(06-18-2013, 09:41 PM)f350ca Wrote: Sorry Ed I missed your post some how. As Willie said guess its a YT3500 from the photo, will check more tomorrow for you. It was on sale and I needed a mower. Sears mowers are made by MTD, doubt if there's much difference between brands. This one has a 22hp Briggs and Stratton, V twin with an oil filter. Plenty of power, probably more than it needs but its nice to not overwork it. The salesman said it was hydrostatic and I believed him, not so sure now. I'm not a big fan of hydrostatic drives on small stuff like this or equipment that may be around for a LONG time. In 40 years I'll still get bearings and clutches for the Kubota, good luck rebuilding a hydrostatic drive then. BUT its nice to have forward and reverse on the pedal when your wiggling around stuff. This has that but after briefly looking at the parts manual (while I was trying to figure out how to pull a mower spindle to remove a whole roll of 20 or 30 pound monofilament fishing line I picked up in the first 3 or 4 minutes mowing) it looks like it may be a variable belt drive, not sure, will dig into it more. Not sure what you mean by floating deck. This one hangs off the tractor but has a couple of wheels to guide it over stuff, it can tilt sideways to the tractor. Wicked suction, blows grass and sticks and rocks real good, seams to work as a wood chipper, rock crusher or a mower.
The far end of the property hadn't been mowed yet this year, (I have a 6 foot mower for the tractor but its a pain to hook up and useless around the house, now maybe I can sell it). It took about 3 passes to reduce the weeds and grass over there to reasonable state but they were level with the hood when I started, all told I was about 2 hours mowing probably close to an acre but will do it now in half that. Burnt about 3/4 of the tank, not sure what it holds maybe a couple of gallons.
As a mower I'd have to say its good, steers easy and sharp, the pedal speed and reverse is real nice, the cruise control, which I think just locks the pedal is a little hocky to engage but works. Not great on steep slopes, tried mowing into the ditch and it wouldn't back out, just spun, had to get Charlie to push. Doubt if the transaxle is heavy enough for any ground work but its a mower, not a tractor.
Of course they continually try to fix stupid so it has interlocks on everything, the key has two positions, if you don't turn it back one notch after you start it, it shuts off when you back up with the mower engaged, duh, and the seat has a pressure sensor so it shuts off if you fart or try to get off. Pulling the harness off that switch shuts it down, will have to check the wiring diagram to bypass it. BUT the biggest feature is the beverage holder on the fender, almost didn't by the Kubota, it didn't have one or a tool box.
First riding mower I ever had so can't compare but it does what I wanted well at a reasonable price.