I don’t have any of my photos handy but my go to for large properties was a 3 wheel 60” Scag.

 

When I started early 80's, we only did commercial, kubota tractors and belly decks, whizz witch weed eaters, push blower, backpack came later. We had chain driven grasshoppers, yazoo's, encores', scags walkbehinds, sensation push mowers.....

 

Company I was with used John deere riders. 46 or 48 inch, you know the BIG ones! Then they switched to the Dixons- a real game changer. And you better bet those Dixins had big 48 decks on them and something like 14 to 18 horsepower! That was big time back then.

I've always had a soft spot for the Yazoos

 

Mowing or not, give me the 80's over today's mussed up world

 

I would love to go back, to the tech of those days... Sadly I remember back when, thinking... If the bright engineers and scientists of the world could only invent gizmos like on Jetson's and Star Trek life would be so much easier!
Well, here we are...
And it's total chaos.

Last week I rented a 2021 Silverado because my truck was in the shop...
Did you know the doorhandle is just for show?
I don't even know why they put an actual doorhandle there...
It certainly works as intended but there's no linkage or cable.
It's all electronic, could've used a push button.
What happens when the battery dies?

 

I was a kid in the 80’s too. Grew up farming. Dad put me on his red 782 Cub Cadet (it was nearly brand new and NOT a cheap mower back then) when I was around 6, maybe 7. Once I learned to mow the roughly 2 acres at our house, I started mowing the neighbors yard. It was odd to have someone so close out in the country. Her house was maybe 1/8 mile from ours. Mowed a probably an acre and a half for her. Then took on my grandparents yard two miles away. That was the home base for the farm. Mowed another acre or so there. In the early 90’s took on another place 5 miles away, about an acre, and another around 8 or ten away. That last one was at least 3 acres. I drove the mower to the neighbors and grandads and the 5 mile away one a few times. Then dad let me put a tractor on our car hauler/ livestock trailer and use it to haul the mower to the two farther away ones. The ten mile away property someone (mom or dad) would drive me over with the truck, drop the trailer and leave. Lady let me call them to pick me up when I was done. 48” deck on the Cub Cadet, and probably over 3,000 hours on it when dad traded it off for a Cub Cadet 1864, which my brother still has. We rebuilt the KT18 once after it threw a rod, but the second time it was replaced with a KT18 Series II with oil pressure lube. It still had that motor in it when it left.

Now I collect Cub Cadet garden tractors. I have over 20, including a 1969 model 71 my grandad bought new that actually joined my little mowing business for several years when my next youngest brother or dad could help, we ran both.

Fun times. Good memories, and back then good money. I saved up quite a bit mowing yards. I quit mowing when I got old enough to run the big tractors (1993). Then mowing went to the younger bro’s. Now I do it again. Funny how life is.

 

Those old Cub hydrostatics were horses....

 

So were the gear drives. I still use them. Both gear and hydro.

This is a 10hp gear drive.

This is an 18hp 1811 with two stage blower and full hard cab with a heater I made.

 

There’s good reason we buy and run 90’s Chevrolet trucks. We can buy them and I can totally rebuild them cheaper than we can buy new junk.

 

Nice. Loved those 90's trucks with truck beds low enough you could actually throw stuff up and over into them with ease. Compared to today's freaking tall behemoths where I have to have a step ladder to see inside the box. Def not made with the working man in mind.

 

You know, when they came out with those trucks in ‘88, we didn’t think they would be as good as the old square body trucks.... they ended up being better.

 

My uncle used Lawn Boy and IDC / Ryan branded equipment in 80's with his lawn service he said to have switched to echo equipment in the mid 80's.
He ran the gravely front mount zero turns with the problematic kohler opposed twin engines. he said the early grasshoppers with the k series single was much better.

 

I was expecting a picture of a new Dixon or Dixie chopper by now!

 

Honda HR214, a mower well before its time.
Just sold mine last year.

 

I serviced a ton of those at my first job in a lawnmower shop. Lined them up and did them production line style.

 

Wish I had some pics but around here I can remember from my childhood commercial guys doing acreage were using Kubota B's with gang reels.

 

Here's me and my son in the 80's

 

All that tractor and a tiny little deck. Had plenty of power I’m sure!

 

We had Datsun 4 cyl 5 speeds to haul those around....safety was not a concern back then.....

 

I remember a lot of International 184 And 284 tractors with Woods mower decks too. That what the school used where I went, and other neighboring schools too. IH was big in Illinois. Lots of dealers. Once Cub Cadet came out with that 60” Haban deck available on the Super Garden Tractors, they were pretty popular too. John Deere 400’s with their big deck. Saw a lot of those.

 

This was the dream back then - to have a "real mower" (or should I say reel mower) like the ones used on golf courses. By 1990 Locke mowers were pretty much gone.

 

This is what I learned to mow with!!!!! I needed help lifting the side blades off the hooks at 10 years old!! No safety features here thats for sure!!!

 

I started mowing lawns around the neighborhood in the late 50's. Mowed during the 60's, half of the 70's, then mowed almost year round starting in the 80's. Here is the mower I used until about 1985. It is a Huffy, 19" with a B&S engine. Only mower I ever had until I bought a new Sears in 1985. I still have the Huffy, and it will still run. I crank it up a couple of times/year just for fun.

 

They don’t build ‘em like that anymore!

 

Sorry for the double photos. not sure what happened.

 

Toro grounds master, scag, bunton were popular. 18 horse was a commercial engine.

 

Well, 18hp was a big engine back then. Also, that Grounds Master was the Cadallic of mowers. Few people had a riding mower back in those days. Toro, Grasshopper, and Gravely all had what what might be called ZTR mowers, but I believe they were all front deck. I am sure there were others, but I never saw any others in use back then.

 

A little off topic, but my partner and I began mowing when we were fourteen back in the early 70s. We used our Daddy's mowers. His was a 20" Toro, mine was a 21" Craftsman. We didn't drive yet, so we had to push the mowers around the neighborhood. We had to walk down to Glen Echo Esso to fill up the 2 and a half gallon gas can. Cost a dollar. Eventually my partner bought a 21" Bob-Cat (commercial) mower for around $500. That was back when $500 was considered to be a lot of money. I thought he was crazy, but a few months later, I did the same. Cast aluminum deck, steel wheels with ball bearings and zerk fittings. Thick steel handlebars. Hard rubber tires. Rear bagger. 4 HP Briggs. Back then Bob-cats were made by Wisconsin Marine and they were painted orange. I think it was 1982 when they were bought out by Ransomes and they changed them to green. My old orange 21" Bobcat is still running today. I also still have an orange Bob-Cat 32" walk behind deck mower.

 

Back in 1986 I got a good deal on 6.3 acres on top of a hill in the middle of Connecticut in what was part of an old apple orchard. It took 2 years to clear it out.
Bought an old 1956 Ford tractor with a new Bushog
Cutter, Then a Coronie 5 foot mower wore that out and finally 98 a Woods 84 inch finishing mower. I just love the Woods mower and work it hard but getting the correct parts is a real pain.
Now every thing is old and worn out just like me and repair parts are hard to find even for my 35 hp Scag turf tiger.
Let's see l am 79 the Ford is 66 years old and the newest grass cutter is the Scag and it is 15 years old and impossible to get the right parts for.
Well we all need something to do when we retire. Let's hope we don't run out of parts.

Dave M

 

Bought an old 1956 Ford tractor with a new Bushog Cutter

I love how guys who haven’t been around equipment give the year of a tractor as if it matters. Guys on here do it all the time. How about the model of the tractor. Ford built more than one tractor in 1956. Was/is it a 600? 700?

 

601 5 speed dual clutch I mow in 2nd or 3rd gear. Pulled dead trees out in first gear with a big long chain to get a little momentum for more oomph.
Just let the old dead grass lay there and it eventually fills in the holes. Lawn slopes down and used to be wet and swampy but now it's a nice clean lawn. Wife knows where to find me from April to November. Buying gas or mowing grass! Oh or trying to find parts for all that old equipment. Did you know that Woods RD8400 has 2 different gearboxes. One tough older box and one not so tough one for the newer cost cutting not so good mowers-- now made in China using cheap bearings. Better stay away from the bushes with those ones and no leveling out the muddy parts and by all means stay away from that old drainage ditch with all those hidden rocks.
Save that for the old Bush Hog with the bent up or torn out sides. Now I know the caroney mower is back there somewhere but just can't remember where.

 

601 5 speed dual clutch

601 wasn’t made until 1957. Built until 1962. If you have the serial number, I’ll tell you what year you actually have.