Vintage but How old?

[Oneaxepony]

Thanks for the update. Keep us posted...

[Bwgad96]

I know this is old but how's it coming along?

[Carl_NH]

There were a few design issues aka flaws with the Convertible.


1 - No charging system. The battery will require periodic charging. If you have a manual start model, then you don't have to worry about this.

2 - The push button stop switch in the handlebar. This switch can and has caused the flywheels to become misaligned. Every single tractor I have seen with the pushbutton stop switch in the handlebar had misaligned flywheels. I have one in my backyard now.

3 - The PTO controls. The whole shipper shaft control mechanics are iffy at best. They finally fixed it when they made the 5000 series of tractors. It is this design issue that caused me to swear that I would never own a two wheeled Gravely tractor. Now that they have properly fixed it, I now have two 5665 tractors and a Pro-8.

4 - The hood to battery box mechanical design is a little iffy.

5 - Major engine parts can be expensive. The cylinder always has been expensive even when the engine was in production.

Hi Richard.

I aquired a L8 Super a week ago from a friend - had it since 1979 - took good care of it and I got a box of parts coils, points, plugs seals too. It runs fine - except stumbles a bit when cold - needs to have the choke out for a bit until it warms up.

The engine rings and valves were done in 2002 and very few hrs on it since then. The questions I have are around the timing and misaligned flywheels / stop switch. How does one go about diagnosing this condition as mine has the PB stop and it works.

Any other tips/tricks etc on this unit? Here are some pics of mine, and I did touch up the hood, added a support cable to hold the hood. Got the wheel extenders too.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Carl