Tractor was delivered yesterday. Didn't look as big at home as it did on the lot haha. Driver laughed and told me to take a bunch cause it would never be that pretty and clean again. He said EVERYONE he delivers to does that.
I put the finish mower on it and cut all the grass and then switched to the rotary cutter and bush hogged a bunch of brush and sapplings. Both decks worked great, though I do like how the FM has 4 wheels that keeps it following the terrain vs always adjusting the RC.
When I first fired the tractor up, it seemed that the 3PTH was very bouncy, but I played with the flow knob under the seat and got it a little better. Later in the day I didn't notice it much at all, either it smoothed out or I adapted. I'll see if I notice it when I go back to it next time.
I've really got to get a quick hitch, hooking up the FM is not a big deal, but the RC is a PITA. The tractor has to be lined up just perfected or the lower arms won't swing open far enough to get on the pins because they hit against the rear tires. My local Harbor Freight said they should have a QH on the next truck on Monday. Hope so cause I am looking forward to getting one to make changing the decks easier, as well as adding a hitch receiver to it and some chain boxes on each side like I've seen others do here. I think I'll try and add a chainsaw holder on it somehow too. Not much room on the tractor to add things and it'd be nice to have it all in one spot if I can, especially since I expect that the 3PTH will be a pretty permanent fixture to the tractor once installed.
A couple things I've found that bugs me is when I step up on the tractor with my left foot and then swing my right leg across to sit down, my left foot can't spin around becasue it binds up between the fender and clutch pedal. About twisted my knee a couple times if I wasn't paying attention. Also, cranking my neck around to watch the deck or doing a lot of backing up sucks big time. My neck was sore as heck when I got done last night.
I found the tractor mows up and down along my pond like nothing and felt really good going along side slope, but the ground was a little damp and I didn't want to hit a real slick spot and slide, so just ran it backing down til the deck nearly touched the water then drove back up. I think I will end up putting some wheel spacers on it, to help a little with stability as well as keep the lower arms out of the rear tire when running them in the slotted hole so the deck can float side to side a few inches.
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