Jeffro,
I've run mine for the last 15+years. That starter job should be fun. I don't think it will come out unless you lift the motor out of the frame some. Mine seemed bad too but about ten years ago I relocated the battery to the back and use a 1000 CCA car battery for excellent winter starts (I keep my shop 35-40 degrees in the winter too). Starters love juice. Haven't had any problems since then. I run a Farm & Fleet 5W-40 Semi-Synthetic Diesel oil in it all year round.
Clean the fuel tank by taking it off and rinsing it out (where does all the crap come from?). Change the fluids and filters. I've changed mine once in 14 years (not counting the engine oil filter)...the problem was caused by "floating crap" getting sucked into the pick-up hose in the tank.
I run a smaller pulley on my QA-42 blower and don't rev the motor all the way. Keep at least one spare belt on hand. That motor can spit out a new belt if the snow is heavy and you start to "see what it will do", even with the standard pulley.
BTW: The 50" deck I have is a terrible for skipping in turns.
The drive shafts do give problems(shear pins and rubber couplers). I hope to find info on updating mine to a more modern CV style shaft somewhere from this site.
All and all I've been really satisfied with the 1512 since I started heating the shop in the winter. Snow blowing is a actually kind of fun. The neighbors can't believe how it works. One even went out and bought a similiar JD set up. He already has two utility tractors. One with a blade and the other with a blower on the three point.
PeterJ
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