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Grasshopper 1412 Mower/snowblower

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9K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  Benk 
#1 ·
Before I get kicked in the tail for posting zero turns on a tractor forum, read on and then tell me if I don't have a very collectable machine. Antique zero turns will someday probably be collectable and I will probably kick myself for selling this 'Hopper, but I'll kick myself for anything I sell with half a good excuse to do it.

I bought an old Grasshopper mower recently. I bought it out of West Virginia, off the farm where it was sold new. I have the original receipt, sales brochure, and all the manuals for it. The man who sold it said he grew up running it and then he says "something happened" and they parked it. He couldn't remember what.

I should have been more concerned, but for a zero turn, and being the sucker that I am, the price was a deal so I dealt. :wave:

I brought it home, did the standard fuel system overhaul, changed the oil, and stomped the starter. Being a Kohler Magnum, it started right up and we were alive. Then there came the moment of truth. My fear all along was that a hydraulic drive was blown up, and that was why it was parked. I would have been simply screwed since parts to repair it would have totaled the mower. However, no strange sounds made me a little more relieved.

I pulled off the brake, held my breath, and gently coaxed the levers forward. We gently moved forward. My blood pressure went down, and then I gently backed out of the shop.

I was elated. Life was grand right then. It was the deal of the day.

I made it all the way across the yard, made a turn, and then kept doing it. There I sat, going in circles.

Once I unwound my head, reoriented my eyes, and figured out I was not on a carnival ride, I realized that only one wheel was turning. Being a chain drive machine, one chain had popped off. Shoot, that was easy! I took off the cover, threaded the chain back on, and took off about 10 feet. The same chain jumped. A little more frustrated, I reinstalled the chain. I made it back to the shop, flipped on the mower deck, and went to work. Let's cut some grass.

Guess what. As far away from civilization my shop as I could get, the chain jumped. This time the cover came off and stayed off, and then I realized what was happening. It seems a bearing was out in the sprocket, so as the chain pulled, it was actually undoing the bolt that the sprocket rotated on that also acted as the chain tensioner.

I was chasing bearings. I called a Grasshopper dealer, and told them I needed bearings for a 1412. They said, "Huh?" I said "1412". They said, "Na." I said, "Ya." They told me to call Grasshopper, since they knew diddly-squat about a 1412.

So I called Grasshopper. The man who answer the phone said I was crazy. I agreed with him that I am usually crazy on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, just to make sure his pride wasn't hurt. When I dropped the bomb and faxed my pictures, I reassured him it was Thursday and I knew exactly what I was talking about. I had a believer. But no part diagrams.

Finally, they found the old guy at the factory (I love old guys who know everything at big companies) and he said he knew all about the 1412. He said it is a model 1212 with a 14 horsepower engine instead of the 12 horsepower engine.

Turns out, the 1212 was marketed all over the US. The 1412 was made specifically for a distributor in Pennsylvania who needed a machine with a little more umph to conquer some hills. Grasshopper was congenial enough to custom make a machine for this distributor (imagine anyone doing that today) and supposedly about 100 were made.

That makes my 1412 probably the rarest zero turn ever produced.

It ought to go in the Grasshopper museum!

Now for the interesting part. Remember, the 1412 was made for a PA distributor. My machine began its working career in W.VA. What gives here?

Ah, the old guy said. That's not unusual. He said that Grasshopper liked the power of the 1412, so they were prone to sending one to a dealer to act as a demo unit. He laughed and said that the 14 horsepower units sold quite a few 12 horsepower tractors! Turns out, he was right! The original sales invoice for my tractor says it was the demo unit.

Amazingly, parts were still available. Grasshopper tells me everything I could want for this mower is still available, and as long as they have any say in the matter parts will stay available. Two new bearings later, I was in style. I've mowed the yard a couple times with this cricket.

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"For sale is a quality built Grasshopper 1412 zero turn mower with the hard to find snowblower attachment. Grasshopper built the world's first zero turn radius mower, and they have built quality machines ever since.

"This 1412 is in great shape and ready to get back to work. The hydraulics are strong with full power. The machine is chain drive from the hydraulic motors to the wheels. I have just replaced the bearings in the chain sprockets, so it should be good to go for years.

"The engine is a Kohler Magnum 14. That means it is 14 horsepower. The Magnum series is the next step forward from the legendary Kohler K series. It is still the same cast iron quality with the reliability of solid state ignition.

"The engine drives the hydraulics via a drive shaft. There are no belts to break here!

"It comes with a 44'' mowing deck (nice sharp blades and a new belt) and a 48'' snowblower. The snowblower doesn't look to have ever been used, the original paint is still on the paddles. The only thing you would need to buy is a good set of tire chains to use it."
 

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#3 ·
I have a Woods 1250 "Mow'n Machine", which is exactly the same machine as a Grasshopper 1212; in the 80s when these were made Woods owned the grasshopper company/ and since sold them off again; only difference between Grasshopper and woods in those days, was the paint color. I love that machine.

Too bad youre that far away or I'd be trying to talk you out of the snow blower by itself.

On the 1212, they actually had 2 different models; where woods version was just seperated in the parts book by "early models" and "late models", Grasshopper's "early model" was actually called the "1210" and the later model the "1212"

The differences that I know of, are;

1. the "early" ones had the K301, the "later models" had the M12 Magnum Almost the same engine, biggest difference being the M series did not have points like the K301;

2. the early models had Eaton "6" hydros and seperate fluid reservoirs while the later models had Eaton "7" hydros and a common fluid tank that supplies both sides.

These were made in the 80s, the split off between early and late models seems to have happened about 1986/1987ish. From what I can find my Woods 1250 is a 1989.

I still see these pop up on CL for sale for more than I paid for mine! I have many spare parts from a parts mower that I acquired a few years ago, the guy I got the parts unit from took the hydro's the deck and the engine, clearly too much to try to piece back together. I also have a Identical spec-number Kohler M12 engine sitting here that I freshly rebuilt (except the bearing plate, which is at my cousin's work waiting for broken shroud bolts to be drilled and Helicoiled)

My biggest fear is that one of my hydro motors will die; "when" they do pop up on Ebay they are quite expensive.

I need to pull the deck this winter and make a new baffle for the "back side" of the blades.

One thing that I like so well about it is that I can get most of the belts, bearings and such at any bearing supply house, so I oughtta have this machine for a LONG time to come.
 
#4 ·
and yes, I do not remember whether it was here or the "other" tractor forum that I used to be on, but I remember posting about my 1212 and asking if it was "OK" or not, whether azero turn was considered a tractor or not.

Over the years I have had many, well, I'll call them "riding lawnmowers" for arguments sake. Mostly some kind of Sears branded contraption--mostly Suburbans at that (but not all) plus a few RERs, a Murray or 3, a few Swishers and who knows what all else. I have obtained them mostly not running, have gotten them running and played wth them. And besides the Swishers and this Woods 1212, all have been resold for someone else to play with. The problem? Most tractor-styled riding mowers have the turning radius of a mack truck. Meaning that it would take me longer to mow my yard by riding, than push mowing. To me having a rider of any kind it is supposed to save time, but considering ditches, trim and such by the time you back up and pull forward, back up and pull forward to get around stuff, it would take me alot longer to mow with the rider than to just "hoof it"--- they actually "cost" me time, so they were not worth having. The Swishers, (yeah the 3 wheeled kind) well at one time it seemed they just multiplied around here like rabbits, so I sold them off --except for one-- and that one I stripped sandblasted,painted and put brand new engine onto it. I used it for about 1/2 a season, put it away for the winter, went back to get it to bring home in the spring and discovered it had been stolen. Those Swishers and my Woods have been the only ride on mowers that I have ever had that have actually saved me time mowing..... I do not store my Woods where I stored my old Swisher, and this Woods aint going anywhere for a long time!!

I have mowed alot of grass with it besides my own too.....

sorry for the thread jack but by the OP, it seemed "zero turn story time" LOL.
 
#5 ·
sorry for the thread jack but by the OP, it seemed "zero turn story time" LOL.
No problem with that!

Someday someone will come along and say, "Do you remember the days when every little manufacturer made a zero turn?"

All of us old guys will sit around and tell stories and tall tales about zero turn mowers and all the other guys will go out and collect them. There'll be restored Grasshoppers and restored Woods.

Just you wait.

Ben W.
 
#8 ·
Bought my 1412 new from a dealer in Delaware around late 1980s and still have it. Runs good but am looking for the bolt on metal deflector that goes on the bottom side of the mower deck around the blades. Any help will be appreciated.
yeah I need that baffle for mine too. Figure I'll wind up making one with what's left of the current one as a "model"
 
#9 ·
I have a grasshopper 1412. My parents bought it new in Pennsylvania. I've used it for years, and still do. It just keeps going. One of the drive chains started slapping the fender and so I am going to replace it. I've always kept it well oiled and greased. I would like to find a snowblower attachment for it.
Ben K Annville Pa
 
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