On the 129, I need to drop the deck, raise the tractor, and pull the drain plug. On the 1215 there is a very nice and handy 1/8 inch pipe leading horizontally from the engine. There is an el at the end and a plug in the el. Very simple if you have a shallow enough pan or a hose.
R and R the mower deck on the 129 takes about 1/2 hour. Add in sharpening and balancing the blades, cleaning the crud out, greasing the bearings, etc. and you're looking at an hour, more or less.
My 129 started life as a 109, but the engine finally died about 2 years ago. I weighed the cost of a new engine against that of a rebuild or throw-away mower and decided to get the new engine. While I was at it, I replaced the driveshaft since I had long ago sheared the shear pin so often I had to drill the hole out and put a soft bolt through there. The engine end of the shaft was too chewed up to put it on a new engine.
I got the thing used in '77 at L. R. Dye in Millersburg -- now out of business, used to be in the building that is now the fire station across from the fairgrounds -- and it has mowed yard, plowed snow, spread gravel, moved railroad ties, hauled brush piles, made trails in the woods, hauled a small trailer filled with several hundred pounds of rock wall to be, served as an impromptu scaffold now and then, and done almost anything I've asked of it for 30 years. It will probably be pulling a small manure spreader in a couple weeks, spreading sheep and donkey manure around the wooded pasture area, for which it is better suited than my DX29 since it's so much smaller. It needs tie rod ends every summer, the hydro tends to creep to ever faster speeds, the decals are essentially gone, and the paint is worn, scratched and faded, but considering all it has been through, it sure was worth the $1100 I spent on it.
Micman, you don't know what you're missing if you aren't familliar with the older models. This one has frame rails about 6 inches thick. The hood is steel and the mounting point for the hood in the front of the tractor is a heavy casting. The thing fits in the bed of my Dakota, but weighs about 600 lb with the deck in place. I can lift the front or rear of the 1215 onto blocks when I want to work under it. With the 129 I definitely need a jack and safety stands.
