Ariens rideon lawnmower - any experiences??

[Ashful]

a seat switch on a compact utility.... interesting... on my old '89 JD1050 (sold) there was no seat switch of any kind. on my '44 Farmall.... safety... lol. hit the starter in gear with you in front of the tire.... it'll run you over and keep going until it hits something and stalls.... or runs out of fuel.

I believe the age of your tractor design is to blame for that. The 1050 came out in 1979, had a manually-controlled PTO, and was discontinued in 1989. It was replaced with the 955 in 1990, which has the typical modern electric solenoid controlled PTO, like my 855 (and every other compact utility tractor made by Deere in the last 25 years). Some safety switches are just plain annoying, but this one has never caused me a second thought, as it's only for killing the PTO if I fly out of the seat while mowing or snow blowing.

I'm actually surprised your old Yanmar 3-cyl turbo diesel is holding up after all these years! What year is your 1050? Is the turbo still original and functional?

 

[Bret Chase]

I'm actually surprised your old Yanmar 3-cyl turbo diesel is holding up after all these years! What year is your 1050? Is the turbo still original and functional?

the 1050 was an 89... I have no idea if the turbo was original... and it worked just fine when I sold it earlier this year. I kept the Farmall because it was my grandfather's.... and I like that old tractor. It's got less hp than my mower, but it weighs more, lol.