and was able to get the blades spinning again briefly, but the belt quickly failed again. When I turned the mower off, the belt was sizzling hot. Now, to be honest, I don't really have too much of an issue replacing this belt once (or even twice) a year - this is an old machine that I inherited, and I had no intention of putting any sort of money into it. Right now my solution has been to replace the $20 belt every time I have a problem - which I can live with. BUT: is there something else that could be causing my belts to fail so quickly? This time the belt is not pitted at all - it's just stretched, so that when the PTO engages, there isn't enough tension on the belt to turn the blades.. thanks for you help...