:welcome:
I hope you enjoy your mower.
That design has been around for about 15 years, nothing exciting but no real bugs to be worked out.
A few problems to watch for.
The brake/clutch lever stops against the frame rail.
If you mulch with it a lot of debris will build up under the rail and prevent the clutch from fully dissengaging.
You will notice it because the pedal will slowly sit lower & lower till eventually the drive belt starts to slip under heavy loads.
On the subject of mulching, that deck is piss poor at mulching the grasses we grow down here.
The 3 point spindle mounts are quite frail so if you smack the blades hard against something like a curb or garden edging you stand a good chance of busting them.
That deck is called the "vented deck" and you must keep the holes around the spindle housing clean for it to work properly.
The reverse pedal mechanism is not good and many are faulty direct from the factory so you can not press the reverse pedal down far enough to attain full reverse speed.
The deck uses the pulley guard as a belt keeper so the belt will eventually eat the guards away and it is nigh on impossible to keep the area under these guards clean.
Do not even think of using the idiot wash out port.
Grass is best removed with air, not water.
If you have a compressor then get a long 3' or more dusting gun and clean the mower with that , if not use your leaf blower.
Because the design was originally built around 13Hp single cylinder engines , shoehorning the big V twin in there make changing the oil filter a filthy mess and getting to the lower steering bearing impossible and this bearing must be lubricated regularly.
99.5 % of all of the front wheels fitted at the AYP factory have faulty grease fittings on the front rims and more grease come out the bottom of the ill fitting grease nipple than gets onto the axle.
The design of the discharge chute is not the best and it is easily ripped off , so set some string ( old starter cord works well ) , make a hole at he front of the plastic chute and runs the string up to the steering wheel so you can lift it while still sitting on the seat.
If you try to lean foreward to lift it the motor will cut out.
Some put the hole at the back & run the cord to the deck lift lever / auto pilot lever on the rear guard ( fender ) but it works best at the front.
When the discharge cute chokes, you lift the plastic guard then reverse a few inches to clear out the blockage , you won't find that in the instruction manual.
This might sound very negative but it is not.
The mower is good value for money and with a little care should give a long service life.
It is at the upper end of the entry level lawn tractors, better than any of the big box brands.
The problem is some people can not accept that you get what you pay for and just because it was a lot of money to them, that does not mean it should run like a Rolls Royce.
Thanks for such a detailed reply !
The YTA22V46 is a fairly recent model, it has an automatic transmission, which I read is what most models might go to instead of the hydrostatic version which I read can have problems.
I have a total acreage of 1 1/2 acres, but part of it is woods and part our home is on, and a large driveway, so the actual mowing area might be closer to about 3/4 of an acre which I have been doing with a push mower, but it would usually be over a few day period
A good portion of the mowing area is relatively level, but I do have several areas with slight to moderate sloping.
(not that I plan on doing it myself, but I read on a youtube review where someone mentioned having no problem riding over small loose tree branches and it chopping them up with no problem, don't remember if they had the YTA model or the YTH model)
I do need to double check the mowing area to make sure there are no rocks or other things in the way. (living right need to a small forest a good portion of the mowing area tend to include fast growing weeds along with the grass, and very very small new trees sometimes try to grow up)
I do try to take care to properly maintain equipment though I am not a mechanic, I will read up on how to do what is needed.
Your comment - "The mower is good value for money and with a little care should give a long service life." was very encouraging, I just hope the YTA22V46 does indeed turn out to be a model that is reasonably reliable and not need frequent repairs, especially in the early years.
