The Little Tractor That Could
Model Year: 2001
Bought this machine second hand with 120 hours on the meter. She came with a 60" deck and loader. The previous owner used it only to move hay bales and clean out horse stalls. It mostly sat neglected in a horse barn. Biggest problem with it was the need to replace power steering hydraulic lines, which I had made locally for about $20 each. The decision to buy this machine was driven by a need to replace an aging Wheel Horse garden tractor with all of the attachments, and the desire to do extensive landscaping work. My wife had injured her shoulder helping me build a retaining wall, so we decided something with a loader would be in order. I also do logs to lumber as a hobby, so something beefy enough to drag modest logs our of a timber without tearing up the woods would be very helpful. Overall a GREAT purchase. Similar money to a new JD garden tractor with deck, and we now have a machine with a 3 point hitch. This gets you away from paying steeply at a dealership for specific attachments and allows one to buy heavy duty ones at nearly any farm store at will. We have purchased the following attachments: 3 pt: Snow king 48" Snowblower, box blade, fabricated hitch receiver with chain hooks, King Kutter 48" tiller. Front end loader: Tach-N-Go bucket adapter to allow quick changes to forks, or to move a trailer easily. Forks also fit on 3 pt. hitch for added utility. Towable: Home built log arch, can move 32" logs up to 12' long with this set up, being careful on hills due to limited braking capacity.
Pros: Great build quality, much more value than garden tractors.
Cons: Loader valve doesn't stay with tractor as with later models, limiting interchange with newer attachments.