well guys its up and running no gun needed after all.apparantly when the regulator was in the process of going bad it fried about a six in section of wiring of the main harness leading to the fuses in the loom. you could smell it but not see it. I am happy,happy I can go to work,walk behinds are great but its hot and i'm tired. by the way talking to the bobcat main headquarter they told me it could be the belts,(bad bearing causing increased amperage due to more resistance on pully system)stator harness,delay module or pto. who said girls can't fix stuff, sometimes it just takes awhile to figure it out.thanks again

I guess I'm the Dad in this case! I do remember having an el cheapo power mower (person propelled) when I was a kid (red and perhaps Western Auto) and using it for everything - a field at the rear of the house comes to mind... one day it was 3 feet high, the next it was "lawn". Anyway, everyone is always dumping on Craftsman tools and power equipment. I'm still using my Craftsman Eager One, 5HP, Tecumseh engine, that I purchased in 1984. I don't recall it ever failing to start except when the switch I installed to replace the dead-man handle died. It smokes, uses oil, but still cuts better than my $500 Troy-Bilt. At the beginning of the summer, I ran over a rock and bent the blade so that it was actually digging into the ground. Had to replace the blade plate and blade, but didn't faze the crankshaft or the upper crankshaft shear pins. The only maintenance I've ever done is occasionally replace the air filter, less occasionally replace the spark plug (do clean it annually), and change the oil. I think it is coming to the end of its long life and really hate the thought of getting rid of it. It really needs a total engine rebuild (chassis, etc. is still fine - no rust but lots of scrapes), but I just don't have the abilities. JimC

Oh boy! My head is going nuts making this decision! :) I had my neighbor bush hog again (tax refund check FINALLY coming this week..that's how I'm paying for this thing..yeah, yeah, I know, I need to tweak my exemptions so I get my money much earlier, the crazy thing is my federal we had to pay and state we got twice as much back...go figure)....luckily my neighbor did it in exchange for me letting him use my well water on his corn...I LOVE neighbors!! :) I did bake him a batch of cookies, though. I agree I could use a 3 point hitch tractor but I don't really want one. There's just too much, attachments, size, bulk, and they intimidate the heck out of me..their under carriage decks don't have any higher cutting than the Kubota zero turns..and I want to avoid getting a finishing deck for my front yard...I have vinyl fencing all around and don't want to maneuver those tractors..yes, ideally, I'd have both a tractor/ZRT..but I want a pool! Yes, the crazy lady coming out in me. We've worked hard to get to this point, have had two house payments for 10 months, UGH...hard to save for these things and when that house sells I want to jump into a pool not a bigger 3 point hitch tractor! :) Sure, one day, when I'm hauling 50 pound bags of fertilizer around I might regret it, but nah. So, here I go, check is in the mail from the state, it's burning a hole in my pocket and I'm going to go check out that scag and see if I can't talk the Kubota team down on price....that John Deere 727A...it's got 23 hp and they will put a hitch on it (not 3 point just a drop in which I could use on the rare occasion)...I'm not sure if that's the right model but I know it had 23hp and a 54 inch deck with 7 gauge steel welded deck..I'll need to make sure I'm comparing apples to apples. Y'all have given me great direction and suggestions..I'm going into this much more informed and able to choose a mower that will atleast give me 10 years..by then I may make that tractor purchase...I've got a friend down the road that has 150 acres and is selling it all..hoping I might score a little tractor off him! :) I'll post a pic of what I get next week! Thanks! Tara

I actually wouldn't even consider a standard tractor these days. They're the technology of the day before yesterday. I've been using zero-turns these last 5 years or so and the amount of time they save is incredible - even on a fairly large, open yard. We have three acres or thereabouts and at one point I cut it with a 30-hp TYM diesel tractor and 72 inch Sitrex rear mulching mower. It took about 90 minutes. Now I use a Toro Z42 (42 inch mulching deck) and it takes 70 minutes! I have a nearly-new standard-type JCB diesel lawn tractor sitting in my garage but it's only been used 4 times in 9 months - so that shows you which way a guy leans when he has a choice. If I was you I'd go for the zero-turn option. I wouldn't worry about B&S engines. They're the biggest volume engine maker in the world so you're bound to hear SOME complaints, but 99.9% of them are fine. I work in garden maintenance and I have a shed full of B&S engined machines from mowers to scarifiers to cultivators, some of them 15 years old and all of them running perfectly.