New Tractor Blues

[MrBigStuff]

Re: New Tractor Blues

>I don't know who make Simplicity back then, or now.

I own a Simplicity tractor and snowblower. I used to live right near where they were manufactured in the Milwaukee area. I moved to the right coast and they are not as common here although I recently located a local service shop that carries their parts. AFAIK, they haven't sold out and still do their own manufacturing. I seem to recall they weren't far from the B&S engine plant...

Should have added- My dad bought the tractor in '92 and I inherited it after he passed away. I ditched my Sears tractor to keep this one. Night and day difference in quality and durability. It's still going strong.

I bought the snowblower 2 years ago and it has the same qualities as the old tractor. Built to last.

 

[cbavier]

Re: New Tractor Blues

getinmerry: What kind of warranty did that tractor have on it?
It seems it would have had at least a year maybe two years.

 

[avenger79]

Re: New Tractor Blues

i say this as a previous designer for an "american" company who manuf lawn equip. What many don't realize is most of the made in america stuff is imported on a long boat from China. then rebadged.
Almost all of the companies mentioned in this are doing the same thing. BTW I believe simplicity and snapper are out of the game. Snapper went out because of a huge law suit, and simplicity well we bought 'em and dumped 'em.
BTW I have the same tractor at home. Been running it two years now with no problems at all. Hopefully you can get it all worked out. Not too sure how Kohler engines is doing but the bath fixtures business has laid off almost 300 in the last month.

 

[bootle]

Re: New Tractor Blues

ya might wanna take a look at Honda, they seem to make some pretty good mowers and small engines.

 

[all thumbs]

Re: New Tractor Blues

Simplicity is still being sold in the Wisconsin area. I have owned two , the second one was an upgrade. The first was 12 years old and still going. Don't know about now but they use to offer Honda, Kohler, and the B&S Vanguard engines which were made by Mitsubishi. The company is still going but under Briggs & Stratton ownership. Hard to compete with box stores and their prices but if the cheap ones junk out in a couple years that would make up my mind.

 

[Docknocker]

Re: New Tractor Blues

I thought Allis Chalmers bought out Simplicity in the early seventies. For awhile they where identical tractors with interchangeable parts. I inherited my Father's 1974 Allis Chalmers 416 Hydrostatic, with a cast iron sleeve Kohler. Great machine, built like a tank. Allis Chalmers was bought and sold several times in the late seventies / early eighties, and it finally got to the point when I could no longer get parts for it.
Last I knew they where called Duetz-Allis, and where an entirely different machine.

 

[bandit86]

Re: New Tractor Blues

I have an old cub cadet 1220 with a 12 hp B&S engine 1600+ hours on the meter. bought it that way and I'd buy another one. Cost me $650 vs 2g for a new john deer at HD. starts and runs like new. I wouldnt buy a newwer one though. I'd pay big bucks for a mint low hour old cadet

also have an early 70s ford lgt 100 with a 10 hp kohler. what a tank. freaking amazing! the tractor weighs probably twice what my cub cadet weighs, less hp, goes faster, doesnt notice the load as much. best $100 I ever spent

Honestly, free trade is great, but not with countries with substandard living and working conditions. Anything made offshore by people making $1 a day should be taxed so that it's comparable to domestic.

 

[bassboy1]

Re: New Tractor Blues

no one mentioned what i think is best. Snapper, although their frames and sheet metal are no longer as tough as the were 20 years ago.

The old Snapper stuff can't be beat. Nor can the old Lawn Boy stuff, from back when it was OMC owned. Of course, they aren't really tractors, more push mowers. Now, Kubota, that is a tractor. You don't beat that with anything.

 

[mthieme]

Re: New Tractor Blues

I thought Allis Chalmers bought out Simplicity in the early seventies. For awhile they where identical tractors with interchangeable parts. I inherited my Father's 1974 Allis Chalmers 416 Hydrostatic, with a cast iron sleeve Kohler. Great machine, built like a tank. Allis Chalmers was bought and sold several times in the late seventies / early eighties, and it finally got to the point when I could no longer get parts for it.
Last I knew they where called Duetz-Allis, and where an entirely different machine.

That would be the green ones.
I could be wrong, but I thought it was the other way around - Simplicity took over the AC garden tractors. All the farm tractor companies tried to the garden tractor route at one point, but none lasted.

 

[Lone Duck]

Re: New Tractor Blues

what does MTD stand for?

MORE TIME DOWN!!

 

[Docknocker]

Re: New Tractor Blues

That would be the green ones.
I could be wrong, but I thought it was the other way around - Simplicity took over the AC garden tractors. All the farm tractor companies tried to the garden tractor route at one point, but none lasted.

Pretty sure your correct, I think I was having a dyslexic moment...

 

[hank55]

Re: New Tractor Blues

I always try to take photo's of products that have went bad, you need all the evidence you can get in your corner.

I shingled my house and had one section that wouldnt stick, it was a different Lot # than my other bundles, armstrong sent me a check for new shingles.I pocketed the cash and resealed the shingles, a pain to do ,but not as bad as removing the defective ones and replacing.


getinmerry

I would have taken photo's of the oil leak while it was still sitting on the lawn,and pic's of the grass. It can be hard to think of the camera though when you have a problem like this!!

Your lower seal probably went bad when the engine lost its oil the first time. I wouldnt tell them you restarted the engine, but that may be to late.

 

[Caveman Charlie]

Re: New Tractor Blues

I don't know the details of the Simplicity Allis Chalmers merger. But, Allis Chalmers and Duetz did own part of Allis Agriculture equipment for a few years. But, it Duetz was bought out by American investors that re named the equipment AGCO. Then they bought the old Massey Harris line too. Truthfully there has been so many mergers in ag manufactures I don't know who is together with who anymore. I think AGCO and Case IH are even merged now. I think mostly your down to John Deer and the other company.

 

[Searay 150merc]

Re: New Tractor Blues

I have a New Holland that has performed perfectly for the past 7 year before that it was a wheelhorse, strong little tractor

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: New Tractor Blues

no one mentioned what i think is best. Snapper, although their frames and sheet metal are no longer as tough as the were 20 years ago.

I took an old snapper that my father only paid $25 for (needed work), I fixed it I only had to replace a coil and do some other small things. I decided to help my father finish up the front yard so I hopped on the snapper, he was on the MTD Yard Machine, I ran circles around him, accidently blew grass on him also . The snapper will still run as far as I know, I haven't tried it lately. It isn't the most comfortable riding that's for sure.

Now the MTD is parked, motor shows low compression, it had a tecamseh (am I spelling that right?), the lawn mower lasted for about 10 years or so.

Sense the MTD went down my mother bought a Husky from sears with the extended warrenty, it is also a 20hp with a Kohler engine if I'm not mistaken. Sears is supposed come to us to do the repair or pick up the machine, we should not half to bring it to them. It could be a better mower for sure, it bogs down to easy, it smokes when you first start it, it smokes at times when you get into thick grass. This is with the deck set on level 4 (sometimes 5), and only using half of the deck when mowing instead of the full deck. I have even stalled the motor from bogging it. For a 20hp it isn't very strong, we have some inclines to mow on also. I could of swore that the motor was trying to seize up on this as well at one point. Don't like the hydrostatic drive, I would wrather have the manual gears to shift. Don't like the fact that you half to shut the mowing deck off to go in reverse. Don't recall having any bogging problems with any other mowers in the past. I bet I could take that snapper and mow the yard without bogging.

 

[getinmerry]

Re: New Tractor Blues

UPDATE!

I just got off the phone with the Kohler service guy. During the second tear-down (complete tear-down) they determined that the motor had been dropped at the factory.

The shaft had runout of nearly 1/2" in the center and the aluminum housing under the flywheel was mashed and had multiple hairline fractures. They said that the threads on the shaft that hold the flywheel on were mushroomed and recut after some crude regrinding. All signs point to that the motor was dropped on it's head before it was fully assembled. After the short use I gave it, it was off balance enough to elongate the lower shaft plate and leak oil once it got hot. This pretty much disintegrated the internals a second time. All this damage was hidden without a complete tear-down.

So much for Kohler quality control.

Long story short...they're shipping a brand new motor!

Sometimes the good guys win!

Chuck

 

[mthieme]

Re: New Tractor Blues

They're green for a reason!
My pockets ain't that deep.
Farmall's fit in the budget nicely.

 

[wuttja]

Re: New Tractor Blues

Long story short...they're shipping a brand new motor!

Congratulations! Very good news that someone took the time to find the source of the problem and took responsibility instead of trying to pin it on the customer. Doesn't seem to happen very often these days. Good luck with the new engine, hope it gives you many years of trouble free use like you were expecting.