Must be Spring!!

[Lefty]

Well, last year at this time I was mower-less.... after my trusty old '98 17.5hp/46" cut  Murray chucked a deck spindle at somewhere north of 3,000rpm and took a major part of the deck along with it.
Then, a neighbor gave me a almost new Toro self propelled mower because she couldn't start it anymore (she's in her 70's and bought a rider mower to replace it). I used that for a while, then another neighbor asked if I wanted an old Murray riding mower for free. A tune up and blades put it back in service, though it's a bit on the rusty/crusty side being it's an '84 model and been parked outside all it's life. It smokes a lil, but starts right up and mows great. It's a 11hp Briggs with a 38" deck
Then, two weeks ago out of the blue, another neighbor flagged me down as we were leaving and asked if I'd two free John Deere's!!!! The catch? She's 84 and was worried that her current Deere would start giving her trouble now that it's 20yrs old, and they had new ones on sale at Home Depot... So she bought herself a brand new one... But, her out building already had her current one, and her son's old Deere in it so there wasn't any room for her new one. She wanted them both out of the way. Her son had passed away about 5yrs ago and his mower hadn't been touched in at least that long... Her mower though was in running shape, and I rode it to the house.
Her's was a 1991 STX38 with a 12.5hp Kohler.. I washed and waxed it, changed the oil,filters,plug, and blades on it.... and it now runs and looks as good as new.
Her son's is a 1993 LX172... all 4 tires rotted and flat,battery missing, seat dry rotted and torn up, and hood busted pretty bad, and the body pan is a bit rusty in places. But, it's all there and intact, the motor has 117lbs compression which is 3lbs less than the spec.s for it new, and when I took the valve cover off, the inside of the engine was spotless.... so I'm pretty sure it'll run after i rebuild the carb. and fuel pump, and flush the gas tank out... I found a hood and grille online used for $125 in perfect shape, and another place has the tires that'll be around $80 for all 4. I'm gonna strip the whole thing and repaint it at the bodyshop, including the rims. And for less than $300 bucks I'll have myself a brand new JD!!! BTW- just like it sits its worth around $500 ... restored it's worth around $1200-$1400 from what I've found for sale online. Hour meter reads just 137 hours on it... which backs up what she told me about how he bought it, and didn't get to use it much before he got sick, and then he died a few yrs later.
Then, if that's not enough.... last weekend I passed a yard sale and they had a mower deck out there that looked brand new... I stopped and sure enough, it was off a '98 Murray and was a 46" deck... exactly what mine was. They said that they had bought the mower new, and removed the deck to use the tractor to tow a tiller,plow,and box blade that same weekend... It had never been used. They wanted $50 for it so I bought it.
So... now I have THREE riding mowers that all run and mow like new!!! And soon to be a fourth.

Gonna need to thin the herd soon if this keeps up. (and no... the JD's aren't going to be the ones I thin either!! lol)
I'll get some pics up as soon as I can locate my missing camera cable...

[LJ-TJ]

Well when your done at your place you can come up this way I got a piece of grass 150' wide and 3,600 feet long. With all them mowers you could blow this job off in a couple of hrs. 

[Oz]

LOL, TJ!  Nice deal, Lefty.... for a moment there, I thought you were going to take the second one and make the motor into and RV generator!

[Lefty]

Dang TJ, I bet keeping that grass runway cut is a chore... 3,600 ft per pass and 38" (22" if I used the push mower) to 46" per swipe... I'd be at it a loooong time!
OMG!! Can you picture actually having to push mow that??? lol

[JDxeper]

Goats

[Lefty]

Agreed, very pretty.. Looks like a postcard.

[OldEdBrady]

It would require me to adopt a couple of older boys.  Young teens.  I'd simply make one swipe down the thing, and I'd be done for the day!