What are your opinions on these neat little garden tractor loaders? For those of you who don't know, I work at a dealer for Zero-Turn mowers and hand-held powered yard tools, not to mention Steiner and Ventrac. We have a loader from both Steiner and Ventrac, but I haven't ever used either with a bucket. I have driven around the auger on both the Ventrac and Steiner, but I have yet to convince my boss to put the bucket on the loader and try it out. He and everyone else at work say loaders on the Steiners and Ventracs tend not to work to well, due to the fact that they can easily roll over on our hilly terrain. The Ventrac loader is rated for 500lb., while the Steiner is rated for only 365lb. Anyway, I looked at loaders on Ford 1100 and 1200 tractors, but I hadn't really considered a garden tractor with a loader. All I had seen where some mounted on various Cub Cadet's and John Deere's. Most were built by Danco and could only lift 300lb.
I recently got the Garden Tractors book, which covers most US manufacturers of garden tractors for as long as they have been around. These little Cases really intrigue me. What is one of these worth as just the loader (no Backhoe)? How reliable are they? Are they easy to maintain? What maintenance have you done on yours?
Because I was interested in them, I have tried to get some dates and information together.
644 14hp. 2-cyl Kohler, Built 1972-1980
646 16hp. 2-cyl Kohler, Built 1972-1981
648 18hp. 2-cyl Kohler, Built 1980-19??
The 648 carried over to Ingersoll-Rand correct? Then it became the 6018, but when was the model number change made? And how long did IR build that unit? Were there any other garden tractor loaders built by IR?
Lots of questions, but hopefully you guys have lots of answers! BTW, I wont be getting into the landscaping business for some years, just trying to get an idea of what would be good to start out with.
I recently got the Garden Tractors book, which covers most US manufacturers of garden tractors for as long as they have been around. These little Cases really intrigue me. What is one of these worth as just the loader (no Backhoe)? How reliable are they? Are they easy to maintain? What maintenance have you done on yours?
Because I was interested in them, I have tried to get some dates and information together.
644 14hp. 2-cyl Kohler, Built 1972-1980
646 16hp. 2-cyl Kohler, Built 1972-1981
648 18hp. 2-cyl Kohler, Built 1980-19??
The 648 carried over to Ingersoll-Rand correct? Then it became the 6018, but when was the model number change made? And how long did IR build that unit? Were there any other garden tractor loaders built by IR?
Lots of questions, but hopefully you guys have lots of answers! BTW, I wont be getting into the landscaping business for some years, just trying to get an idea of what would be good to start out with.