The past few years I've been doing things to make my life easier as I get older.

There are about 300 yards of highway ditch with 4 driveways and a road in front of my property that get around 5 feet deep in various places.

Some of these ditches are a pretty hard climb to get out of at the ends and some gradually taper up to flat ground.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for me to set on the fender a good part of the time while steering and trying to maintain a somewhat constant ground speed with the hydro tractors.

Especially in the spring, often times water will stand or it is just too wet to mow the lower areas of these ditches every week and sometimes they can't be mowed for several weeks. So with the combination of tall, thick, wet grass and fairly steep inclines a higher hp tractor is more desirable to me.

Or maybe this is just the excuse that I've used to justify building this particular tractor.

Anyway, this is my answer to maintaining constant ground speed and having a little more horse power that I think I need.

I would guess that a 128 with a good solid engine would probably do the job just as well, but finding a 128 half way local (in any condition) for a reasonable price has proven to be a challenge in itself. Besides that, I had nearly all the parts I needed for this project laying around anyway, so why not build what I really wanted.

I do have a few little things that I would still like to do to this tractor (find a gear drive dash tin, fix the tail lights, find a tin for the steering wheel and other such things). This tractor might also be a good candidate for the set of steering brake pedals that I have.

I did mow with this tractor last Thursday, it did a really good job and for the first time in a number of years, I didn't dread mowing the ditches, I may have even enjoyed it a little.

As for the 149 that I stole the tires off of... I'll continue to mow the smaller flat areas of the yard with it and it will still be my main snow pusher in the winter. I think I have another pair of wide 2 link chains hanging down in the shed and I'll make a little time to get the tires loaded.

Looking good Mark.:beerchug:

The ditch in front of my house is pretty steep. I do like you and sit on the fender while running low gear on the 128. Just regular turf tires and I do fine. I do back off a bit if its wet.

Hey Mark. Hope all has been well your way. :beerchug:

Nice job on the 149.......or is it 148......:biggrin2:
Looks good. I'm with ya on the ditch mowing. I've got a couple longer ditches and they are a pain to mow sometimes. Great job with the ingenuity and making something that works for your situation. Don't see that much anymore. Now you need one with a sickle mower on the side of it. :Whistle: