Good Morning Peter,
Never mind cheaper, they're just better! The best!
Almost infinitely repairable, tough as nails. My daily drive is an early eighties Tractor 8 that my father bought new. I've been trying to destroy it since I was 11 years old. Can't be done!
Only annoying thing is the semi regular belt replacements but even that is not hard. Everything else is so 'simple simon'. The way I look at it they were fabricated, not manufactured.
I have not tried to understand the model history post the eighties so can't help specifically. I do make the observation that after the eighties they became increasingly more complicated in annoying ways and increasingly difficult to work on. I'd be interested to hear from other members on that score.
To that end a well kept, probably recently re-engined tractor 8 or 11 would be my choice.....and probably cheaper.
My only other suggestion would be to avoid the ones with a differential. I've had nothing to do with them, they just go against the KISS design principal- which I hold to be absolute.
You mentioned race mowers. Perhaps somebody can tell me, do those guys keep the 'greenfield drive' when they modify them?
Last edited by prd; 08/08/15 08:39 PM.
