My new wood mover

[lukem]

I've been around lots of mowers and small tractors, but if someone said to me "grab a mower and drive it across the country" I'd get on something with a diesel Yanmar (Like dad's older Deere ZTR) or a liquid cooled Kawasaki. I know that's a stupid scenario, but darnit if those engines aren't freaking spectacular. The Kohler in my Craftsman is ok, better than a lot of other options, but it just seems so much "rougher" than the one in my JD.

We had a Dixie Chopper with a 26HP Yanmar (pretty sure it was anyway) and that thing was a spectacular POS. Leaked oil from just about every seam and bogged down and overheated when cutting tall grass. I'd take the 31HP Kawi FX850V on my mower over that diesel any day. It makes ridiculous amounts of torque has never had a mechanical hiccup.

 

[MasterMech]

We had a Dixie Chopper with a 26HP Yanmar (pretty sure it was anyway) and that thing was a spectacular POS. Leaked oil from just about every seam and bogged down and overheated when cutting tall grass. I'd take the 31HP Kawi FX850V on my mower over that diesel any day. It makes ridiculous amounts of torque has never had a mechanical hiccup.

There are thousands of Deere machines out there under Yanmar power that repeatedly demonstrate the excellence of those engines. How the engine is installed makes a huge difference as far as longevity is concerned as well. DC has not particularly impressed me with their engineering prowess.

And Danno if we're going cross-country on a Deere, it's going to be a ProGator with the 3 cyl gas Yanmar.

 

[Flatbedford]

Nice shiny new tractor and cart. My finances keep me in high quality 40 year old tractors rather than new ones. Shiny would be nice though. I have a Cub cadet braneded 12 cu ft cart that is way to light duty for me. Both the wheels have just caved in on me. Since I replaced them with 40 year old IH Cub Cadet wheels the bearings just explode now. I am always on the lookout for a nice 40 year old HD trailer.

 

[velvetfoot]

There are thousands of Deere machines out there under Yanmar power that repeatedly demonstrate the excellence of those engines. How the engine is installed makes a huge difference as far as longevity is concerned as well. DC has not particularly impressed me with their engineering prowess.

And Danno if we're going cross-country on a Deere, it's going to be a ProGator with the 3 cyl gas Yanmar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Straight_Story
Great movie.

 

[lukem]

There are thousands of Deere machines out there under Yanmar power that repeatedly demonstrate the excellence of those engines. How the engine is installed makes a huge difference as far as longevity is concerned as well. DC has not particularly impressed me with their engineering prowess.

And Danno if we're going cross-country on a Deere, it's going to be a ProGator with the 3 cyl gas Yanmar.

I guess I did make that sound like I threw Yanmar under the bus...I was talking about that "one" Yanmar on the Dixie. I've operated several other machines under Yanmar power and they were all pretty good. I'm sure for every one bad one there are probably 100 that are approaching "immortal" status.

If I were driving a "lawnmower" across country I would get a JD 8400 with a finish mower.

 

[Boog]

I shuttle wood across my yard from my big piles with a JD Sabre lawn mower and garden dump cart. I put chains on it for the winter and it works just fine till the snow gets really deep. You'll be surprised what that JD will go through with the deck off and chains on it!