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Ever pull a midmount mower off a Kubotah tractor? Did you have a lift? AAAARRRRRUUUUGGGHHH!!!

I'm so sore and beat up I can't breathe without feeling a bruise. I love that Kubotah, especially that is is so small and manueverable with a short wheelbase, but having the largest PTO mower they make under it is crowded under there, and messing with the PTO shaft is a bear when reaching from outside the wheels under the tractor on a cold concrete floor on your knees in 40 degree weather. I was almost finished today and had to quit because my heart started being bothersome. All this was just to put new blades on. At the tractor shop, they put it up on the rack lift and changed the blades from underneath without taking the mower off at all. Now I know why!

Waytoo, I feel your pain. We have a 'bota G1800 (BIG garden tractor), I love it but it is obvious from the design they expected them to be serviced in a shop environment. Mine has a 54" deck and when I used to remove it in the winter to put the snow blade on you were reminded of that fact: the deck weighs 300 lbs and the only way to get it out without a hoist is to remove the front "trapeze" and slide it sideways out from under the tractor (on gravel no smooth concrete around here) :doh: . I don't move snow with it anymore, we have a 1945 Ford 2N with a trip-bucket front end loader I use for that :banana-rock:

I have to change a simple bearing on my Deere in a few months for the season. I am not looking forward to it.

You need a mess of biscuits and gravy, extra sage sausage, couple over easy eggs on the top with that bottle of Louisiana sauce at the ready.

Wow. Talk about togetherness. My Kubotah mower deck is the 54-inch version, on my B7500, and my John Deere has that same "planned to wear out" bearing. Its right where the belt bends back on itself, right? I put it on upside down once, and it didn't last long at all. Both come off the machines the same way, but the Kubotah weighs a ton. The older I get, the heavier it gets. What a beast. And that drive shaft! The first time I did it, the drive shaft pulled apart at the spline, not where the couple is, and I worked for hours to get the shaft back together.

Gee, Sarge, you sure are organized. I get what equipment I need when a good deal comes along, mostly because I was always an IH man, in fact, I still have my 1950 Farmall Super A down in the barn. With IH gone, I'll get whatever works and will last. I love that Kubotah, but that old JD just won't quit. Every time I think I'm going to have to rebuild it, it just keeps going (except for that sacrificial pulley in the middle of the underside).

Marty, your Dad was right. It hurts.