Great Addition to my little farm

Mow about 4 acres with lots of obstacles; trees, swales, fences, outbuilding, etc. I completely wore out my murray 42" widebody and 3 mowing decks in the last 10 years. (the deck design on that unit makes it almost impossible to clean off so rust is a major problem). I am pleased with the 2 cleanout ports on this deck. Have few minor issues, seat is missing bolt, etc. I perform my own maintenance so will keep it in top condition as possible and religious in changing oil and lube where needed or helpful.

I purchased this new from my local Sears store (I believe it's franchised) and have almost 10 hours of cutting time and have mowed my lawn/pasture 3 times. I would have probably not completed 2 cuts with the Murray; the 54" cut is amazing and will cut the tallest grass. Hydrostatic tranny very responsive and easy learning curve coming from manual shift. Large 23" x 10.5" rear tires work well with mower and don't skid as much as my smaller Murray, but will probably need chains to work ground engaging attachments.

I'm not too concerned about turning radius, it's advertised as 12", maybe is but without power steering, is a bear to turn that tight a radius. With 54" cut, I don't need it anyhow.

Seat is adjustable so leg room is not a problem, steering is tight but responsive, blade engagement takes practice (just start the mower, turn the key back to the first detent, push button, red light tells you it will now mow in reverse), I had a MTD without that feature for a while and hated to stop the deck just to back up a bit. Briggs 28 hp motor fuel economy is good, same as my 19hp briggs Murray. This tractor is a beast, advertised as 778 lbs and feels very strong using the mower deck. It ripped through some very tough pasture overgrowth like it thought it was a bushhog, did clog the discharge though, but never stalled the motor. (give it a Tim Taylor grunt)

I hope to purchase some garden plow/till attachments (maybe used) to increase the size of my small garden. I currently use a very old Clipper tiller 3.5hp and lots of Armstrong;>} power.