Must of been lucky. Bought an MTD at Ace hardware (Ace Special Edition) with a 42" cut and 16hp Tecumseh. Aside from the normal problems of your MTD of that era IE having the grille mounts break off after a few years) it's been great, and it was only replaced as it was really starting to not work well on hills, and in the last year has been a case of "What's going to break next when I mow?". A key to remember is any NEW tractor in that range is going to be light duty. If you have more an acre to mow with it, a newer, higher end, used model is a probably a better option. You'll get a lot of life out of one though if you keep it well maintained. Take care of it and there is no reason why you should not get a good, usable life of about 10-12 years. one other thing to keep in mind; the chief complaints of many people on a mower it seems is the motor. That is the most important part of a mower besides the transmission on a Hydro equipped tractor. The engine is going to what will go wrong 9 time out of 10 on a mower, and is often going to be to blame for issues with cutting (due to lack of power) and reliability.

Hi, guys. Thanks to every one of you for taking the time to give me your advice and explain some stuff in such detail, esp. Kompressor. And I appreciate James' advice on the Sears Craftsman. You didn't hear back from me because the day after my sister and I purchased a lawn tractor, my sister had a double heart bypass. She's coming home today and is in for a long recovery. I'm sure you're all wondering what I finally decided to do and if I took your advice to heart. Well, what you said about buying used ones made sense so I decided not to buy a used one. I felt more comfortable knowing it was new and didn't buy someone else's problem. Sears was having their Family and Friends sale and I was considering the Craftsman YT4000 (James really liked that one) but as it turned out, the YT3000 (Model 28822) had a lot of really good reviews and there was very little difference between it and the YT4000 (28928). YT3000 is 21hp, 4000 is 24 hp 3000 deck is 42", 4000 is 46" 3000 had 3-1/2 star rating, 4000 had 3 3000 was $300 cheaper (+tax) Both have hydrostatic B&S engines The oil can on the 3000 much more easily accessible than on the 4000. 3000 has only 1 cylinder, 4000 has 2 (don't know if that was important or what it means); no hour meter on the 3000 It was on sale from $1750 for $1299 and an additional $130 off - bottom line I paid $1169.00 and saved $600 w/tax so I think I got a really good deal. I've used it twice and so far I love it. Wish the deck were a little bigger, oh well. It cut some very high wet weeds very well (I know I should avoid wet but didn't have a choice unless I wanted to go out there with a scissors...NOT). Its got a lot of power. Now maybe I won't get fined or thrown out of the neighborhood! One of the cons that was mentioned was the position of the gas tank - very close to the engine. Very stupid design. rustyj14, my next project will be to get some fill dirt and remove the stumps (when I get some money) but in the meantime, I put out tons of bright flags from HD and didn't hit any stumps. James, I didn't get to ask about the fuel shutoff valve. What's involved in installing one? One last question - I have 2 weeks to decide whether to buy their $300 3-year warranty. It would start from day 1, not after the mfr's warranty, and it covers in-home service.

Let's look at this logically. You have ten acres. Five acres are forest. You don't need a tractor for the forest. But even if you have to drop the odd tree for firewood, a garden tractor will tug the log out for you and not need near as much room as one of the tractors in the photos. Three acres are in pasture. A garden tractor can "high mow" those 3 acres once or twice each year with no problem. Your main need is for the 2 acres of manicured lawn plus blowing snow from the 400 foot driveway. Once again, a garden tractor will do both tasks because that's what they were made for. I have nothing against the tractors shown in larso1's post but ask yourself this. How easy will it be for you to navigate one of those tractors around trees and other obstacles on your lawn as well as trimming alongside garden beds? How about near the house or outbuildings? Tractors like those are pretty unwieldy. Do you want to buy a lawn tractor too so that you can do the areas the big tractor can't do? And how large a garden are you planning? One of those tractors in a small veggie garden would be massive overkill whether you put a tiller on the back or you went with a two furrow plow, a set of double discs and a drag harrow.. You would have to invest in all that equipment and would only use them for an hour or so each year. And then where do store all that iron? Outside in the elements or do they take up big space in an outbuilding? Now if you said you were planning a one acre garden, then that would be different. But I'm guessing that your garden won't be larger than 2000 square feet.. The most common snow blowers for those large AG tractors are the three point hitch type and those require you to back the tractor into the new snow all the way down that 400 feet of driveway. Driving a tractor in reverse for long distances is not a fun job in nice weather. Imagine doing it in really cold weather. A 4 foot blower on the front of a GT makes a lot more sense. You can even put a fully enclosed cab on a GT for the winter and take it off for the summer. If there are no steep grades involved, then you can get by with 2 wheel drive providing you use chains, wheel weights and even tire loading during the winter months. Snow blowers allow you to drive on cleaned driveway areas almost all of the time once you become proficient in the art of snow clearing. gator made a suggestion to you regarding an appropriate site that specializes in Case and Ingersoll tractors. I will tell you right now that $2400.00 for a 1987 Ingersoll is way too much money unless it comes with a quite a few options and attachments. If you click on the link below, you will be transported to that site. Here is a link that might be useful: CCI

Oh come on Duke88! That was as watered down as I could make it. I didn't say anything bad about the LA series, just that I wouldn't recommend it. No my foot was never run over by an LA series, but my L100-wheeling neighbor did cut two feet into my front lawn one time while trimming around a mutually owned tree, scalping the heck out of my Bermudagrass as the edge of the mower dipped in the turn. Maybe that was the root cause. I don't much care for VWs these days either, but seven years ago I did, and I just can't seem to wear that Jetta out. Seven years and 100k miles of running it through the gears to redline, and the clutch is still tight, lifters don't make any noise, still rides like it's on rails. Basically the only difference between that car when I bought it new and now is a couple of scratches and a broken hinge on the center armrest--oh, and a small indentation roughly the shape of my left buttcheek from when I fell off my workbench and landed on the C-pillar. Don't ask why I was standing on my workbench; let's just say I didn't think that one through. I guess having Mobil 1 since 1,001 miles and always being garage kept has helped a bit, but it's a good car. And you've got to give props to the Germans for getting 150hp out of a 1.8L engine (the 2002 model put out 180 with a slightly larger turbo) while still maintaining reliability. By that math, my Yukon should be putting out 530hp! ***** I have to kind of agree with Metal... Unless your husband's been talking about buying a mower, and you have a really good idea what he would like, suprising him might not be the best way to go. My neighbor's wife bought him a new-style Mustang as a welcome home from Iraq gift (with his money--she doesn't work). It was a lime green six cylinder automatic. He absolutely hated it.