A strange thing happens to middle aged men.
They buy tractors.
I have watched as all three of my neighbors have bought brand new John Deere lawn tractors. It started with Ray last year, Les followed this winter, and Martin this spring.
All of them there boys have the exact same model and accessories. Its quite funny to see them driving their green tractors on the weekends.
They are like a John Deere gang.
Ray purchased his Deere because he was having a lawn service work on his lawn and got sick of paying for it. Les broke the steering shaft on his Snapper, so he purchased his Deere. Martin’s tractor only had one gear and needed to be jump started, so he bought his Deere.
I now have 2 working ridding lawn mowers. a Snapper for me and a Craftsman for Alex. They both have bagger attachments which will make cleaning up leaves in the fall a walk in the park.
The Snapper had a broken steering shaft that simply needed to be welded. I gave it to a friend who works for the Navy and he had it welded by a guy that seals pipes for nuclear submarines. Needless to say, the weld he did was a work of art, and glows at night!
We replaced the clutch, battery, starter solenoid, transmission boot, and the tractor is as good as new. Total cost was under $100.00, for a Snapper Hi-Vac ridding mower!
Here is Alex and Beth playing with the repaired Craftsman 19hp 48″ cut tractor we got from Martin.
The thing is really powerful, it has a 19 horse motor for heavens sake, which also makes it quite fast. I can bring the front wheels off the ground much to the delight of my 16 year old.
We fixed the 6 speed transmission with some elbow grease and WD-40, purchased a new shifter arm, starter solenoid, transmission mount, and mower deck hanger. Total cost was $26.00.
Alex keeps challenging me to a tractor race in the cul-de-sac.
I wonder if I can get the Deere boys in on it. I have a feeling I am going to lose, my tractor is named after a turtle.