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? on demise of Wheel horse

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slim67
2 hours ago, rjg854 said:

When speaking of old iron, you can't leave Bolens out of the picture, nothing stops this "BEAST"

 

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Love walkbehinds. I don't know why but I do.

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IthacaJeff

I think some of us are forgetting that Toro did change WHs to be more contemporary. . .e.g,. 522xl and the lower models. Step through, hydros, contemporary looks. . . and they still failed. Only three homemade premium garden tractor makers anymore -- JD and Simplicity (maybe Kubota)-- because the demand is not there. But think about how many $5000 zero turns are sold. Look how many companies make high quality and commercial grade zero turns. . . no fewer than 10 brands, and recent start ups (Altoz, Spartan).

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slim67
2 hours ago, IthacaJeff said:

I think some of us are forgetting that Toro did change WHs to be more contemporary. . .e.g,. 522xl and the lower models. Step through, hydros, contemporary looks. . . and they still failed. Only three homemade premium garden tractor makers anymore -- JD and Simplicity (maybe Kubota)-- because the demand is not there. But think about how many $5000 zero turns are sold. Look how many companies make high quality and commercial grade zero turns. . . no fewer than 10 brands, and recent start ups (Altoz, Spartan).

Good point. If all you need it for is cutting grass, I am here to tell you( from experience) the zero turn cannot be beat. For time savings and comfort alone. I dont know how many people even garden anymore as to require a garden tractor. Most people I know or talk to just want last years garden rototilled. They dont even know what a bottom plow is or does. Seems like most small " tractors" are for mowing the lawn or snow removal. Even there I think people would rather use a walk behind snowblower as opposed to trying to use a lawn tractor with one or a blade. Who knows, maybe Gravely was ahead of its time!

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WVHillbilly520H
16 hours ago, slim67 said:

Good point. If all you need it for is cutting grass, I am here to tell you( from experience) the zero turn cannot be beat. For time savings and comfort alone. I dont know how many people even garden anymore as to require a garden tractor. Most people I know or talk to just want last years garden rototilled. They dont even know what a bottom plow is or does. Seems like most small " tractors" are for mowing the lawn or snow removal. Even there I think people would rather use a walk behind snowblower as opposed to trying to use a lawn tractor with one or a blade. Who knows, maybe Gravely was ahead of its time!

I agree to a small point on the ZTR unless you mow the areas I mow, my FIL uses his diesel Kubota ZTR but when I tried it it wasn't a fun ride that why I went to the SCUT(Mahindra eMax BTW  they now offer one even smaller than mine closer to xi size with 4wd) and yes Gravely was the 2 wheeler like WH simple design with many attachments to a little bit of everything, maybe not the same simplicity and quality but their name does live on after 100 years

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Edited by WVHillbilly520H
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slim67
3 hours ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

I agree to a small point on the ZTR unless you mow the areas I mow, my FIL uses his diesel Kubota ZTR but when I tried it it wasn't a fun ride that why I went to the SCUT(Mahindra eMax BTW  they now offer one even smaller than mine closer to xi size with 4wd) and yes Gravely was the 2 wheeler like WH simple design with many attachments to a little bit of everything, maybe not the same simplicity and quality but their name does live on after 100 years

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For the acreage we cut at work, yes zero turn all the way. We also have a Ventrac ( steiner copy) which will kill hills all day long. There is a SCUT in our fleet to, but ours is a JD 4100 and getting tired. We do also have a Mahindra 40  hp .

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DennisThornton

I had NO idea that Gravely and Studebaker were connected!  I thought it incredibly odd that AMC bought Wheel Horse.  Still not sure why an automaker would have thought it should own a garden tractor factory!  Wonder if they got confused by the GT?  Maybe that's where the automakers got "GT"!

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DennisThornton
On 3/20/2018 at 3:00 PM, IthacaJeff said:

I think some of us are forgetting that Toro did change WHs to be more contemporary. . .e.g,. 522xl and the lower models. Step through, hydros, contemporary looks. . . and they still failed. Only three homemade premium garden tractor makers anymore -- JD and Simplicity (maybe Kubota)-- because the demand is not there. But think about how many $5000 zero turns are sold. Look how many companies make high quality and commercial grade zero turns. . . no fewer than 10 brands, and recent start ups (Altoz, Spartan).

Just had to mention that I sell Central Boilers and they started Altoz.  We don't yet sell Altoz but we could.  They look awesome but I'm not sure we have the market for them.  But it is interesting to note that the GT market is shrinking and the Zero-turn is growing.  

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WVHillbilly520H

@DennisThornton, small world the Gravely of yesteryear was born in my home state, and now the Altos where you work are now being sold here locally cool deal, Jeff.

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DennisThornton
17 minutes ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

@DennisThornton, small world the Gravely of yesteryear was born in my home state, and now the Altos where you work are now being sold here locally cool deal, Jeff.

It is a small world in many ways!  I want to note though that Altoz is from Minnesota and I'm in NYS. 

 

Altoz was designed and built to be the best zero turn in the market.  They wouldn't have unless they had some darned good reasons including market study!  But we still don't sell them and other than setting on one I have no experience with them.  Not sure I could even recommend them until the dealer network expands.  But from what I've seen they are impressive!

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Sarge

I'd never heard of Altoz before they came out with the tracked model zero turn, pretty cool idea I must say.

 

Has anyone seen this setup ? Found that one on YouTube in the list of like products...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XwuvOGJS2sQ

 

Sarge

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T-Mo
9 hours ago, Sarge said:

I'd never heard of Altoz before they came out with the tracked model zero turn, pretty cool idea I must say.

 

Has anyone seen this setup ? Found that one on YouTube in the list of like products...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XwuvOGJS2sQ

 

Sarge

Pretty cool, but I guess it would have to come in different sizes.  If not, the deck wouldn't be level and may not adjust to be level, plus different size axles on different tractor models.  Pretty cool, though.

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DennisThornton
15 hours ago, Sarge said:

I'd never heard of Altoz before they came out with the tracked model zero turn, pretty cool idea I must say.

 

Has anyone seen this setup ? Found that one on YouTube in the list of like products...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XwuvOGJS2sQ

 

Sarge

That is just too cool!   Sarge!  Why didn't you think of that?  Oh!  Maybe you did!  That your product?B)

Ok.  I expect somebody here to adapt that idea to our Wheel Horses.

@wallfish

You bringing one to the Big Show?  

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cleat

That looks like a great idea.

 

Not so great on that cheap mower in the video (I can see transmission failure) but with a decent tractor it would be really something.

 

Looks like it would get good traction in the snow as well.

 

 

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DennisThornton
17 hours ago, Sarge said:

I'd never heard of Altoz before they came out with the tracked model zero turn, pretty cool idea I must say.

 

Has anyone seen this setup ? Found that one on YouTube in the list of like products...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XwuvOGJS2sQ

 

Sarge

I think we are getting off topic and maybe this would be a great new topic, but I'll add 2 cents here anyway.  I have a set of these and don't see why the idea couldn't be applied to Wheel Horses:

Image result for ford 8n track kit

 

Heck, maybe it has already!

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slim67
5 hours ago, DennisThornton said:

I think we are getting off topic and maybe this would be a great new topic, but I'll add 2 cents here anyway.  I have a set of these and don't see why the idea couldn't be applied to Wheel Horses:

Image result for ford 8n track kit

 

Heck, maybe it has already!

I think those were developed by Bombardier if I am not mistaken. Im curious if steering with the brakes is a necessity on that? 

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DennisThornton
7 minutes ago, slim67 said:

I think those were developed by Bombardier if I am not mistaken. Im curious if steering with the brakes is a necessity on that? 

Yes, but also ARPS.

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Sarge

Track setups like that are cool, but as to being truly useful for our machines  - not so much. No way to make the bogies work without interference to attachments so other than maybe towing or pushing snow they wouldn't work. Definitely not a new idea, stuff like this has been around forever.

 

Sarge

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slim67
34 minutes ago, Sarge said:

Track setups like that are cool, but as to being truly useful for our machines  - not so much. No way to make the bogies work without interference to attachments so other than maybe towing or pushing snow they wouldn't work. Definitely not a new idea, stuff like this has been around forever.

 

Sarge

When I was a kid I remember the power company had Fords with these and brush hogs to cut the high tension lines. A lot of swampy areas.

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