What's Green and Yellow?

[Molon_Labe 731]

Okay, sorry if I got you J-D fans stirred up for nothing. Ran across my latest project on CL today after ignoring it for quite some time, just because of the name and the colors I failed to open the link. Well, I clicked on the link today and was shocked by what I saw. A 22hp Kohler horizontal shaft V-twin driving an Eaton 11 hydro via drive shaft to a 2 speed Peerless differential. All of this combined with a 3 point cat 0 hitch, front and mid pto's, 27X9.50-15 rear tires and 1" front spindles! What is it? An MTD!!!

 

The CL ad read "Yard Man tractor for sale" and indeed that is what it was but unlike any I had ever seen or was expecting. Just hauled it home this afternoon and after fluid changes and a tune up I'll get started on the cosmetics including a new low-back seat (black) and some olive paint to cover up the yellow, the decals are going away. All of the sheet metal is straight and the dash is in good condition which is a huge plus.  It ain't gonna' be pretty but should be quite a worker.

 

 

[slammer302 2,156]

I seen one like that on my local CL with a front end loader not too long ago. Nice score.

[SPINJIM 1,981]

Yard-Man top end tractors were heavy duty,  but I'd PAINT IT RED.

[WHX?? 50,776]

It ain't much but I like it Major...work the heck out of it and paint it red, white & blue! 

[KC9KAS 4,744]

When I saw the title (What is green & yellow) I was thinking, Me when I get off of an amusement ride at Holiday World!

[DennisThornton 4,771]

Mercy!  MTD make that? 

[6bg6ga 272]

Yard Man made a pretty decent lower middle price range tractor. I had one and let it go down the road. Mine had a 15Hp Briggs. 

[ohiofarmer 3,333]

 I lucked out and found some specs for your tractor http://www.mytractorforum.com/63-mtd/209946-90s-mtd-yardman-decals.html

 

 That beastie was mated to a 54" mower

[EricF 589]

I vaguely remember seeing those in the 90's. MTD was competing in the same class some of the Roper/AYP (Sears) machines for a while. Sad that they had to settle on building commodity-grade inexpensive box store lawn tractors as the economics of the industry changed. They've been successful, no doubt, but it would have been a lot more interesting if they could have kept building machines like these.

[GlenPettit 1,717]

MTD ( est. 1932, Modern Tool & Die Company, near Cleveland Ohio ) does make a lot of different products and is huge, they make Cub Cadet, Bolens & Troy-Bilt tractors as well as YardMan, they are a "contract manufacturer".  Over the past years MTD has been subcontracted to make models of garden tractors for many other companies for a year or two, MTD can make very cheap models or very good quality models, it's all what the company ordering them wants to pay.  

MTD doesn't sell or have a retail outlet system so all their tractors are sold via someone else, and those box-stores need their markup.

I'm not aware of Wheel Horse ever having whole tractors made there, but MTD did make parts for WH;  also, in the mid-60's Wheel Horse did have the John Deere Company make complete mower decks for them for some models for a couple of years until the WH factory got geared up (decks were Red & to exact WH specifications, can't tell apart).

 

Edited May 16, 2017 by GlenPettit

[pfrederi 18,335]

MTD like Briggs and Stratton often get a bad rap.  But both of them can turn out quality products.  Problem is the manufacturers/ sellers want it cheap and they both can make cheap also.

[Molon_Labe 731]

2 hours ago, ohiofarmer said:

 I lucked out and found some specs for your tractor http://www.mytractorforum.com/63-mtd/209946-90s-mtd-yardman-decals.html

 

 That beastie was mated to a 54" mower

Thanks for the link! Also found this brochure for an 18hp model there only difference is the B&S engine.

 

[WHX?? 50,776]

Always wondered what MTD stood for ....thanks Glen.

50 minutes ago, pfrederi said:

MTD like Briggs and Stratton often get a bad rap

Maybe  'cause they're not taken care of??

[Dakota8338 115]

Three mowers in the past our church mower was an MTD and it was well built.  Over the years the 46 inch mower began to droop a little in the middle which gave the mowed lawn that expensive stripped look some people want.  It had the only Briggs & Stratton engine, I have ever had any exposure to which wasn't a piece of junk.  In its latter years of use I mowed the lawn and did the maintenance on the old MTD and it was a quality unit.  Even after we purchased a newer J-D Tractor with a 54 inch mower, I would put one of the kids on the J-D to mow the front while I mowed the back and sides where the stripping the MTD provided would not be quite so visible.  

[Achto 28,801]

1 hour ago, pfrederi said:

MTD like Briggs and Stratton often get a bad rap

 

I agree the Briggs low line engines are just that. Aluminum cylinder bore, aluminum crank bearings, cheap, cheap, cheap... A Briggs I/C motor on the other hand is built to last. Cast iron cylinder bore, roller bearings on the crank. They made engines as good or as cheap as their customer wanted. Unfortunately when some one gets a bad product, their opinion of that products brand name will stick with them a long time. While consideration for how much they paid for the product is soon forgotten.

 

My shop motto is: All my work is done good, fast & cheap. You may pick any two of these choices. Note: fast & cheap may not be good.  

 

[Molon_Labe 731]

Many of the old Simplicity, Bolens, Allis Chalmers, etc. used Briggs engines and a good number of them are still running. Those were the ones with cast iron blocks with ball bearing cranks. They are still great engines but parts availability is getting more difficult by the year.

 

Just for grins I took a couple of pics for a visual size comparison between the Yard Man and my C-101

[EricF 589]

Interesting beast! I like the comparison shot -- it looks like it's edging into almost SCUT-size territory.

 

Just curious, how thick is the gauge of the steel that makes up the Yard-Man's frame? As time wore on into the 90s, that was where things started changing and we started losing the really good heavy GT frame deigns.

 

 

 

 

[Molon_Labe 731]

3 hours ago, EricF said:

Interesting beast! I like the comparison shot -- it looks like it's edging into almost SCUT-size territory.

 

Just curious, how thick is the gauge of the steel that makes up the Yard-Man's frame? As time wore on into the 90s, that was where things started changing and we started losing the really good heavy GT frame deigns.

 

 

 

The frame is 3/16" stepped, automotive style "C" channel with a bolt on 1/4" rear tow plate that the 3 point rock shaft mounts to. These were made until 1999 and are identical to the White GT-2055 with the exception of the 20HP Vanguard vs the Kohler 22HP used in the Yard Man. I had been looking for a White for a long time when this one found me.

 

 

[Molon_Labe 731]

Cleaned 'er up a bit, new seat and R4's for the rear, blade fabbed up and mounted. This one will be the prime snow mover.

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,360]

The  grill makes it look like it is ready to eat something . Interesting tractor.

[DevonianHorse 272]

Ok you genuinely made me laugh out loud with that misleading(?) title!  Great tractor, what a beast, I have never seen a Yard Man like that before. 

[RandyLittrell 3,894]

On 5/15/2017 at 9:12 PM, slammer302 said:

I seen one like that on my local CL with a front end loader not too long ago. Nice score.

 

Its still on craiglist, he has come down to $2500 now. 

 

 

 

Randy

[Amcwheel85 2,059]

That is 1 awesome yard man.. kinda like the normal weak small yard man on steroids!! I would love to have one like it.. nice score!! BTW the front looks like a funny EMOJI lol. Wife seen it... laughed and said she wants one! Lol

Edited July 16, 2017 by Amcwheel85