Most garden tractors have the capability to utilize attachments front and back, even the Sears Craftsman DGS6500 will take a belt driven Berco tiller and a front mount belt drive snow blower. The web sites on new garden tractors, no matter what the brand, are for the most part a little thin on info concerning PTO drives from what I've seen. If you're looking at new, your looking at a pretty healthy outlay of cash, especially John Deere attachments. Their lower end GT's have mechanical driven belt drives and attachments, the higher end have hydraulic driven units, very nice, very expensive. Since you seem to appreciate vintage, and not knowing your purchase position, I would start out by recommending used JD or Wheel Horse belt driven PTO garden tractors. Also, you can get a very nice used Case/Ingersoll GT with hydraulic driven attachments for not too much money.
Otherwise, so many options if you have the financial means.

Is there a list of all the models and their attachments/pto types on them? Vintage is not a problem as long as it is working right. Thank you for the reply.

New John Deere's for your requirments
The X700 series all can take a Rear 540RPM PTO to run a PTO Shaft driven tiller or all X700 series can take a Hydraulic driven tiller that work off a PTO Pump which is driven off the Mid 2000RPM PTO which also run's the mowing deck and a Snow Blower The x700 series tractor have a either a Limited Cat 1 3point hitch or Cat 0.
John Deere X500 series uses a Belt driven system from Transmission to engine and Belt driven PTO tillers that run off the same PTO as the mowing deck the X500 and X520 have a spring assisted lift that use a Foot Pedal to lift implements The X534 & X540 have Hydraulic lift and use the same Belt system. The X534 cannot take any PTO driven tiller that Deere offer's because of the All wheel steer on it. The X540 Can take Both a PTO drivn tiller and a Hydraulic Pump Driven tiller which are run by the same PTO that runs the mowing deck. Now those are the latest models. If you consider used there are the earlier X400 and X500 series which are the same as the X700 series tractors. The X500(x575,585,595) series from earlier is the decade are 4 wheel drive. The All wheel steer tractors from the X400 and X700 series can all take tillers but not loaders. other used models to consider are from 1992 to 2002 are the 425,445&455 which are all avaliable in 2wheel steer or all wheel steer. They are shaft driven like the X700,X400,and (X500 2002to2006) They can take a Rear 540RPM PTO but only a Cat 0 3point hitch and have Both PTO driver and Hydraulic Pump driven tillers avaliable. Then the is the 320,325,335,345,355 all are belt driven and Have Hydraulic lift and Can take belt PTO driven tillers, Every one But the 320 can Take a Hydrulic driven tiller. Then there were some Later 1990's series tractors that had the same models numbers 325 thru 355 but with a GX in front of the number all Were the same except for a Late model in the series which was the GX255 which had a spring assisted lift foot pedal and power steering which could only take the 30inch belt driven PTO tiller. Other older tactor that were tiller cpable would be any GT200 series tactors they were manual lift and they could all take the 30inch belt driven PTO tiller. There are even the 300 series tractor Built from 1982 to 1992 that had a rear 200rpm PTO and could take a Shaft driven PTO driven tiller or a Belt driven Hydraulic tiller from the front PTO. and there is also the 400,420 and 430 built between the Late 1970's until 1992 that were shaft driven and had rear 2000rpm PTO's that could take a shaft driven PTO tillerother tractor from Deere that meet your need are the 240 thru 285 Built from 1987 to 1992 that are belt driven and Take Belt driven PTO tillers that run off the same PTO as the mowing deck for the older models info on systems check out the vintage and Late model forums on this web site called http://www.weekendfreedommachines.com/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi for the New model check out Deere's web site

Here is a link that might be useful: JD

Wow, thats a lot of information, than you for the time to make that reply. Do you have any suggestion as to shaft driven vs belt drive? I only have 1/3 of an acre, but i like tools/toys. I am probably only willing to spend about a thousand dollars on the mower. I can then acquire the tiller and snowblower. The snowblower is the most important attachment other than the grass.

The tractor I would recommend then for your Price Range Would probly Be a John Deere 318. Which would probly run you about $1,500 used at a JD Dealer. It shaft driven you can still Get alot of attachments of of E-bay for it It Can use shaft driven attachments off the Rear and Belt driven Attachmnet off the Front. I know a Dealer in Harvard,IL that has two 318's for sale there Both $1,500 a piece and one has a 54inch dozer Blade on it. Both Type's of JD Garden tractor are Great Other uses JD to consider would Be 240,245,260,265,285,GT242,GT262,GT275,GT225,GT235 and GT245. All the 200 series Tractors I mentioned could Probly Be found for under $2,500 to even less than a $1,000 and The tiller for those Models is still avaliable from Deere and you can still get a Snow Blower for them as well pretty easily. My First Brand New JD was a JD240 with a dozer Blade and a 30inch tiller it was a belt driven Garden tractor meaning a Belt ran from engine to transmission and it was a manual transmission. I traded it in on a Used JD425 because I wanted a Loader and I traded the JD 425w/40loader on a New X485w/45loader in 2003. Theres nothing at all wrong with the Belt driven Garden tractors. Those 200 series tractor's probly will fit the Bill for what your looking for. I don't really care for the belt drive system for John Deere 200 and 100 series tractor made prior to 1987 which a had a two belt system variable speed system just because it can be a Pain in the rear end to change the Belts and adjust the Belt after there back on. Tractors with the Variable system would be the 110,112,200,210,212,214&216 But you can still get a hold of Snowblower's and Tiller's for them on ebay Craigslist and other outlets Now most of the Lawn tractor Built by Deere from the LX series to preasent will run a Snowblower and even a Bercomac Belt driven Tiller as larso1 mentioned above. I have even seen a Bercomac Tiller use on a JD L120 one of the models that can be bought at the box stores. Larso1 mention wheel Horse which would be another Good Brand to look at and Even IH Cub Cadet's 1962 to 1981 and the Current Cub Cadet Garden 1981 to present.

Garden Tractors I currently own are as Follows:
1.1974 JD 140H3 Shaft Driven
2.1974 JD 112 Belt driven
3.2003 JD X485 Shaft driven
4.1963 Cub Cadet Original Belt to shaft
5.1965 Cub Cadet 70 Shaft driven
6.1970 Cub Cadet 106 Shaft driven
7.1991 Ingersol 3016PS oil Driven
8.1999 White GT 2055 Shaft driven

Here is a link that might be useful: WFM

Wow! Quite an impressive list of garden tractors sergeant. Wish I had the building to keep that many in, I'd be starting my collection. I'm curious though, why didn't you recommend the Ingersoll brand (used of course) to xdriver, especially since you own one? The owners of those tend to be really enthusiastic about them, their build quality, and the wide range of hydraulic driven attachments available.

Well it was the price range of $1,000.00 I see alot of Ingersolls going for the $3,000 Price range on ebay as far as My storage I have 5 in My shed and then have alot of little rubbermaid sheds with the sliding roof that will fit one machine Those are just the Garden tractors I have I have a cub cadet experimental 60 rer that was never in production I grew up near a Cub Cadet test engineer when he died 2 years ago his wife gave me his experimental model 60 rer and I have either a 57 or 58 Simplicity RER Wonder Boy. I just need to Add 3 more Garden tractors to my collection a 1981 Red IH Cub Cadet782 a 1966 110 round fender with Hydraulic lift and a JD318. Then I will be done collecting. Because the wife might shoot me if I collect anymore. I did forget to mention my wife 's Cub Cadet 2206 with 30inch Hydraulic tiller to that list. The real fun thing is going to be moving my collection in June from IL to Tenn.

Sergeant,
Quite an informative post. Xdriver didn't mention anything about his usage or price range, but I think going from a 3rd-hand Craftsman to a brand new X700 series, a used 425/445/455, or basically any shaft-driven drive/pto tractor would be an upgrade of titanic proportions. Maybe that's his intent, I don't know.

Xdriver,
I've got to recommend the 240,245,260,265,285,GT242,GT262,GT275,GT225,GT235 lineup, which I am very familiar with. IMHO you can't beat the bang for the buck. My Dad has a 265, and I have a GT225 and a GT262. They are belt driven, and extremely cabable. All have manual lifts and most have hydrostatic transmissions. Like Sergeant said, the 240/260/242/262 have actual gear-driven transmissions, not a variable pulley system like the old 200 series (which I'm not a fan of). You can get these tractors and equipment fairly cheap on eBay. A GT series tractor could go anywhere from $1,000 to $2500. I paid $2,000 for my showroom condition GT225 and $500 for my "good shape" workhorse GT262.
Both the GT series tractors and 30" mechanical tillers are commonly sold on eBay. The tillers ($1500 new) usually sell for around $200-300 in good condition. They should sell for more than that, but most people don't realize that every 30" mechanical tiller (the ones with the boxy sheetmetal) is compatible with the 240-285 series, 325-355, and entire GT and GX series. All you have to do is buy the correct linkage from JD.

The 318 is an awesome machine, shaft-driven, dual hydraulics, but I'm seeing much fewer of these in good condition. They stopped making them--help me out Sergeant--15 years ago or so? And these weren't the type of tractors to be bought and used only to cut grass. An old tractor can be quite a headache if you must depend on it to cut your grass regularly. If you already have a reliable less-than-decade-old tractor, restoring a 318 would be a fun project on the side.

You guys are a wealth of information. I like the sound of a shaft driven pto. A 318 sounds good, but I don't really have time to get out there to restore/fix it up regularly. I don't have a lot of lawn to mow with under half an acre and it would just be used to mow and snowblow, maybe ill get a loader for it just for fun - I know a lot of guys here use them regularly for farm work and large yards - but at this time I wouldn't need something heavy duty.

There is a Wheel Horse 520h near me for 1600 dollars that includes a blower and a plow. Machine has 500hours on it and is from 1989. - Thoughts? I know this isn't shaft driven.

The 318 stopped production in 1992. With a 318 if the engine go's there are replacement Honda engine kits avaliable But if your front Steering spindles go you will have to find used ones or if a Dealer has one in his own parts inventory. They are no longer avaliable from Deere But that being said alot of Parts are still avaliable for thr 420 and 430's from Deere.. I have to disagrre a little bit on the dependability as mowers I mow regulary with my 1970 Cub Cadet 106 and My JD112 which does a real nice cutting job almost as good as My X485. Now as I metioned Cub Cadet in my earlier post's t you can still get alot of new Parts for the Old IH cub Cadet from MTD or I should say MTD has alot of New Old stock in the invetory compared to Deere. Something I falied to metion the 325-355 and GX325 thru GX355 are Built on the same frames as 240thru 285. But if your dead set on a Deere than I would recommend any Deere 200 Built after 1987 or any 300 series Built from 1982 to until they came out with the X500 series well if you want to spend more than $1000.00 you may want to consider the like below for Used late model Deere's

Here is a link that might be useful: Late Model JDs

Sarge, Before you lead this poster xdriver down the primrose path.
He first has less 1/2 acre and is going to mow and blow snow, to start with. He mentioned tiller but evidently no current use for it. Also talks about a FEL to play with.
There is a very small jump from mowing to tilling, but a large jump from mowing to FEL(Hydraulic's).
What is he budgeting for present work, mowing and snow blowing?
What is he budgeting for possible work in the future, tilling?
What is he budgeting for play, Front End Loader?
The only money(equip. budget) he mentions is a 19 yr old WH for $1,600, includes a (plow?) and blower, a mower is not mentioned.
He also mentions that his time is limited for restoring/repairing equipment.
I think, the budget should be first before suggestions of equipment, so far your suggestions range anywhere from equipment doing nothing to loading trucks. From costing a couple of hundred to several thousand dollars. No new equipment has been suggested - so you are suggesting time on repairs/service depending on a lot of items even looking for them and then looking for service parts.
First things, First. Let's get the cart behind the tractor and make sense of all this.

xdriver stated the following from above:
"I am probably only willing to spend about a thousand dollars on the mower. I can then acquire the tiller and snowblower. The snowblower is the most important attachment other than the grass."

I assume "the mower" means the tractor too. So you see, all those nice higher end machines suggested are way out of his ballpark. And a loader? Fun to think about but not very realistic. The Wheel Horse 520H sounds like a good bet if in good overall condition. I see tillers for them all the time on ebay for a few hundred.

The wheel horse I mentioned does include a mowing deck. I don't have the time to "restore" something, but fixing or repairing is something i can make time for. If I have to make a few repairs that is fine, but fixing a broken machine every weekend is not something I can budget time for. If I could spend under 2k to get a tractor, snowblower, and a tiller, maybe a cart, or some other attachment, I think I would be happy.

Sorry for the confusion and vague posts, but I guess maybe I am not totally sure of what something like this would cost and how to look. Thanks for all the time

xdriver,
The way to start looking is, start looking - Go to the big 3 - John Deere, Kubota, Simplicity dealers. Tell them that you want to mow approx 1/2 acre, blow some snow, till some ground.
Tell them you want minimum repair time, ask for thier recommendations and price's on new equipment. Armed with that information, multiply that price by .5; that is the popular pricing for used equipment. You probably are going to be above that $2K you mention.
Take the recommendations from the previous and go to Sears, see if you can match up features of equipment. See whats avail. and the pricing of that equip. again multiply by .5 to get popular used pricing. Then if you have local independant dealers of other brands check with them, same deal.
Notice I have not yet mentioned internet or catalogs "go and see as well as touch".
After you have recieved new prices as well as determined popular used equipment pricing - you are ready to start the internet search for the best prices of equipment that might interest you.
If you are just looking the most for your money, you must answer this. What is the most to me?

xdriver,
You should have no problem finding what you seek for under $2k (or at least right at $2k). Are you an eBayer? If not, become one. I found a great setup for my Dad last year: 265 + 48" deck + 42" snowblower + 48" plow for $1500, from a dealer who took it on a trade. And a month ago we just bought a tiller for the same tractor for $250. We were extremely limited in our selection since he wasn't willing to drive more than an hour to pick it up (in PA), and nobody sells cool stuff like that in eastern Carolina, where I am. If you're willing to make an overnighter weekend road trip to pick up your new ride, your selection is exponentially expanded.

Before I bought my tractor I spent an ENTIRE YEAR on eBay just watching interesting tractors get sold, noticing what options and features they had. That's the only way to really get a feel for the market value of these machines. With your size yard any of the shaft-driven tractors would be overkill. I started out with 2/3 acre, but now that I've tilled and landscaped the entire perimeter plus a few islands or shrubbery, and added a 10x12 shed (with beds all around), I'm down to about half an acre. I could easily get by with an X300 size tractor, but opted for a GT series since I planned on using it for more than just mowing. And I have. Sounds like your yard and intended usage is similar to mine. For what I do and where I live, my GT225 meets and slightly exceeds my needs. Spending twice the money for a 300 or 400 series in similar condition would have been a collossal waste of money, for me anyway.

The reliability of a 5-10 year old deere shouldn't be any worse than a brand new one. The only disadvantage is 1) finding it, and 2) no financing. But the obvious advantage is you'll probably find a 100% functional tractor for 30-40% of the original retail cost. All it takes is a little patience.

Well that wheelhorse 520H sound like a Good platform for what your looking for. It has Hydraulic lift and a Hydrostatic Transmission. You can still get a Tiller for it new if you want but there are a lot of used tiller's for it on ebay. And you mentioned a FEL well you can get a new one from Kwick-way loader company for $2,500 There the Original equipment manufacturer for the Wheel Horse Loader. But if you found a used Kwick-way loader on ebay for a diffrent brand all you would need is a diffrent Pump set up and subframe which you can still get from Kwick-way. But I think a Johnny Bucket Jr would be perfect for you instead of a Loader which there is a Johnny Bucket Jr avaliable for that model of Wheel horse. I should have mentioned Wheel horse. Those are nice Tractors I like the 520H better than the Newer Shaft driven 5Xi series which replaced that model. The 520H is a Narrower tractor Than most 40inches wide it will fit through a normal walk through Gate with a 42inch deck. Those 520H's are built like tanks and the price seem's very fair. Oh a little tide bit of info the Sleeve hitch for the 520H is a Called a (clevis hitch) so if you wanted to use Sleeve hitch Implements on It you could. I know your Lot is small but it's always nice to have Toys to use. All My tractor are work Tractor's.

5 years ago, I bought a new JD L110 with a 17.5 hp Kohler engine and a 42" mulching deck for about $1750 from a JD Dealer to cut my 1.5 acre up hill bumpy lawn with a septic field up top. I got it because Consumer Reports had said that it was the best all-around for the dollar. It worked great with a beautiful cut until the septic field and a contractors fertilizing made the grass so tough, the engine bogged down as if it was gonna stall, especially over the septic field, and really bad if I missed a week due to rain. By the way I threw away the $200 double bag grass catcher because I got tired of getting off the tractor and dumping them every 7.5 minutes. I went to a Kubota dealer to find out what a real tractor was and how I couldnÂt afford one, but some farmer had traded in his JD G110 w/ a 25 hp Kohler engine and a 54" mowing deck I bought it used, with no warranty for $2000, and at first was happier the way it had no problems with the thickness of the lawn. It also carried my over 300 lb. body uphill and cut much faster in that it turned my 1 hour and fifteen minute weekly task into about 50 minutes. The blue smoke the used G110 was blowing when I test drove it was to mean later that I had to put about 3 to 4 hundred dollars into it for repair, and apparently, I was lucky, because it could have been much worse! It seemed the farmer, believe it or not, didn't change the oil much. But the main problem was that with the 54" deck it had did not cut the grass as nice as the smaller 42" deck with the rounded mulching platform. It made "Wind Rows" that did not seem to go away even after going back over it again, because my grass grew so fast or something. A salesman told me I may have to cut it twice a week (NO WAY). So, bottom line, it was taking longer to get the grass cut with a 54" deck than with the earlier 42" deck; almost twice as long and it STILL didnÂt look as nice as before! I added a mulching kit to it, installed by the dealer, even after their warning that I may get clumping. I did get clumping, and my wife never lets me hear the end of itÂ..The tension spring on the belt/pulley system broke 2 weeks ago and I went to the dealerÂs parts dept. and bought another one for $6 because their Spring back-log for repairs was over 2 weeks wait. I spent about 3 hours getting it on the deck. This new spring worked for two mowings and broke. Now, with rain, I have monster grass and no way to mow it. My wife almost bought a $2000 Cub Cadet at a box store out of desperation yesterday just to get the grass cut. So now, 5 years into this monster lawn, and two JDÂs later, we are looking at our 3rd one, an X300 or X304, to solve my weekly woes on this lumpy lawn. Oh yeah, by the way, when it was graded, the man did not do a very smooth job and my back and I wish my tractor had shock absorbers, but we can not afford the Kubota, or a real John Deere. I will probably trade in the G110 for a X304 next weekend, and peeve that I am trading down from a 25 hp Kohler w/ 54" deck to a 22 hp Kohler w/ a 48" deck, albeit in the new "stronger" X Series, but my wife wonÂt mind, because there will be no more "Wind Rows" and clumping (HOPEFULLY!). She doesnÂt have to do itÂ.she naps on the couch while I mow! I guess sheÂll nap a little longer, because I will be out there a little longer now. I hope the clumping and rows go away then, and I really hope to have less annoying repairs. I imagine, though, that they all use the same spring. Wish me luck if you have no good advice I can use.