How I met my tractors..........

[poncho62]

Kind of like the TV show, but not as well written and without the hot women......

Anyways, I moved into this property in 2007, it has about an acre of lawn and came with a JD STX38 Hydro, which I still cut with today. Have had to do a few small repairs, but it's been good to me.



It kind of got me remembering when I was a kid, my dad worked as a maintenance guy for a plaza in town. The owner has a huge lawn, 10+ acres if i remember correctly. I got to ride around on this National Mower for 50 cents/hr. Pretty good for a 10 year old in 1962.


I got to looking for a National to cut my property with. First one had no cutting reels, but eventually found a couple with.



My lawn is quite rough and the Nationals did not work so well, they are meant for smooth golf courses....Ended up selling them off over the years.

 

[poncho62]

Meanwhile I was buying and selling lawn tractors. I would pick them up for free or real cheap not running, get them going and sell for a profit.....Mostly cheap MTD stuff. One day a guy messaged me saying he had this old Ford tractor. He was driving it, the steering broke and he ended up in a ditch with it. He was about 70 and it scared the crap out of him. He said come get the SOB. I went over, got it. Insisted that he take $50 for it as it came with a deck, tiller and snow blade.



I guess this started my obsession with the open sided (72-76) Ford LGTs....have had a few more since, all were non running when I get them. You get the best deals that way.

 

[poncho62]

Always keeping an eye out for deals. One day, saw an ad on KIJIJI for a few tractors that a woman had, she was selling the property and trying to clean it up. I called and she said another guy was on the way too, but if I got there first, it was mine....The race was on, I won......$200. Came with deck, blower, blade, chains etc.



I had to rebuild the engine on the 165, sold the other tractor running with blade, which covered most of the cost.
Right now, I have 3 LGTs, a 100, 125 and 165. I have a bunch of attachments and have built a few.

 

[poncho62]

I love the Fords, but time for something different.....
I always liked the look of the older MTD grills, and saw this one on a Facebook group.....Got it for $100, have put a coil, rebuilt carb etc....it runs now but needs totally wiring. I should be out doing that today, but it's too friggin' hot out there.....



I have another MTD coming next week, a friend from MTF picked it up for me.

 

[poncho62]

Guy at work said he had a Bolens that has been sitting in his drive in shed for years, ran when parked.....Got it for $200. It had been sitting on the dirt floor so long that it had sunk and the tires were rotted right through. Has 15 inch tires on back, so a couple of snow tires are on there now. The fronts are 8" trailer tires, This thing is a heavy pig, about 900 lbs. Got it up and running with very little work or money (about $30 so far)...It is for sale if anyone is interested. Wife says I have too many if they all wont fit in the shed....lol





That's where I'm at these days.....

 

[KennyP]

Nice story of your herd!

 

[Texas Horses Hogs and Deeres]

Thanks for sharing, cool story about your GTs. It's always nice to here how you found your tractors.

 

[Mark 149 J.]

Sweet collection and a nice story to boot!

 

[UncleWillie]

Good looking bunch.

 

[poncho62]

Sold the Bolens 1477 yesterday.....Doubled my money on it, so I am happy......Picking up the MTD 960 pictured above tomorrow morning.

 

[poncho62]

Sold the Bolens 1477 yesterday.....Doubled my money on it, so I am happy......Picking up the MTD 960 pictured above tomorrow morning.

Took a couple of hours to get the MTD960 running. Everything seems to work on it, even the lights. The deck runs, but bearings are quite loud.....It's not charging, so will be working on that soon, busy this week with other things.

 

[holdenboy1960 (Shane )]

Fine Machine Herd and fine story to go with it credit to you

 

[Shotgun Wedding]

Great story!!!!!

 

[Lance Skene]

Dont think I learned anything new, but it was a good read Poncho