all of the manufacturer's recommendations regarding storage is in the manual. if you don't have a copy you can download it from the john deere website.

everyone has their favorite way of doing it and this is a good forum to research this info. the manual provides a guideline per the manufacturer. it's your tractor, so you get to decide how you want to do it.

Here is what I am going to do with my Craftsman if this helps you.

1. Drain the gas out, then start it and let it run until the gas is out of it and it stops.

2. Change the oil. Change the oil filter if it has one. Check and if needed clean the air filter.

3. Take the battery out and put it on my workbench where I can put the trickle charger on it.

You can leave gas in it also BUT!!!!! make sure you use Sta-Bil and fill the tank to the top. We dont want to leave room for moisture to get in the gas tank.

Thanks guys! This helps a lot. I do not own a trickle charger so do you think it's necessary to remove the battery?

The best way to "maintain" a battery over winter is to use a trickle charger plugged into a 24 hour timer. Set the timer so that the battery receives about 2 hours of charging per 24 hour period at a charge rate of about 2 AMP. Another way to maintain the battery is with a "solar powered trickle charger (or maintainer)". Most of the solar powered maintainers have output wiring long enough to reach from a sunny window to where your tractor is parked. If not long enough to reach, take the battery out and move it to a spot where it can be reached with the output wires from the solar maintainer. DO NOT add to the wiring in order to reach farther, the extra wire could drop the voltage too much to do any charging or maintaining. If you leave the battery in the tractor (with or without any charger attached), disconnect the battery negative cable to eliminate any possible "parasitic drain" due to a "leaky" ignition switch or charging system. If the top of the battery is dirty or dusty, wash it clean with soapy water and rinse with clear water. This layer of dirt and dust becomes an electrical conductor in conjunction with humid air and can help rob the battery of its charge over a few months. To allow any battery to go into long term storage without some maintenance charging will shorten the battery life significantly. When a battery is fully charged, the acid component is weak in the electrolyte solution (because it has been modified by the charging process and is mostly "locked up" within the lead plates of the battery. When a battery is allowed to "discharge", the acid becomes stronger in the electrolyte solution and then begins to "attack" the lead plates. The strong acid in a discharged battery kills a battery 2 ways. By eroding the lead plates which slough off material which falls to the bottom of the battery case. This material builds up til it reaches the bottom of the plates in that cell of the battery, shorting the lead plates (which are supposed to be separated from each other by insulator plates). When this occurs, the battery fails completely and will no longer accept a charge. The other way the strong acid kills a discharged battery is due to the acid itself getting weak as it "spends its energy" eating away at the lead plates. The acid becomes too weak to effectively induce a recharge into the now deteriorated lead plates. Short answer is......yes, trickle charge or frequent recharging is needed to keep a battery healthy and vital.

Add stabilizer and be sure the tank gets mixed good, then drive around some to make sure the stabilized fuel makes it to the carb. That's where stale fuel does damage. Just dumping stabilizer in the tank is a common mistake folks make.

To me, that's the biggest thing you can do. It never hurts to fire it up every once in a while either.

I use either Stabil or Sea Foam. I dump some in the tank, run it for a few minutes, then top the tank of with some more additive, then run a bit more, and then check to make sure the tank is topped off. I do this for my two tractors, weed whacker, push mowers, and chainsaw. Seems like I was doing that for half the day today :( Oh, I do that for the snowblower as well.

Some engines are finicky about using Stabil. My Honda mini tiller hates that stuff, and one of the Huskee mowers I had in the past with a B & S engine didn't like it at all either.

I've switched over to Seafoam, and haven't had near the problems.

Most of the time, I'll deliberately run my equipment out of gas. Then pull the maintenance for changing oil, filters, sharpening blades, cleaning underside of mower, greasing zerks, etc. It seems to work well for me.

I use Stab-bil as directed,keep gas tank full to help prevent rust in steel tanks,and bring the batteries inside and maintain a charge in them all.(7)I paralel about five of them and do the timer and 2 amp charger thing.2 hours per24. tbk

Great product....PRI-G Run it in all my equipment, MC and outboards.

http://priproducts.com

I put stabilizer, and upper cylinder lube, in all my "gas cans" year round when I fill the cans at the pump. On the day I decide to "put a machine away", I add a little more fuel stabilizer to the fuel tank on the machine. After doing that, I grease all the zerks. I either put a few drops of oil, or use white spray lube on every pivot point, shaft, or sliding part that I can think of. Next, I run the machine around the yard a few times to heat up the oil and to work the fresh grease/lube into place. While the oil is still hot, I change the oil and filter (if so equipped). I then run the engine for a couple of minutes at wide open throttle so the NEW oil gets distributed over all internal surfaces of the engine. My opinion is that if you make the "oil dump" the very last step in the procedure and you DO NOT run the engine briefly to cover the internals with the fresh, new oil........you are NOT giving the engine the benefit of the new oil's ability to cling in place. Old oil has been thinned and contaminated with a variety of by-products and residues while in use. If you do not run the engine to spread the new oil around, the old oil is still present on the internal parts and will NOT remain in place as well as fresh, new oil (after all, it will have 3 to 4 months to drain off the parts in some climates). The last thing I do is disconnect the battery negative cable and connect a trickle charger (on a timer) to the battery.

one problem with running a machine out of gas and leaving it that way is that IF it uses diapraghms in teh pump they could dry out. i have had it happen before several times and now i jsut run the machine every couple weeks for 10-20 minutes. i have never in my life used stabilizer, but the gas here does not seem to be as prone to gelling as other areas of teh country. that may change soon, as all grades at all stations are now 10% ethanol. my chainsaw has teh same gas in it now that i put in it 2 years ago. last weekend it cranked first pull. i know, i know, i know, this is the exception so do not try it yourself!

if you do anything, put stabil/seafoam in it and run it every now and again for just a few minutes.

I used to belong to the school that favored running the machine out of gas, after having added stabilizer, etc. Then a number of years back, I had a problem starting my snow blower at the begining of the season. Finally turned out that the carb float had been distorted by ice that formed when moisture collectd in the empty carb bowl. Pretty unusual, I think, but it converted me to the marine lay-up standard of leaving everything full, with stabilizer, as a defense against moisture. With the new, short lived, Ethanol gas, I am back in limbo as to the best lay-up. Most commentators seem to say that Ethanol gas has a shelf life of only about 90 days, while I lay up equipment, 2 boats and one car for 4-5 months. Sort of a question of which is worse, degraded gas, or moisture build-up.