World Class Ingersoll maintenance
I have done my lawn maintenance with an Ingersoll tractor and 48 inch mower deck for the last 20 years. The tractor is about 30 years old.
At that time, the Ingersoll was the Cadillac of lawn tractors. Instead of belts to drive accessories the Ingersoll operates on hydraulics. All implements and the tractor itself are driven by a hydraulic pump connected to an 18 horsepower gasoline engine.
After 30 years of service my tractor was leaking hydraulic fluid like a sieve. There is an unbelievable maze of hoses tucked into the tractors frame. At 79 years of age, I did not relish crawling around under my tractor and the ensuing aches and pain.
I called Adams Equipment Company, my nearest Ingersoll dealer, and asked them to fix the leaks and if necessary to replace all of the hydraulic and return lines. I also asked them to inspect the mower deck as I could no longer level the deck.
They returned my tractor a couple weeks ago. I parked the tractor over a clean piece of cardboard packing material to check for leaks. True to their word I could not find even one drop of fluid.
I then cut our two acre yard. I immediately noticed that the mover worked as if new. We have a steep hill, previously the deck always scalped the lawn when it initially went over the hill’s crest and started to travel down the hill.
Not this time, there was absolutely zero scalping.
Jeff, the owner of Adams, told me the mower suffered from stress cracks and that the leveling mounts had worn to the point that the deck could not be leveled.
The mower cuts the lawn like it did 20 years ago. Also, now that the deck is level, I noticed the fuel consumption decreased.
Bottom line we have a new tractor and mower, it should last another 20 to 30 years. Likely longer than I will.