Thanks Max, yes I have a few of those types of stone sets, have used them before one some projects.

Yeah I'll have to look it all over - don't mind sinking more $$$ into it - but if I feel it's going to be still a big landbarge thats not overly handy I'll be batter off selling while it's nice and pretty and grabbing a lesser SP option (alas there's very few things on the market I'd really feel worth muster....perhaps a Honda HRX217 that has a hydrostatic SP system thats a tad more user friendly that the shaft driven HRU, or the Victa Mulchmaster 560, which I think they put a much better quality transmission in).

But don't want to get ahead of myself, so we'll see - thanks heaps for your assistance.