Normally, I'd be quite critical of someone hauling an old thread out of the archives and reviving it but your post does fit into the spirit in which this thread began. Ask an Ingersoll dealer and they will tell you about the customer loyalty they enjoy thanks to the durability that is built into every one of these garden tractors. I am not being critical when I say that there is nothing all that unique about your 19 years of experience with your GT. When John (Jack) Ingersoll bought the Outdoor Power Equipment Division belonging to J. I. Case and put his name on it, the slogans used in their advertising went as follows: - Quality in the American tradition - Be in a class by yourself - Ingersoll...Invest in the best - The tractor of a lifetime I would have to say that your experience proves that the above slogans were not an exaggeration in any way. I don't know of another tractor today that uses hydraulic drive, offers a large line of hydraulically powered attachments or still builds their garden tractors without compromise. You invested in the best and it paid off in spades because after 19 years of hard use, you still own a tractor that has value to others. If you amortize what you paid for your tractor over the 19 year period and include the cost of replacement parts, the annual cost of ownership of this fine quality machine is very low. The other bonus is the absence of the aggravation factor that comes with owing an Ingersoll. When other people are having to take the time needed to send their low quality machine in for repair and then pick it up, your Ingersoll was at home and ready to do some more work for you. A "generation" occurs every 20 years and to some, that is a lifetime. Your tractor is still far from being dead even after 19 years so Jack Ingersoll wasn't lying when he said his products were "the tractor of a lifetime". Thanks for providing your first-hand report about a marque that few people have heard of but still "makes them like they used to", only better.

You need top off transmission drain oil so see shifting fork look close at shoes on fork. There wood ruff key on back trans mission check that sheared off to inside Bell crank. Troybuiltgroups dot com one looking for.

I think that there are millions of people out there that don't have any trouble but also millions that end up scrapping their mowers because it is almost pointless to put them on Craigslist. Let's face it. There are a lot of people who should not be allowed anywhere tools or machinery. They never read Op Manuals, know how to use a grease gun or bother to change oil in their engine. They buy stuff, use it until it quits and then put it out at the curb for pick-up. They go back to the box store buy a new one and perpetuate the cycle. There are also people who think that a Deere lawn tractor is capable of the same work that a full-sized Deere Ag tractor is. They disregard the "lawn tractor" description and use it to jerk old shrubs and tree stumps out of the ground along with numerous other tasks that the tractor was never built to perform. The item that takes the most abuse is the trans-axle because that's what links the engine power to the ground. Someone figured out that average property owner puts 50 hours per year on their tractor. Ten years of average use equals 500 hours. The engines used in these tractors are supposed to give 1000 hours of use before needing rebuilding but that's based on the owner changing oil, filters and performing other routine maintenance diligently over that time-frame. The main problem with the low-end tractors these days is the hydro. The manufacturers decided to make the hydro's a sealed unit. Presumably, that was done to put an end to owners that put the wrong oil into the hydro's and also contaminated them with dirt and water out of sheer carelessness. Sounds like a plan but the only people it benefited were the hydro builders and the tractor manufacturers because of frivolous warranty claims. The problem with that idea is this. Thanks to time and heat, multi-grade oil begins to break down and change viscosity. When that happens, the hydro no longer performs as it should and if there are no drain and fill plugs, then life is not good for the tractor owner. The oil is critical because that's what transmits engine hp from the hydro's pump to the hydro's drive motor, just as the driveshaft in a car transmits engine HP from the transmission to the rear end and ultimately the rear tires. For the most part, these lawn tractors are pretty good machines providing the owners take proper care of them and use them as a lawn tractor was designed to be used. If I owned one, then it would have an hour meter on it for sure. After every two years of use, I would remove the trans-axle from the tractor, hang it upside down and let all the oil drain out of it for a couple of days. Then I would refill it with the correct oil and put it back into the tractor for another two years. When you do that, you are not only replacing the partially worn out oil but you are also removing contaminants that are in suspension in that oil due to the detergents the oil manufacturers add. High-end hydro's have oil filters to look after that problem. Low-end one's don't. No matter which brand of LT you choose, all you are truly buying is the name because 90 percent of the tractor's components are made by companies other than the one whose label adorns the hood. You are relying on them to select decent engines, trans-axles, tires, rims, electrical components, bearings, rod ends, springs, nuts, bolts, washers, drive belts and so on for your tractor. They just stamp out the chassis and some other metal bits and pieces before assembling everything. Find a dealer in your area that has an impeccable word-of-mouth reputation and buy your tractor from him. Get to know him because box store employees come and go and box stores do not perform warranty work on what they sell. They rely on the very dealer you should be doing business with so just cut out the middleman. Go and sit on all the tractor brands and if possible, test drive them if they have a used unit around or a demonstrator. Searching the internet is helpful but we all know that happy owners don't post on the internet but disgruntled ones do because they want to get even. Take your time, do your homework and then decide which brand you like, which deck width best suits your property and which dealer you feel really good about. It's your money and it's not chump change. You and that tractor will hopefully be married for at least ten years so this should be more than just an over-night fling. Think with the big head, not the small one. LOL

tom thanks, one is on the way, although I'm still interested in thoughts on what could cause this. Once I've got the new one, I can bench the old one anyway and see if I can figure anything out. I'm also trying to compare these transmissions for durability and torque to the Peerless 205-024x and the Spicer 093264. These are hyrdrostatics with pedal shift, i.e. push pedal forward to go forward and backward to go in reverse. I might like to convert this tractor, maybe by buying a parts machine, but I do haul a york rake with it regularly so I'm pulling harder than I do with just mowing using these hydrostatics and if they aren't up to it, then wouldn't be worth the time. If they are, esp. the 205-024x which is from a similarly heavy 46" wide body Murray 2 cylinder, then I really prefer the pedal shifting option. Thanks, Brian