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Voting For Feature Tractor of July 2017

5K views 24 replies 16 participants last post by  DougT 
#1 ·
Vote for July's Feature Tractor
Who should we feature?
2004 MTD built Yardworks by Propane00.00%
1964 Simplicity Landlord 314 by 637Yeoman23.17%
1972 John Deere 140 H3 by Wrenchinonit1117.46%
1972 John Deere 110 by Reed Brennan00.00%
1992 Bolens 1669L by Wrenchinonit34.76%
1920 Milbradt riding mower by Rustysteele2234.92%
1975 MF12G by MFDAC69.52%
Simplicity 7016 by BTS34.76%
1962 David Bradley Model 36 by MGP59DB46.35%
John Deere 180 by ericjr1600.00%
85 Simplicity 7112 6 speed by SimplyRad11.59%
WH C85 by ericjr1611.59%
1973 Elec-Trac E-14 by CRFarnsworth914.29%
Wheel Horse 520 Anniversary tractor by CRFarnsworth00.00%
YT16H Ford by Propane11.59%
 
#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
Voting for GTtalk Featured Tractor of the Month for the month of July has now officially started and will end the last day of June. This month's theme is lawn motoring.

The winner will be featured on the GTtalk Home Page for the entire month of July and in our Featured Tractor Section for infinity.

We have 15 nominations this month. Before voting please be sure to check out all the entries in the posts below. Good Luck to all the entrants. Let the Voting Begin!
 
#3 ·
I'll enter again. This is not a show or restored one, it's not a garden tractor, it's not even a lawn tractor, it's a tin type lawn mower tractor. I'm guessing it's a 2004 MTD built Yardworks. Delete my entry if it's not suitable for this months nomination.

Any way got it for free a while ago with some other stuff. I figued it was not much good. Rear end or brake was stuck, starter was stuck, deck is in very bad shape, figured I'd sell it for parts.

So I started at it one day, got the rear end free, fixed the starter, put some gas in it and it started right up. So, tryed cuttin grass. Jumpins, it works, I thought to my self. It had some belt, bearing noise. Got that fixed. Worked good. Cleaned up some other stuff, oiled all moving parts, repaired the brake, oiled and greased the rear end, greased front end and oiled axle pivot. Got every thing working good , but the deck is very bad. So I fixed up the deck a bit and it works fine. So I'm on the look out for a deck.

It has a volt gauge and an hour gauge plus warning lights. Cruse control. It's a fake hydro type of drive. Put in forward or reverse and push the pedal. Farther you push the faster ya go. Works great. One thing I don't like is, it shut off the motor in reverse while cutting. So ya have to shut off the blades, then back up. I'm gettin use to it now thou.

So I have put 10 hours on it. Was 4.5 on it when I got it, now 14.5. Any body know the roll over point. 100, 200, 500, 1000. On the hour meter.

Any way, thanks for readin and lookin,

Noel.
 

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#4 ·
Awh heck, its been a while since i entered this turd.

This is my 1964 Simplicity Landlord 314

I got this awhile ago as a "shell" of sorts. It didnt have the hood, grill, side panels , or the lift lever

We got this tractor from a celery farmer, down the road from my dads house. He said that he got it from a church, that mowed 5 acres, every week, and it took about 4 hours each time. The church used it for about twenty years. He then got it, and did the same thing. Mowed 5 acres, 4 hours a time, every week. After using it for about ten years, he put it in the barn for 25 years or so, until we got it. My dad brought it home in the barney mobile, his 1997 purple ford ranger. When i saw it, i was so happy. I finally got my first large frame simplicity. We put it in the barn, and started working on it the next day. Now at this time, around 12 years old, i knew a fair ammount about engines, and tractors. So, that night, i got it running. Filed the points, cleaned the carb, all that jazz. She smoked a bit, partly from sitting so long, and partly from having a rough life. I drove it around front, spittin out flames from being two rich, and hauling a**. I was shocked at how fast it went! This, is the last we messed with her, for around a year.

Flashforward a year.

Im older, have a job, have more knowledge, etc. I clean the carb, right this time, and tune it. Runs much better now. No more flames. I got a grill and hood a while back, along with side panels, so i put those on. My 637 yeoman started to die on me, so i put the deck on the Landlord, and have mowed with it since. Up until recently, shes performed flawlessly. Buuuut, we have had our fair share of complications. Mid mowing summer, last year, we broke the differential. Inside of it, there are 6 roll pins, that drive the tractor. Pretty dumb design if i do say so myself. Anyway, the celery farmer put in the wrong ones, so they snapped on us. My dad bought triple coil roll pins, and we have since, had no problems.

While driving her around, it started to run janky. Figured it was the carb, so i tried tuning it. That didnt work. So, we checked spark. It had very spiratic, and weak spark, so, we put a car coil on.

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That fixed the issue, and it has never ran better, than it does now.

Thats about it, for ol smoky. We are going to rebuild the motor and bgb this winter, and possibly the carb. Good luck everyone! And here is more pics

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#5 · (Edited by Moderator)
I'll nominate my 1972 (?) John Deere 140 H3.
Here's it's story : I'm a Bolens aficionado thru and thru and even thou my wife is often in dismay when another one shows up, the 140 is on her. Her girlfriend's know of my affiliation, she sometimes will discuss any of my potential road trips at work, the intended quarry or already purchased ( ah the many benefits of PayPal) especially if she may want to accompany me . So she comes home one day tells me that the new girl at work grandfather has a garden tractor for sale ,it's green and white, he owned forever, pictures, pictures I NEED pictures! Bolens ? HT 23? Duratrac, etc, etc. Some reason I'm getting the mind ju-ju it's a 23, already made up my mind it has to be, ah the Bolens bug ,it can set ones mind in motion, okay ... yup I'm nominating a Deere here soooooo... Finally the much awaited cell phone text pics, HEY , N.A.B
(Not a Bolens) , it's not green and white ! "yellow ,green , whatever" ...really honey ? Girls! ... but man it looks sweet... didn't delete the pics off my phone...problem...now I'm looking more than I should , next , yup the initial contact , getting the skinny on it... what are you asking ? Okay , where are you located ?
So I inform my wife I'm headed for it and it's her fault, she said "have fun" = flying solo , left early drove the round trip all in the same day 14 hrs.

'Granpa' had repainted it and had the engine gone over, man it looked better in person ! Wasn't running right thou, he'd gave up, some medical changes in life had made the sale a reasonable decision, after we shot the BS for awhile he was happy it would be appreciated and taken care of. When I got it home and started tinkering I discovered worn throttle bushings on carb, put an NOS carb on it and it straightened right out. As I said I like this JD styling, the round headlights, the bezel over them, the center emblem. The 3pth looks good on it , his choice of rubber was spot on, wheel weights to boot.

A couple times (maybe more) a year I mow with it for if nothing else nostalgia sake, it does great ! I still consider it a worker ,I stay after it because it really shines up. My wife's girl friend was over this spring , she saw the tractor and teared up, grandpa's not doing well , and like so many of us some of her memories of grandpa was in his lap on the 140. If I liked her husband even a little I might of gave it to her on the spot. Pics :
 

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#6 ·
I have never done this before but here it goes.I will nominate my John Deere 110.It is a 1972 tractor and is my daily work tractor.I mow a few peoples lawns here in town and till a lot of gardens and it does this each day with very few issues.I actually ended out getting this tractor from a nice elderly lady friend who needed someone to mow her lawn.I stopped by to see about mowing and she proposed the trade for the 110 and the tiller and snowblower attachments for the mowing over the summer.It was her late husbands pride and joy,He had bought it new and took real good care of it.It is still the original unrebuilt engine and runs perfect.I mow her lawn with it every week and it always makes her smile to see it mow!I am a big guy and believe it or not I am very comfortable operating it,I enjoy mowing with it .I really like tilling with it and have had several rear tine tillers but have never had a tractor mounted one before.Big difference,This little tractor can turn a lot of soil in a short time.Aside from a couple of belts I have had no real break downs!I have plans on a total restore for it down the line soon and then it will probably do a little less work!I have had several offers to buy it from me but this one I can say is not for sale and never will be,My son has taken a liking to it and will probably be the next owner
 

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#7 ·
Okay here is another one then. It's a 1992 Bolens 1669L purchased off its original owner. I call it Smokie , whaaaaa ? No it doesn't smoke , it came from Asheville N. C. (Smokie mountains) here's its story : I'd been working on a pollution control project at a coal burner in SE Ohio , based on distance had to stay away from home during the week , home on weekends. At the time it was just my wife, two shorthairs and me. So we could kinda head out whenever, construction you can pretty much take off when you want for vacation , her job she needs to put in for it. She was getting tired of me being gone, I figured to plan a get away. Like several of our get aways I planned one around a Bolens purchase unbeknownst to her. I'd eyed this up on Yakaz.com saw it was in Asheville , Google 'd points of interest , figured a trip to the Biltmore estate and some local scenery would be enjoyable. I planned the trip, contacted the 1669's owner it was to be Memorial Day weekend 2008. Getting closer to the day of heading south , wife says she's not feeling good , for a couple weeks now , "get to the doctor no sense heading out if your sick" so off she goes to the doc... Calls me at work... "Are you sitting down ? "... Me in panic mode ... Something bad I fear... "Ready" ? "Tell me before I get sick" BABY !!! Uh,WHAAAA ? Holy cadenzas ! 19 years and no children , gave up , 47 and now I'm goin be a dad, total shock. Wrapped my head around it finally, truth was not something I thought I wanted at my age. BOY WAS I WRONG!!!! Been the best thing ever !!! Oh right , the tractor.

Turns out my wife stayed home , I got a buddy to go with me we one dayed it. (Long day ... Again) crammed it in the 8' bed of my truck and headed home. The previous owner took very good care or it, had put the 26x12 's on the back and the 18 x 8's on the front. A seat off a Kioti and the sleeve hitch. It mows about 3 acres every weekend weather permits at my wife's moms and it is bullet proof. As far as a trouble free, capable work horse that makes a nice cut lawn this unit is a hands down winner, it is without a doubt my favorite Bolens to just get on and use for its intended purpose. Getting ready to turn 1000 hrs, promise it will look this good when it hits two.... three... it will always have a special place in my memories, sometimes while mowing on it it's great just remembering all that had transpired that month of May
 

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#8 · (Edited by Moderator)
For "lawn motoring" this is what I have, but Doug since it really isn`t a garden tractor, delete my entry is you feel it`s right. Here`s my 1920 Milbradt riding mower, probably one of the first gas powered riders! It is powered by a Missouri Gas Engine Co. engine, I`ve been told that they mainly made marine engines. The transmission is a forward/reverse marine transmission. A good friend of mine had this for sale, my wife loved it too when she saw it, and she bought it for my birthday almost 2 years ago! It certainly pays to wait for the right woman!

The transmission slipped badly when I finally got it running and picked up a very large (and expensive!) drive chain for it and tried taking it for a test drive. I hope to have all the bugs worked out of it for the shows later this summer. It has a very primitive condenser on the engine for cooling, and tiller steering. Ignition is by a timer on the engine and a battery and coil under the seat. A very cool ride!

This post has been promoted to an article
 

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#9 ·
I will help fill the field here with my 1975 MF12G. This tractor is responsible for leading me to this forum in 2011. I had had owned a workhorse MF8E for a couple decades, but had no idea people were actually collecting, restoring and working these old tractors. A good friend of mine had been mowing with this tractor since the 1980's but bought a new zero turn. He asked me if I wanted a bigger mower than my tired old MTD 800. The cheapskate side of me said no even though he told me $250 with the blade and snow thrower. He put it on CL for $350 and after a couple days I thought 'you dummy, you have one MF tractor and this one was cheap!' I tried calling and they were out of town drag racing their Nova. Dang I probably missed it! About a week later i got ahold of him and he said he had a couple of tire-kickers looking at the tractor but come get it if I want it!

It came home in July of 2011 and has turned mowing from hard work into an enjoyable routine. I call it "Ron" for it's former owner. It did start smoking badly using 3/4 quart of oil during a mow. Piston was scuffed bad. I did try to save the HH120 with a STD bore overhaul. That lasted about 2 months then the smoke returned. At that time I couldn't even find an overbore piston, much less afford one! My wife and kids got tired of the smoke and in 2015 gave me a 13 HP Predator engine for Father's Day. I got that swap done late that year. I used it to push snow for the first time Dec. 26th 2015 so this tractor has been doing both of those chores ever since.

DAC
 

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#10 ·
I would like to nominate my Simplicity 7016 (again).

I got the garden tractor in rougher shape from my great uncle , I cleaned it up and gave it a coat of paint. I also rebuilt the engine and added front and rear wheel weights.

I use this Simplicity to mow the yard and to mow the ditches around my wheat field on the edge of town. I also use it with a 36" tiller for the garden and the high tunnels. It's compact size makes getting around in the high tunnels easier then my compact tractor with 4' tiller. This old garden tractor really mows good, it can also take down some pretty tall grass/weeds as you can see in the 4th photo the weeds really took over the front yard when I was waiting for a part so I could mow.

I mowed a couple hours yesterday on the Simplicity, it never missed a lick until a stick lodged between a blade and the mower deck and it broke the PTO belt. I will get a new belt Monday and it will be back going!

I added a video, it's just a walk around of it running.

 

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#11 ·
I think it is time to nominate 'Dusty' . This is a 1962 David Bradley Model 36 .

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I found this on C/L in upstate New York .

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I couldn't get it out of my head and after 2 months of looking at it I finally pulled the trigger and made arrangements to have it shipped to me in Michigan.

It was 'Dusty' but in great condition for its age.

I cleaned it up and had to refurbish and paint the mower deck on it due to rust and lack of maintenance.

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The motor had a big issue and it just wouldn't run no matter what I did.

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A suggestion from a member (Lauber) told me that the weak point on these motors (B&S 5.75HP 143402) was the coil/flywheel and I could convert it over with a more modern I/C coil and flywheel combo. Well this was very good advice and it started and ran fantastic on the second pull.

This is now my go-to mower , I used it this week to mow the yard and pull an aerator around at the same time .

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An Odd looking thing but lots of fun to use and 'stylish'

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And ...

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#12 ·
Maybe I'll throw in my John Deere 180 mower. It was given to us at begining of our hobby. Dad restored it best we knew how at time. On its maiden mow the transaxle blew up literally! Cracked the case and seized up! We went through alot to find a case and used the gear set again. Didn't know much and it skips in second gear now, I have a few spares transaxle now we know they are weak link on the model. I use it more now I found a bagger for it. Sure enjoy the old girl and plan on redoing it again. Swapped a 38" deck for the 46" as my yard needed smaller size and bagger works great on a 38"

Here is how we got it!

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How it is today.

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#13 ·
I am going nominate my 85 Simplicity 7112 6 speed. I got this right after I got out of the hospital from food poisoning back in Jan this year. Was looking through CL and spotted it and called the guy. My wife recognized him from when she worked at the bank so she told me to go look at it.

It also had a 36" snow thrower with it and the 42" mower deck. The mower deck had been painted with a brush and it doesn't look too bad till you get up close and where the deflector goes on. I pulled the blower off about mid Jan and put the deck on so I could finish mowing the leaves around the fence. Been getting a little lazy with the heat so the grass has been getting too tall for the ZT mulcher to do efficiently.

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#14 ·
Just took out myWH C85 out to mow with. Forgot to nominate it and see I can do two, so here goes.
This is my original to my knowledge tractor. I bought it from a customer of mine three years or so ago. It ran but leaked fuel and toe out on front end. We got it home and quick adjustment of toe and new fuel line solved the issues! The 36" deck is perfect for mowing my yard. Rear discharge nice for me as well. We cleaned and detailed it and it come out super. No plans to mess with originality of it, even made horns someone installed work again. I do enjoy mowing with the big girl!
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#15 ·
My 1973 Elec-Trac E-14 is the back up mower to my Simplicity. (which hasn't failed me yet)

I'll use it a few times during the mowing season just to keep it limbered up.

I originally acquired this tractor from a local farmer who had it in the back of his barn. I purchased it for $100 He loaded it on the trailer, and my brother brought it home for me while I was at work.

It was in sad shape. The batteries had busted and rotted out the two battery boxes which were replaced. The drive motor was replaced along with part of the electrical components. The steering wheel was bent and was replaced.

After a lot of cleaning, sanding, and sandblasting I painted it and put on new decals. After installing a new set of batteries I was pleasantly surprised to find out how well it performed and mowed.

I used the deck as it was until this spring when I refurbished it.

After this weekends show I'll put it back to work occasionally. Rick
 

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#16 · (Edited by Moderator)
For a second entry I'll nominate my Wheel Horse 520 Anniversary tractor.

This tractor had belonged to gentleman in a neighboring town who didn't drive because of a medical condition. He owned two Wheel Horse 520's. When he was placed in a nursing home the tractors were sold for him by the local mower shop. This unit was purchased and refurbished by a friend of mine who used to do paint and body work.

After doing some "Horse" trading I purchased this tractor this spring. It can serve as my #3 mower if needed. It has a 20 H.P. Onan engine and has the quietest mower deck I've ever heard for a mower of it's age. It is one of my "show" tractors but is quite capable of handling any mowing I need done. Rick
 

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#17 ·
Ok I'll put a Ford in to round out the entries. This is a YT16H Ford. It is not a restored tractor , as you can see. It is only used for grass cutting grass and pulling the estate rake twice a year.

I bought the tractor from my neighbour about five or six years ago. It was owned by his father in law since new. It had seen lots of work I it's life time , I would say, since some of the deck hangers have been welded up and I have done some welding on it too. It had a few hydro hose leaks also. But it works good and cuts good. Turns nice and sharp, but is hard to steer. One and a quarter turns of the steering wheel, lock or lock.

I am guessing it's a 1990 model. Engine works great and it's a foot operated hydro, which I like. And it's a 48" cut.

Thanks for lookin and readin,
Noel
 

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#19 · (Edited by Moderator)
I'm a Cub guy but I had to vote for the 140 H3, those are one of the only green tractors I'd consider owning. Let's get some serious voting going on, you guys need to stop being lazy and pick something and vote for it. It's pretty bad when these polls get hundreds of views and only 20 votes. Support your friends, support your brand, support somethin other than that cheeseburger in your left hand. Lol
 
#20 ·
Wish I could have voted for more than one. There is a lot of nice ones, but the Milbradt got my vote. Anything with a rudder steer and a wooden floorboard is too cool not to vote for. Thanks for all of the pics.
 
#22 ·
I have voted, come on members, put your vote in. Only 56 votes out of how many members ????

Noel
 
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