I love my 1811 and find it to be capable of anything I want to do. I remember someone on this forum said that a HYDRO would not pull steadily up a hill without adding more forward on the hydro control. Mine pulls up any hill in my yard without slowing down or needing more power. I though that's what the governor did. It looks like you might have had a lazy PO by the white paint where the gas cap is since the tank is white around the filler cap. Take your time and enjoy it while you make it like new. One good thing to do regardless of what the PO said is to change the oil in the engine and the tranny asap. My PO said that he had just changed the engine oil and when I drained it, it looked like old black tar!
