Passing the time during COVID-19 pics

[67since67]

My late wife gave me a 185 for Father's Day in 1989, rolled it for 20 years. Other than oil, lube and batteries the only things I did to it were deck bearings and a set of belts.
Those Kawasaki motors are bulletproof and like most all Deere stuff they never die. My only complaints were it steered hard and wished it was a couple mph faster. Sold it to my BIL and he still uses it today.

[njsteve]

A fellow 185'er eh? Cool!

Yeah, my neighbor across the street always takes me by at the 15 yard distance from a standing start. (we've got adjacent, big yards). He's got a newer Deere and it's a zero-turn. No comparison. That thing is fast!

It takes me 40 minutes to do the backyard (lots of trees and obstacles) and about an hour and half to do the front. It's about 2-1/2 acres of grass to mow.

[Crush]

O boy I love talking grass, landscaping and all things tractors. Had a JD 200 series from the 80’s I think 36” deck. Felt like it took days to cut lawn so I moved up a few notches!! Good stuff

[67since67]

I enjoy running equipment almost as much as being in the shop.
I replaced the 185 with an X320 which was a smooth running refined mower.
When I built the new place in 2015 I scored major points with Jani by bringing home a this 1025R. She won't let me near it for mowing, and the Yanmar diesel uses less than half the fuel. I put more than 40 hours on it that first year doing all manor of loader and three point work.

[MosportGreen66]

Originally Posted by 67since67

I enjoy running equipment almost as much as being in the shop.
I replaced the 185 with an X320 which was a smooth running refined mower.
When I built the new place in 2015 I scored major points with Jani by bringing home a this 1025R. She won't let me near it for mowing, and the Yanmar diesel uses less than half the fuel. I put more than 40 hours on it that first year doing all manor of loader and three point work.

That tractor is lucky to be in your care Bill...

[njsteve]

Is that a photo when it was new? or do you wash and wax that tractor in your off hours? :-)

[njsteve]

You made with all jealous with that JD 1025R photo so last night I pulled the busted headlight pod out and fixed it.

It's a terrible design with the fragile plastic lens sticking out beyond the hood and just begging things to smash it. It's been long since discontinued from JD and you rarely see one used and in one piece on ebay. (That's where I got the spare one several years ago).

So I found my old spare busted original pod in the garage, cut a section of heavy clear plexiglass out of the sheet that I bought years ago to get a 6" square for CC'ing cylinder heads. I then used epoxy and clamped it together overnight. This morning I sanded the edges to match the outer perimeter and reinstalled it. Now I can happily night mow again.

[ss427copo]

Steve, you sound like me with my 24 yr old Craftsman. On my second deck. Fixed this, fixed that, then just ordered a new one last fall. Replaced the smoking engine with a used one 5 years ago. It took a shit! Went to PowerEquipmentDirect and bought a Briggs & Stratton Professional Series™ 540cc 19 Gross HP OHV. Just replaced the transaxle too. Duct tape here, epoxy there and even added a 12v headlight, horn and LED tail light.

I’m going to have it at my funeral service!
Jersey Jeff