We’ve added a new tractor to the fleet! It’s a 20-year-old 16.5hp Craftsman LT1000, so it may not be a ‘real’ tractor, but it will add some utility as a mower, especially over a septic leach field where we’d prefer not to drive a heavy tractor. We also scored an Agri-Fab steel utility cart for it, which will let us move soil, manure, and other materials like feed around the property more quickly, without the need to start a larger tractor.
However, one of the more fun potential uses will be as a ‘power wheel’ for visiting children of friends and family. Of course, we’ll restrict the speeds it can achieve and remove a mower deck to make things just a little bit safer.
The Craftsman LT1000 riding mower and Agri-Fab utility cart cost us $200. Fortunately, the reliable old Briggs Stratton motor took almost no time to get running again. All it took was a cleaning of the air intake, a spray of carb cleaner, a boost from a fully charged battery, and a spritz of ether to turn the engine over and break ice that had formed on it, and helped to seize up the motor. We discovered a crack in the gas tank, but a replacement was readily available and fairly inexpensive.
We had been considering building our own garden tractor around an 18hp cast iron Briggs and Stratton motor we have stored in the garage, and some 3-inch C channel, but the wheels, tires, drive train, and hydrostatic transmission alone would easily have cost more than double the 200 dollar price of the Craftsman AND required a lot of time and effort fabricating.
