Do you still find lawn tractor useful after upgrading to "real" tractor?

[BadDecisions]

Another of those cases of "I can't figure out how to word a search to get useful results..." :laughing: Have had a Craftsman LT1000 lawn tractor for a few years before recently getting a "real" tractor - an old Ford 8N. Already well into the "yep, should have made this a priority a LONG time ago..so much more useful!" category, lol.

Which leaves me wondering whether I should keep the lawn tractor around for any reason? Perhaps a major consideration for me one way or the other is that I will not be using it for mowing duties of ANY sort, grass or otherwise. I have wicked allergies to airborne plant life, which means I get about 10 minutes of cutting grass before my throat, sinuses, and eyes are begging for mercy. If it's grass or weeds on the ground, I'm removing it, not cutting it. One of the big reasons why I moved to the southwest desert Also one of the big reasons why I upgraded to that Ford and a landscape rake - the ability to pull something that's big enough to be beneficial in _removing_ the grass and weeds growing on the property as opposed to just cutting and/or killing it. It was also a very pleasant surprise to find that dragging things BEHIND me, despite some of it still getting churned up into the air, is also much more kind to my allergies than blowing it out the side under me.

I'm now looking at an old lawn tractor sitting there, and wondering if I should keep it for any reason...there's been a few times over the years that I've done such upgrading, got rid of the old smaller stuff thinking I'd never use it again, then later found myself thinking "well darn...that old thing would have been pretty handy about now..wish I wouldn't have sold that!".

So I ask of the community - if you've done a similar thing, did you find the lawn tractor to be useful for anything afterwards that didn't involve mowing things?

 

[bigtiller]

Re: Do you still find lawn tractor useful after upgrading to "real" tractor?

Take the mower deck off and get rid of it.
Now it's called a go-cart. Drive it down to the mailbox or around the yard just for fun.

 

[BadDecisions]

Re: Do you still find lawn tractor useful after upgrading to "real" tractor?

around the yard just for fun.

I have a Suzuki Samurai for that, or if I want more fun, a K5 Blazer with a 489ci big block stroker under the hood Though maybe it's time to get into lawn tractor racing?

 

[Avenger]

Re: Do you still find lawn tractor useful after upgrading to "real" tractor?

I was given a mid 90's MTD riding mower when I moved out to where I am at now. I rebuilt the B&S engine as it was pretty much dead. Replaced a bunch of pullies and belts, new blades, etc. I even added these Amazon.com: Carlisle Super Lug Lawn & Garden Tire - 13X5-6: Automotive for the hills I have. I mowed with this 'tractor' for several years... then I bent the deck on a pocket gopher mound. The tractor was good, deck was bad. I didnt wish to fix or replace the deck, I bought a new riding lawn mower and removed the old POS deck from the MDT.

I got a little wagon for it and use it for running around the property. The wagon is great for moving my targets up to the shooting range and getting packages left by the mail box. Zooming up to the neighbors is easy too, just bounce down the trail. All sorts of uses for a little 'tractor' that pulls a wagon not much bigger than a red flyer. :thumbsup:

 

[mapper]

Re: Do you still find lawn tractor useful after upgrading to "real" tractor?

Lawn tractor is for mowing the lawn, tractor is for everything else. Can't imagine what my place would look like if the tractor was what I mowed the lawn with, I can do a tremendous amount of damage in a very short amount of time to structures, trees and other stuff with the tractor.
Different tools, different purposes.

 

[RoyJackson]

Re: Do you still find lawn tractor useful after upgrading to "real" tractor?

Personally, I'd keep it...
Although I use mine ( a zero-turn) for mowing primarily, it's also used to tow a lawn roller and an aerator. If I didn't have a Gator, I'd get a cart for hauling dirt, picking up trash...toting my trimmer tools (string trimmer, chain saws and lopers) around too

 

[mapper]

Re: Do you still find lawn tractor useful after upgrading to "real" tractor?

However, if I didn't have a lawn I wouldn't need a lawnmower. On the other hand my wife has MG and on bad days she uses the lawn tractor to get around the property on.

 

[ericm979]

Re: Do you still find lawn tractor useful after upgrading to "real" tractor?

I use mine to mow the lawn and pull dethachers and rollers on the lawn. If I didn't have a lawn I wouldn't have a lawn tractor.

When my allergies are bad I wear a respirator with N100 filters. Usually when mowing with the big tractor. It works pretty well and it's less uncomfortable than the much less effective fiber dust masks.

 

[shovelmike]

Re: Do you still find lawn tractor useful after upgrading to "real" tractor?

I have kept my old Craftsman 12.5 hp I bought new in '91 even though I went to ZTR 15 years ago. The thing refuses to die, so I have used it extensively tow my lawn trailer. I used it to mow a section of my trail that was rough enough that I didn't want to dull the blades on the good mower, mowed along side the garden in a spot too narrow for the big mower.
I finally broke out the Hustler and mowed the whole yard in almost no time.

 

[JohnnyMX]

Re: Do you still find lawn tractor useful after upgrading to "real" tractor?

Used to do the lawn in 4 hours + with the tractor and a finish mower. Got the zero-turn and cut that in half. That is probably a bigger difference than a normal riding mower. I wouldn't bother owning a normal rider and a tractor IF I could cut grass with my tractor.