A story about dads Deere and my screen name

[Greentored 3,211]

To make a long story short: (it never ends up a short story when I get to jaw jackin)

Old man bought a brand new 317 Deere in 82. I was 7, and still remember he and gramps backing in and unloading it off the trailer. "COOL, can I ride it?" And I did......about 20 feet and right into the corner of the house, denting the grille.

It had the 'rod chucker' KT17 series 1, and burned a half quart of oil per acre since day one. The dealership never followed up with him on the warranty, if the old man remembers correctly they were offering up 18hp Onans or a trade up to the 318 model.

The tractor got used regularly for about 15 years before he overhauled the engine. It still guzzled oil and smoked, so he parked it.

Fast forward to last fall- I bought a 'long term flip' home on an acre of land in the country and needed a mower. Old man says "drag the old Deere out and take it up there."   Now, the old man is not a poster child for maintenance- I put a new battery in it, changed the oil (probably the third oil change it ever got lol) changed the hydro fluid and filter (had the ORIGINAL oil and filter on it from 1982), 2 new deck bearings, cleaned the carb, plugs, sharpened the blades that looked like butter knives, etc... and test mowed the property at the shop. Dang, she cuts nice and has plenty of grunt, belching smoke and dripping oil the whole time.

  He comes to the shop and says "wow, thats great! Maybe ill take it to the new house and leave the zero turn at the shop instead of hauling it back n forth."  Wait a minute. What?  Son of a  fine, ill go buy my own damn tractor.

Soon after, I was hauling home my first horse, a rough but running 520H. Always liked the horses, but we're a green family, and I like to be different. And theres my screen name: "green to red". One thing led to another with the 520, and maintenance turned into a full blown restoration/custom, intake seat and valve job/decarbon,belts, fluids, sleeve hitch, etc..etc... and one by one the attachments came in. HA, cant hook any of these to your Deere can ya, old man??

Ill hand it to the old Deere- its a good tractor, cuts beautiful, and just wont die- just keep oil on hand. Considering the absolute lack of maintenance for 35 years, theres something to be said for it. In a drag race, it would blow the doors off my 520H, but hook a chain between them and ill rip that Deere in half.

I absolutely LOVE that 520, cant stop bragging on it- it is a beast! Theres only a need for one 'do it all' tractor, but theres already a 654 in the garage, waiting on a fix up. I find myself looking in yards, for sale listings, etc... trying to find another horse. Will it ever end? Doubt it.

Hope you all enjoyed the 'long story short'. I told ya.....

Edited April 8, 2020 by Greentored

[bottjernat1 2,190]

Love the story!! I to grew up with deeres everywhere and i own more deeres then wheelhorses. I love all the old iron. My late dad did to. We owned a little of everything but deeres and horses and a few cubs where our main machines. I just sold a 317 i put a series 2 in it. What a beast they are a tough machine. Here was a Christmas display idea my dad loved to do my wife thought of it and we did this up until dad died and people loved it.The second photo is my some of my deeres when i had them at my son in laws till my building got moved. the 3rd photo is my daughter maddison showing off my restored rj58, my 1963 953 i bought from the original owners son, and my late dads favorite 67 round fender. I used the 67 to plow snow this winter did a great job. I hear ya on the maintenance my dad use to preach it but never did it himself. LOL

[WHX?? 48,815]

55 minutes ago, Greentored said:

the old man is not a poster child for maintenance-

That was worth the write up right there! 

I recently had to put dad in a home and inherited his green & yellow s. First off was a good bath! I'll have to get some pics. of his fixes before I correct them.  

[Pullstart 62,881]

Thanks for the story @Greentored!  You’re on the right track!

[Achto 27,575]

3 hours ago, Greentored said:

I find myself looking in yards, for sale listings, etc... trying to find another horse. Will it ever end?

 

Sad to say "NO" it may never end. Feel rest assured that we will all be here to help you through this illness. Also know that we are all more than willing to help talk you into buying that next  (should you have any doubt).

Hang in there buddy, & start building more sheds so that you have room to keep them.

[ebinmaine 67,498]

2 hours ago, WHX24 said:

That was worth the write up right there! 

I recently had to put dad in a home and inherited his green & yellow s. First off was a good bath! I'll have to get some pics. of his fixes before I correct them.  

Sounds like you and I could compare notes. Go ahead and look back at that thread about the Ferguson I picked up last fall. Man on man.... there's more wrong than right.

That's okay. I have a Trina. She'll get that tractor back in shipshape at some point.

 

 

@Greentored

Jump in the truck and come on up to Maine and I'll give you a pile of stuff and you can build your own tractor. After May 1st......

 

[WHX?? 48,815]

So I always thought yer handle was torn between green and red!

Let me clue you in everyone's got a green  thing and like @$$holes most of them stink 

Naw just kidding... they just just protect their info to such an extend that you can't work on it yourself. Especially with their big computerized stuff. 

Here's a z turn I inherited from dad but really have no use for it. It had a mouse nest in it unbelievable and have no idea why it never overheated. 

He says: will just blow it out ..wielding a compressor hose

Me: No Dad the plastics gotta come off.

Him: We Can't just give it a blow job??

He's 90 I cut him some slack!

 

Cleaned up nice tho and actually a really nice rig.

Dad also had a JD sno blower that was an absolute mess. Gave new meaning to reporposeing bed springs! Tecky motor as most but runs sweet when propertly tuned. 

Edited April 9, 2020 by WHX24

[sergeant 291]

To the OP Great story But I don't agree with Your comment Between a 317 & a 520H I think the belt Might break on the Horse long before anything Happens to the 317

 

You Know I have Heard How wonderful a Machine is and how much better it is over this Brand over & Over again.

 

But there are Only truly 3 traditional Garden Tractor Brands Left , Cub Cadet(MTD), John Deere & Simplicity ( Ventrac & Steiner are really Hybrids Garden /Sub Compact)

 

If  Areins, Bolens, Gilson, Gravely, Ingersoll, Jacobson,  Kubota, Power King & Wheel Horse are so Much Better How Come there Not either still around or why is somebody Not Producing Garden Tractors Under that Label to the same quality of when that Brand was In Production. Simple They Just didn't sell well enough compared to That Federal Yellow, Green & Orange and Most were a Lot Cheaper then that Green at the same time new. Yet that Federal Yellow, Green & Orange  outsold them all and Green was Late comer in 1963(Ariens & Kubota were even Later than Deere with the Garden tractor) Because if They were that much better There Parents would still Produce a Model of some type today But they don't! Ariens, Gravely & Toro Just Zero turns & commercial equipment Though Toro Is Back In.Garden / Sub Compact Market with Ventrac Might actually Kill the other Garden /Sub Compact the Steiner

 

Ariens still produces Tractors In Europe Under two Brands.

 

I think In Bolens Case it was Bad Marketing By Garden-Way that finally did them in Because it was company that had more experience with Direct ship and Not a Big dealer apparatus They were Not always Good at stocking dealers

 

Toro spends all that Money designing the 5Xi series and Make It a clevis Hitch tractors when the rest are using Cat 0 3point and Finally Limited Cat 1 3point hitches and Most of the Major Garden tractors did Have diff/lock By the 1990's when the Market changed In the early 2000's Toro did not follow suit. Cub Cadet(MTD) didn't Up Grade there 3000 series to go with the Other Big two But they did make a decent Medium Garden tractor at the time which has keep them in the Garden tractor Business today.

 

Ingersoll Just Never had a Big dealer apparatus after splitting from Case which further Made Eastmans Purchase a Problem with getting the brand up & running and by then the CEO Had a Major accident so Ingersoll is no more 

 

Many of those Brands I mentioned Just stagnated and didn't really Innovate there Lines Of Garden tractors Like the Big 3 surviving have done  during the 1980's and 1990's The Big 3 surviving Did innovate there Machines . Wheel Horse except for the D series was the same Basic Tractor since the 1950's  Until 1997 Toro did Try with the 250, 260 & 4XT series and even the 5Xi To Innovate the Line But it seemed to be to late Because Toro was doing so Much better with there commercial Line By the Late 1990's and early 2000's. The Garden tractor was not the seller for them. The Zero turn was! Though Toro was still worried about leaving Tractors all together so they Had MTD Produce Clone of the Cub Cadet/White Line for use Under the Toro Label for a Number of years

 

Ariens did the same thing with HOP to have them Bring a Garden tractor Back Under the Ariens label

 

Both Ariens & Toro had made deals with Home depot so Hence the need for a Traditional Lawn & Garden Tractor.

 

Don't get Me wrong always wanted a Wheel Horse Finally got one I always wanted a 416H. But still On the Look out for a 312H or 314H & a 416-8 Just Because I Love all Brands Of Garden tractor. I Love Deere But I wouldn't say I bleed Green. I bleed the Color of the Tractor rainbow Because I also want to find a Few Ariens(GT & HT) at least 2 Gravely(tradition rear engine & Ariens Clone of GT) a Gilson or two(under Own Label, Wards, Lawn-Boy or Ford) & a Power King(or Snapper Clone) from the Mid 1990's Love to find a Jacobson Made Ford from the early 1980's  and another Simplicity Sovereign(last one Gave Up the Ghost) & wouldn't Mind finding a Giere Mountaineer I or II. There all good for something better than the other.

 

 

 

 

 

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

6 hours ago, sergeant said:

To the OP Great story But I don't agree with Your comment Between a 317 & a 520H I think the belt Might break on the Horse long before anything Happens to the 317

    This I strongly disagree as I've owned a 520 since new in 1998 and NEVER has is broken a drive belt maybe slipped but NOT broken ...           

But there are Only truly 3 traditional Garden Tractor Brands Left , Cub Cadet(MTD), John Deere & Simplicity ( Ventrac & Steiner are really Hybrids Garden /Sub Compact)

     Most if not all the sub compact 4x4 tractors (Kubota Kioti Mahindra ect) are true garden tractors that's why all the brand's you mentioned are no longer produced IMHO....        

If  Areins, Bolens, Gilson, Gravely, Ingersoll, Jacobson,  Kubota, Power King & Wheel Horse are so Much Better .... Though Toro Is Back In.Garden / Sub Compact Market with Ventrac Might actually Kill the other Garden /Sub Compact the Steiner.         ......     The designers of Steiner sold out then came out with the Ventrac so there really isn't that much difference other than the Ventrac is more advanced and pricey.

 

 

Toro spends all that Money designing the 5Xi series and Make It a clevis Hitch tractors when the rest are using Cat 0 3point and Finally Limited Cat 1 3point hitches and Most of the Major Garden tractors did Have diff/lock..... YES. I agree Toro could have done much better.... 

 

Edited April 9, 2020 by WVHillbilly520H

[Greentored 3,211]

@WVHillbilly520H @sergeant you guys hit the nail on the head with the WH hitch design. I gotta admit, it sucks, at least on this 520. Does it work? Yep. Do I have to choose between plowing deep enough and skipping the tip of the plow across the yard, or picking the plow up to travel and not dig deep? Yep.  Im addressing that a little at a time and am halfway through a direct, mechanical link retrofit kit that will offer ALL the travel, and have as much power as the lift cylinder can provide. Ok, and its slow. Im fixing that too, and have all but one of the HC trans gears sitting on my shelf haha.

I think we can all agree that almost any of these 'bigger' names producing GTs from the 60s-maybe mid 90s was a much better built, workhorse style machine than anything built today unless you want to fork over some serious cash. Dont know about you all, but i'll GLADLY shell out 2-400 bucks on a 30-40 year old machine and dump another 2-300 into it, versus shelling out thousands for one of todays computer controlled, fuel injected, flexi flyer plastic buggies that are on the sales lot today, and not be able to wrench on the stinkin thing myself without a computer

[953 nut 55,229]

On 4/8/2020 at 7:46 AM, Greentored said:

Will it ever end?

I hope not!

[Achto 27,575]

7 hours ago, sergeant said:

If  Areins, Bolens, Gilson, Gravely, Ingersoll, Jacobson,  Kubota, Power King & Wheel Horse are so Much Better How Come there Not either still around or why is somebody Not Producing Garden Tractors Under that Label to the same quality of when that Brand was In Production.

 

What you posted is true. But I think marketing had way more to do with company failures than design did. JD did the same thing most companies did at the time, they bought an engine and transmission from some other company & built a tractor around them. Their big advantage was the already established following of their farm equipment. Plus they could always sell clothes, toys, & nick knacks to stay a float if other sales were down. Very good marketing group there.

 

Cub Cadet started with the IH backing, again starting out with customers who were already loyal to the farm tractors & trucks. Later they sold to the huge over lord MTD who could sell enough cheep junk mowers to keep the CC name going through any hard times.

 

For lawn & garden equipment alone I guess Simplicity is the only company to stand the test of time. They were purchased by Allis-Chalmers at one time but ended up buying the company back & going back on their own.

 

There is no "perfect" tractor. I've worked on a quite a few GT's and I'd much rather service a Wheel Horse than any other GT built.

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

1 hour ago, Achto said:

 

For lawn & garden equipment alone I guess Simplicity is the only company to stand the test of time. They were purchased by Allis-Chalmers at one time but ended up buying the company back & going back on their own.

 

There is no "perfect" tractor. I've worked on a quite a few GT's and I'd much rather service a Wheel Horse than any other GT built.

Dan Briggs and Stratton bought out SIMPLICITY years ago and along with Ferris and Massey Ferguson L&G... So honestly no one except maybe JD was immune from the corporate take over... @Greentored I'm sorry but I did fork over the big $$ for a compact 4x4 with FEL and 3pt twice and have not regretted either yet you just can't have a one size fits all... I tried that and was unsuccessful its like using a Chevy LUV to tow 20k lbs when you could have any brand 3500 HD do it better. I have stood by my decision that I when I bought my 520H 22 years ago it has done everything I asked it do with out a lot of break downs and still going but I also believe my little Mahindra is just the evolution of the 90s garden tractor again JMO here.

[sergeant 291]

3 hours ago, Achto said:

 

What you posted is true. But I think marketing had way more to do with company failures than design did. JD did the same thing most companies did at the time, they bought an engine and transmission from some other company & built a tractor around them. Their big advantage was the already established following of their farm equipment. Plus they could always sell clothes, toys, & nick knacks to stay a float if other sales were down. Very good marketing group there.

 

Cub Cadet started with the IH backing, again starting out with customers who were already loyal to the farm tractors & trucks. Later they sold to the huge over lord MTD who could sell enough cheep junk mowers to keep the CC name going through any hard times.

 

For lawn & garden equipment alone I guess Simplicity is the only company to stand the test of time. They were purchased by Allis-Chalmers at one time but ended up buying the company back & going back on their own.

 

There is no "perfect" tractor. I've worked on a quite a few GT's and I'd much rather service a Wheel Horse than any other GT built.

Was IH all the way until it was sold to MTD In April of 1981 it wasn't just backed by IH it was IH. I grew up next to the IH Cub Cadet test engineer saw Most IH Cub Cadet before they went into production

 

Simplicity didn't buy itself back. Allis Spun it off before the sale to Deutz  and the executives from Deutz Allis started AGCO when Deutz wanted to just go back to engine Production

 

For the first 17 years of MTD Ownership Cub Cadet was really run as a separate company Called the Cub Cadet Corporation wasn't until 1998 the MTD really came into the Picture with design

 

I never said there was a Perfect GT I said they all offered something better than the other . I like all brands out there except today's Husqvarna with a stamped frame Now if they go smart like Wheel Horse  and used angle Iron for there stamped frame design they might be and OK Garden tractor. Wheel Horse did the same as Deere except for there 8 speed gear design and there Lower Half of the Hydro But the Pump was Purchases from a supplier just as the engines were. But it stayed the same Basic design from the 1950's to 1997 while other Manufacturers such as Deere Upgraded there tractor design with each decade. When wheel horse still had a turn radius excluding the 520 of 32inch  many even Roper were down in the low 20's  for turn radius But the owner's of Wheel hose just keep On chugging it along with cosmetic Updates It wasn't until 1997 that Toro who owned wheel horse for 11 years at that Point actually Innovated the line with the 5Xi the stop gap measures were the 200 series Yard Tractors Within 10 years of the 5Xi Wheel Horse was no more They really Innovated to late for the Wheel Horse line 2002 should have been a wake Up Call with Deere offering 4WD Garden tractors with Limited Cat 1 3point hitches  it was a wake Up Call for Simplicity  They followed suit with In a Year MTD keep On chugging along with there 3000 series and they could have Just done a Minor Update to the 3000 series to keep it up with the leaders the same Goes for Toro with the 5Xi series a Minor Update May have Brought sales Up if they Had added a 3point hitch and Probably at least Diff/lock 

 

Bolens had woken Deere, Wheel Horse and a few other In the early 70's when they started Introducing Larger Frame Garden tractors with 27x9.50 Rear tires even IH followed suit

 

Lawn & Garden is actually Deere's Biggest Bread winner even more so than the agricultural line and the reason why is Deere Innovates it Lawn & Garden tractor line . the same Can be said for Simplicity and even MTD. Toro is actually doing a nice Job In the commercial Mower Industry with there own line and with EXMARK even more so than Deere. Deere is still sort of a Youngster In the Commercial mowing line .

 

I don't have a specific GT I like to work on I know I am not thrilled with the ONAN in the 416H I wish this tractor was a 312H sometimes or that they had at least Put the Oil filter In a Better spot Only thing I find wrong with My 416H other than That it's a fine machine.\

 

Turning radius though is still something I have never been really thrilled about with the Wheel Horses or the Lack of Power steering Those where two of the Items that keep me away from Wheel Horse at the time it was In Production. As I would Have Bought it for the use of a Kwik-way Loader. Bought another tractor without Power steering with a Kwik-way That was a mistake the Loader was great! Lack of Power steering I solved the Next year with the Purchase of a Used JD 425 with 40 loader But still have the White with a Kwik-way Loader. But I love Wheel Hoses for garden work do to there Narrow size. Use to Barrow One In Northern NY Just to cultivate My Garden as It did a better job than the JD 240 I had at the time it was a B100 with Hydraulic lift sure did miss that tractor when I moved Back to IL

[sergeant 291]

2 hours ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

Dan Briggs and Stratton bought out SIMPLICITY years ago and along with Ferris and Massey Ferguson L&G... So honestly no one except maybe JD was immune from the corporate take over... @Greentored I'm sorry but I did fork over the big $$ for a compact 4x4 with FEL and 3pt twice and have not regretted either yet you just can't have a one size fits all... I tried that and was unsuccessful its like using a Chevy LUV to tow 20k lbs when you could have any brand 3500 HD do it better. I have stood by my decision that I when I bought my 520H 22 years ago it has done everything I asked it do with out a lot of break downs and still going but I also believe my little Mahindra is just the evolution of the 90s garden tractor again JMO here.

It Goes Simplicity, Bought by Allis Chalmers, Spun off Simplicity before tractor production was Purchase By Deutz ( Allis Chalmers today is in the Gas & Oil exploration industry)

Massey Ferguson Lawn & Garden Or AGCO Allis Lawn & Garden were Never Owned By Simplicity. Simplicity had the Lawn & Garden tractor account to Provide Outdoor Power equipment to Deutz-Allis When Deutz decided to go back Into the engine Only Business Former executives  of Deutz-Allis formed AGCO and Just Keep Simplicity On to Produce it Lawn & Garden equipment . Well Once AGCO Bought Massey-Ferguson They started Using Simplicity to Produce there Lawn & Garden tractors as well Prior to that Ingersoll was Producing Massey-Ferguson Lawn & Garden equipment and Before that it was Snapper & Before That AMF Produced Massey's Lawn & Garden and There was one More company Before that That Produced the Massey executive series