Chav88 18 #1 Posted 12 hours ago Hello, my Name is Dick and I have been a lurker for a while and now I’m the proud owner of a 78 D160 with a Onan 16hp and hydraulic 3 point hitch. It additionally came with a plow and snow blower plus the 48” deck. Now let me explain how we arrived here because the D160 wasn’t what I had my heart set on even though now I have it I’m in love. I am with a lack of a better term…a giant NERD. I am a HVACR tech and more specifically a chiller tech and I’ve also done things in my past such as build custom motorcycles, and sheet metal at a resto shop. I have a full fab shop including a lathe, press, chop saw, tubing bender, notcher, tig, mig etc…. My hobby is tinkering from building an repairing my own cars to building mini bikes from scratch. Now I have recently purchased a larger property with a wooded area that need cleaned up and we keep a large garden. I knew I needed a tractor and there is nothing I love more than a tool that can do many jobs. I had my heart set on a gear drive 4x4 sub compact tractor and I quickly realized that it was going to be very difficult to find an older gear drive tractor that had all the attachments I needed that was also within a reasonable distance. Nominees were the JD650, the Kubota b7100, the ford 1200, yanmar 155d, Mitsubishi Beaver. The issue is I wanted a snow blower, a front end loader, and a mower. Finding all of these and less than a few hundred miles proved impossible and even though the attachments can be found it was a mess when it came to getting the right info. If I had time purely as a project it would work but I need this thing to work. I switched my focus to getting 2 machines. 1 lawn and garden tractor for mowing and moving a garden trailer and 1 for the loader. The wheel horse gear drive mowers were already in my want list for my smaller property but it was a little light for what I needed but the d160 popped up and it seemed like the perfect compromise between what I wanted and what I needed. Now, it’s not perfect and it needs a little work. The lower deck needs to be fixed, I’m sure the spindles need to be gone through. The whole thing just needs freshened up. I also need to find a mule drive and get the deck working, as well as build something custom for the 3 point to haul firewood out of the woods. It’s still to be determined if it will make it out of the woods without 4x4 but tires and maybe a winch may help. Maybe I’ll get spunky and build a loader out of it. Only time will tell. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebinmaine 77,465 #2 Posted 12 hours ago 21 minutes ago, Chav88 said: still to be determined if it will make it out of the woods without 4x4 but tires and maybe a winch may help You'll do just fine with the right prep. My S/O Trina and I have over a dozen tractors here. We live on a mountainside. She has several smaller mid 1960s machines. Mine are all mid to late 1970s. Much heavier both by initial build but also because that's how they're outfitted by me. Our terrain is pretty challenging here n there. Get some good AG tires or chains. WEIGHT is your friend. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chav88 18 #3 Posted 12 hours ago 28 minutes ago, ebinmaine said: You'll do just fine with the right prep. My S/O Trina and I have over a dozen tractors here. We live on a mountainside. She has several smaller mid 1960s machines. Mine are all mid to late 1970s. Much heavier both by initial build but also because that's how they're outfitted by me. Our terrain is pretty challenging here n there. Get some good AG tires or chains. WEIGHT is your friend. Oh yeah, mountains are a different animal for sure. My wooded area is sort of a ravine. What gets us here in IL is the Clay soil. It just hits different when it’s wet. I’m sure when it’s dry I’ll be totally fine. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebinmaine 77,465 #4 Posted 11 hours ago 20 minutes ago, Chav88 said: Oh yeah, mountains are a different animal for sure. My wooded area is sort of a ravine. What gets us here in IL is the Clay soil. It just hits different when it’s wet. I’m sure when it’s dry I’ll be totally fine. Likely, your best bet is chains, unless the tractor will be driven across asphalt you care about. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Easton Rich 1,021 #5 Posted 11 hours ago 1 hour ago, Chav88 said: giant NERD Aren't we all 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chav88 18 #6 Posted 11 hours ago 13 minutes ago, ebinmaine said: Likely, your best bet is chains, unless the tractor will be driven across asphalt you care about. Yeah it has the chains with it and I won’t have to worry about asphalt. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
