Does anyone make the Garden Tractors anymore. The ones you can add attachments . The ones smaller than a subcompact but bigger than lawn tractors.
Depends a lot I guess on what you intend to do with it. For garden work, older classic models from the 50's 60's and early 70'sare the ticket. I have a couple Wheel Horse's I use in my garden, and help take care of some crops our antique tractor club plants for our annual Harvest Day's at a local County owned Farm Park. Both have the original slot hitch on back for attachments, but I bought a sleeve hitch adapter that can be changed out on both in less than 5 minutes. The sleeve hitch allows you to use the Brinly brand attachments, which are easier to find, less expensive too.
I also have a Sears ST10. It came with several ground engaging attachments, plus the mower and snow blade. It is a rarer model, Deluxe model if you will with electric 3 pt. hitch. It was a barn find that I bought at a consignment auction for $300. It saw little use from the original owner that according to the serial number is a '74 model. Apparently the middle man who brought it to auction wasn't much of a mechanic, and replaced the carb. on it. It does run great, and the electric 3 pt. works well so far. I use the disk that came with it to make hill rows for onions etc.. I modified it to widen it out. I use the cultivators that came with it for in between rows cultivating, and made an adapter from the Sears 3 pt. to sleeve hitch so s to use my Brinly planter.
2 years ago, I bought a Wheel Horse model 953. It was only made 1 year, but following years the model number changed to a 1054. They came with factory hydraulic lift for rear, and mid mount attachments. I used it last year to cultivate potatoes here, and at the farm park, Indian Corn and pumpkin patch in the early stages at the Farm park. Pretty sweet tractor. I'll probably use it both places planting Indian Corn, and Sunflowers at both places, since I have the Brinly adapter.
For overall cultivating and general performance, I have more than several of the old David Bradley 2-wheelers Sears sold. Sears sold a multitude of attachments with/for them. With the 15", and 16" tires, they have plenty of ground clearance to straddle row cultivate plants up to 10"-12" tall. Most were powered by a 3 hp. Briggs engine, although they did make 5 & 6 hp models. I do have one of the 5 hp. models. Both models have plenty of power for the attachments that came with them. They will pull a cultivator at an idle, but I run them at around 1/3 throttle to sling oil around in the engine. Wheel weights/loaded tires are a must for pulling the plow. The 3 hp. models are very economical on fuel. I cultivate my little 1/4 acre garden a lot, like every 3-4 days at times, and doubt I use much over 4 gallons of gas all summer. Great thing about them, is if the engine is anon runner, they can be repowered with another engine. I've repowered several with 3 hp Briggs off of low hour sidewalk edgers. Basically all you have to do is change out the OEM pulley, and bolt it on, hook up the throttle, and you're good to go.
Auctions are the best place to find any of the above, or other models. It seems they magically increase in value, once someone buying them to flip buys them. If you're handy with wrenches, a little tinkering can go a long way. If not, there are plenty of forums, and if you're a fan of FaceBook, numerous pages of about any brand tractor pages that folks will help you out if you have a problem. Posting a few pics of one's I have below.
