Nick,
I was speaking more of the placement of the PTO knob (dash, behind the steering wheel) than the look of the knob itself. Might not be a problem but just seems to me that the old fender placement was better if you wanted to operate the PTO while stationary and off the tractor. Whoops, I forgot, big lawnmowers aren't supposed to be used like that.
I've looked over the 990 (specs, any way) many times. If it could use the 460 loader I'd be very tempted. Speaking of which I'm convinced that is strictly a marketing, not engineering, move by JD to push people to the 4000 series. I dug far enough one time to find the axle weight limit specs - and the 990/large frame 4000's share the same rear axle (weight limit anyway) and the 990 is actually rated a tick higher on the front axle. That artificial limitation to the 430 sort of peeves me.
However, I do also like the reverser tranny - both operation and range of speeds - on the big 4000's.
Ironically while I've seen tons of 790's I'd never seen a 990 in person until last week when I went in to my dealer to talk about the 4000 twentys. My dealer actually had a 990 sitting at the end of the large frame CUT row. Nice looking tractor.
Tim