Originally Posted By: Fleetmon
My neighbor is selling his and I'm contemplating purchasing it as an addition to my tractor fleet. it's a 1996 model with 675 hours and looks to be in near excellent condition. This model is a Bolens and fully hydraulic with a shaft-drive 54" mower deck.
Opinions, etc are appreciated!
I'm late to the party but as a fellow GTX-18 owner I say that I think you'll be pleased with it. Be aware though, that deck is not 54". They were available with 42" side and rear discharge, 48" side and rear discharge, or 60" side discharge decks. I suspect you have a 48"??
Originally Posted By: JTK
Those are heavy-duty beasts for sure. I clocked some hours on that exact model when borrowing it from a neighbor. Had power steering even. I know my neighbor paid about $7K for his, with the snowthrower attachment around 1994. Those are not made by Bolens, they are made by Gardenway, that also built some Bolens units years ago.
Actually they were designed and built by Bolens at their Port Washington plant. Garden Way/Troy-Bilt owned Bolens at the time. These were designed and sold as the Bolens Duratrac line around the time GW bought Bolens in '87/'88. They were labeled as a Bolens through '93 then labeled as a Troy-Bilt from '94-'01 when MTD bought Garden Way/Troy-Bilt/Bolens.
Originally Posted By: JTK
They're kind of ugly beasts with real long front-ends on them. They have horizontal shaft Kohlers in them, with shaft drive to a noisy Eaton hydrostat (I believe?).
Only negatives I can think of is they're a bit cramped behind the wheel and I personally HATE the rocker pedal for forward/reverse and ground speed. I prefer twin pedal hydros.
Eaton 11 for reference and yes they're a bit noisy. I also agree that they're kind of cramped for such a big tractor. I'm only 5'9" and although comfortable, I wouldn't want it much tighter. It's funny though, I absolutely love the rocker pedal. I wonder why all hydros aren't done that way. Super smooth transition from forward to reverse. To each his own, I guess.
Originally Posted By: Fleetmon
I have a hydraulic Ingersol I use now and it's near impossible to use without ear plugs. ....he's able to cut faster than I can and that really got my interest plus it seems quieter than mine.
Your Ingersol must really be loud as I consider my GTX to be loud. I always use ear protection. I think top speed of the GTX is listed as 8mph and they do cut pretty nice at faster speeds. The main limiting factor in my yard is that it's too rough for zero-turn speeds.
Originally Posted By: Fleetmon
Any opinion on the price? I've seen prices all over the place from $900 (one at this price) to $2800. I read one thread on another site where a guy says he got one for $100!
I don't think $1000 is out of line. When I see them advertised around here it's usually in that price range. I paid just a tick under that for my '94 with around 400 hours at the time. (Now approaching 600 I think) There was a closed up dealer auction near here about a year and half ago that had one new in the crate. If I remember correctly, it brought $4000+ with the deck.
Originally Posted By: Fleetmon
What oil do you folks recommend? I noticed the manual (Kohler 18HP Magnum) calls for SF/SG straight 30. Currently I run Rotella Triple T 15w40 in the Farmall and Ingersol and was going to change out to Rotella T6 5w40 synthetic this coming change....your thoughts?
I've been running T6 in my Magnum and TSC Renew UTF in the transaxle. When very cold I do notice that the tractor has to be running 30-45 seconds before I have use of the hydraulics. Are you sure yours has the Magnum? Or that it's a '96? The '96 op manual says it should have a Command. My '94 is a model 13060 and the '96 and later ones are a model 13074. I'm not sure what model or which engine the '95 uses.
Originally Posted By: Fleetmon
My wife had a little to say when I asked her about buying a 17 year old tractor....
It's funny you mention that as my wife was the same way. She thinks it's always better to buy new. Unfortunately, I didn't want anything new in our price range. It didn't help that not long after I bought it, the PTO coil went bad. Now she gripes about getting rid of it whenever anything minor goes wrong.
By the way, the PTO coil is a known weak spot on these. There is a source for them but they're kind of expensive. The other areas I've had trouble are the fuel pump and the starter bendix not extending.
Hope you enjoy the tractor.
