# MoPac's tractors



## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Living on the side of a hill I have had the need for good lawn and garden tractors.
I bought my house in 1974. Alot younger then. I used a walk behind to mow the yard.
1 acre plus yard. After about 2 years I bought a new Simplicity tractor. Loved it. But
nothing lasts forever. After 15 years I traded it in for another Simplicty. It was about
2500 in cost. That did not work out. If my yard had been flat it would have been fine.
When you mow a hill you are to go straight up the hill and straight down the hill. Not
easy to do with that tractor. Straight up the hill was fine. Coming down was down right
scary. It was not holding the hill and rear wheels would start to slide down the hill. It
was not heavy enough to hold. It would slide about 30 feet down the hll. Ok, I thought
this is not going to work. Only 6 months old I loaded it up on my flat bed trailer and
headed to my Simplicity dealer. I traded it in on a Smplicty Soveriegn tractor. Not just
any Soveriegn but a 75TH Anniversary model. Very cool tractor. If the dealer had had
a normal Soveriegn it would have been fine. The anniversary model had chrome reverse
wheels, captain chair with arm rests, chrome exhaust pipe, Harley chrome tear drop
headlights, chrome nerf bar on front, flame stripes, serial number, chrome backup
light, even a chrome oil filter. Oh, and a cool 75th badge plaque. The package was
about 1000.00 more. Nothng that helped it mow better. Only Soveriegn they had.
Dealer cut me a good deal on it, he had had it almost a year and wanted it off his books.
I found a video of one like mine on youtube. Mine was serial number 333 as I remember.
I still have it. It is a collector piece for some guys. This was a 5000.00 lawn mower.
The tractor I use now is a John Deere X500. A 6000.00 mower. Stupid hill. LOL.
More on the John Deere in next post. This tractor never had a wheel slip in about
17 years, My tractor is in better condition than one in video.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

My personal objective when buying homes was to never own property that required me to use a tractor or even a riding mower.


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## Aard D'Vaark (Aug 1, 2019)

wouldn't you be better off with a small full size tractor?? i know they are pretty cheap, and you can get a finishing mower in seven foot ... this is what i had with a john deere 510 tractor for doing a yard that was eight acres in size, but not a great deal of hills .. it took just over two hours to mow, once a month ..


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Tom, this is my first and only house I ever bought. I made a mistake with the hill. It all looks nice when mowed. That anniversary tractor was in Guinness book of records. Its not in the latest version. 800 were made and all were shipped to San Francisco. Simplicity held a convention there and 800 were put into a parade. The record
was the most lawnmowers in a parade. The owner of a dealership getting a tractor drove it in the parade. A few short years after the 75TH anniversary Simplicity went out of busness.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

I have a JD with the upgraded Kawasaki motor, 4' cut, to mow 1 acre. My pressure washer has a Honda motor..Can't beat those Japanese engines!!!


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

My John Deere has the Kawasaki motor also. I had the choice of a 4 or 5 foot cut mower. I went with the 4 foot 
because my fence gate to the back yard is 5 foot. A 5 foot cut mower is wider than 5 foot. My 4 foot mower barely clears. Maybe an inch or two on each side. I need 3 new blades for the mower. Not cutting as good as it used to.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Here is a video with the X500. I really like this tractor. I got a tubular brush guard to protect the hood mainly.
They crack if you hit something.






And another video of the X500.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Mopac, those are some seriously nice "toys."


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