Hi Carl,
He used these tractors for mowing a section of highway and the sides of munitions depots (i think a few of them blew while he was on them with our tractors!).
When yours bit the dust, he bought a used one (mine) that was the same year 2002. Not sure who had mine originally or how badly it was used in its first life.
They have seen a hard life i think. Had different kids mowing with them. Does not usually lead to adherence to a good maintenance schedule
Terry spent quite a bit of time rebuilding yours and less time on mine since all of my parts were there (well, almost all). But i think it is hard to find all of the problems until they have been used for a while.
i still get some little problems that do not get fixed for quite a while. But slowly it is getting better.
Ken