A Ripe Orange in Between the Green

I don't know A/C's that well yet. I too was thinking it's a B, but wasn't sure when I saw the rear hitch. It doesn't look like the normal B hitch, but it also doesn't look like one of the aftermarket 3-point hitches. That made me wonder if it's another model that I haven't seen yet.

Late model B's had the snap coupler as an option. Pretty rare feature

What makes a 318 better than a 918hydro or 920hydro? 

I think JR hasn't seen a 616-620-720 tractor. Weren't they also produced as the Simplicity 2020 Power Max? I think JD's advantage is the attachments. That and the power steering. The 318 is one of the first widely produced with p/s. Case probably had the best hydraulic system in it's day. My 446 has down pressure, 10 GPM capacity, and the best tiller. They made the tillers with either 3pt or sleeve hitch. Hook up 2 hoses and you're ready to till. It also will go forward or reverse.

I think my boney butt would really like that seat!!

I wasn't going to add a comment about gt's because I don't have any experience with A/C's, but as long as you have mentioned the Case gt's.....

i think i want that black yamaha banshee four wheeler sitting there.

I'd take any out there be it green or orange.

I guess I shouldn't have made the JD 318 statement without knowing more about the AC L&G tractors.  Here are some of the features I know the JD has:

Differential brakes
2 spool hydraulics with the option for 3 spool
18hp Onan
Shaft Drive
Way overkill beefy frame
Power Steering
Hydro trans
Hydraulic connections front, mid,  and rear

Edited by JR Maley - 15 Jul 2011 at 8:44am

I've had many mowers, mostly not great until the last couple years. And I've moved to a bigger acreage (that I now own) so good mowing machinery is worth the bother and cost. For decades I've been mowing with a 1967 JD 112 with 47" deck. On half an acre it was OK though on rough ground the deck bounced a lot and it cut rough. I bought it with a snow thrower and a new short block. I wore that Tecumseh out and it threw the rod in standard Tecumseh fashion though it was a cast iron block. It now has a Briggs and mows on 1/4 the fuel the Tecumseh used. I've worn some of the deck drive pulleys to the point they need replacing to get full power to the deck. And the deck with three blades is easily plugged, it doesn't get rid of the grass well. Old timers in the mower business around here tell me I didn't have to learn that by experiment, they knew it when they worked for Deere 40 years ago.

Then I resurrected my dad's series one Snapper Comet that has a near new Briggs engine replacing its Tecumseh that threw the rod through the aluminum block. With 8 hp on a 30" single blade deck, it mows this couple acres in less than three hours running as fast as its friction drive will move it. I'm detecting the speed slowing over that time period.

Last month I borrowed a 2007 Snapper 250Z zero turn, 20 hp, 42" deck. I have yet to learn to drive it most efficiently but its doing a neater job than the Comet, in half the time (cruising at 6 mph). The ops and parts manual says its the same (now made by Briggs since B&S bought Snapper) as a Simplicity Javelin though I think the engine and deck on the Javelin are different. As zero turn prices go, I stole the 250Z (I've paid for it but the check hadn't yet cleared a week later last I checked), but its still more than I've ever paid for a mower. The cost of more time for other things I guess.

The Deere is in pieces right now, the rear variator belt came apart and some of the threads are wrapped around the transmission shaft against the seal and make that shaft turn hard. I may have to take the transmission out and apart to get that cleaned up. In the mean time the red mowers mow better but the Deere might push a blade for landscaping. I don't have that snow thrower, it was OK in dry snow, but useless in the deep late March early April wet snows we often get. I spent more time unplugging the chute than moving snow.

One grumble about the zero turn is that it piles up grass all over it and the driver. I talked to one dealer in zero turns at a county fair Wednesday and he agreed that all zero turns do that. I get about half a bushel from over the mower deck after mowing. So I get out the air hose and blow me off too.

Gerald J.