Scag stuff from Mad Mackie in CT

[Mad Mackie]

The new suspension seat is heavier than the original seat, pushing the springs down and activating the seat switch with no one on the seat.
I looked up the part numbers for the Tiger Cat with the suspension seat standard and they are the same part number. I'll order some new springs and try them, hopefully they are stronger. I should have done my leaves earlier today before the rain came. But tomorrows winds will redistribute them anyway!!!
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile:

 

[tigercat]

I should have done my leaves earlier today before the rain came. But tomorrows winds will redistribute them anyway!!!
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile:

Leaves........my favorite time of year!:thumbdown:

I do mine every Friday after work, which takes me the last few weeks into darkness. I have the lights on my machine so working after sunset is OK for me to do. I'm over 3/4 done now, last week was the most heaviest of the year. I plugged the chute a few times. That doesn't happen easily. I was going thru 12" + of leaves to quickly. I burn 1-2 gallons of gas a week.

I don't count the leaves coming out of it, but I empty the system 10 - 20 times a week, depending on how much I got to collect. 10 x 3 buckets = 30. 100-200 bushels a week?
200 bushels easily last week alone.

 

[Mad Mackie]

I've got 6-7 oak trees that are always late holdouts, one keeps its leaves all winter and drops them in spring when the new growth pushes them off.
Today it looks like I've not cleaned up any, next week will be serious cleanup for me and my folk!!! I checked the blades and I need to sharpen them before I do any more cleanup. Was thinking of putting the mulching blades back on just for leaves. Just looked at my maintenance schedule and my machine is do for spindle lube and engine oil change. The deck V belt is looking tired, I have a spare, but don't want to install it until I do all the layup servicing.
Going to attempt to install a new cook top in our kitchen and need to do some rewiring. My wife would like to know how it and the new wall oven operate before we have the family here for Thanksgiving. Years back we used to have 50-60 folk here, but now down to 30 or so as the nieces and nephews got older and married and older folk have passed away. Now we are the older folk, but still doing Thanksgiving here!
Later
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile:

 

[Mad Mackie]

Yesterday I passed the 2,000 bushel mark and I ain't done yet!!! I did reinstall my dethatcher and finish up using it. Yesterdays lawn produced 30 bushels of thatch in one pass. New engine on my Tiger Cub passed the 200 hour mark, very pleased with this engine and as best I can figure, it uses possibly just under one gallon of gas per hour.
Too wet today to do any lawn stuff, maybe I'll play with model trains!!!
Later
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile:

 

[tigercat]

The leaves are almost done here. I will run the Scag 1 more week then tear it down (remove the collection system) then start my maintenance and shut it down till next year.

I'm a happy camper. My machine is a life saver. Without this machine here on this property, I'd be lost and would have to call Madmackie to clean it all up for myself. :laughing:

 

[Mad Mackie]

I hope to finish up all my folks and my own place this week or next week at the latest. I need to service my Scag and get it into storage and bring my GT back home setup for snow before I get caught with a deep snowstorm like I did several years ago. ZTRs don't move very well on snow as I found out. I will probably pass the 2,500 bushel mark this fall, this is a lot of chopped up and compacted leaves!!! Lots of oak leaves, but not many acorns this fall except for one property that I did while the owner was away for two months.
My JRCO tine de-thatcher needs a new set of tines and I will need to restock new blades for both my Scag and Hustler. I like to buy blades in the winter as better prices can be found off season. Several years ago I bought a 12 pack of Scag blades, stored them in my garage and promptly forgot about having them until I did a partial cleanup!!
I also need to do some maintenance to my Ingersoll GT as it has around 2,700-3,000 hours on it and since I no longer use GTs for lawn care, this machine has been neglected some, my bad!!! Check out the pic of one of my Ingersoll GTs that I did lawn care and leaf removal with. I still have the GT with the snow blower, the other GT I sold in 2010 when I decided to stop doing snow removal for my folk.
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile:

 

[tigercat]

Nice tractor, but for leaves I perfer the Scag.

How does the plow work out on snow? Can it push the heavy stuff at the mouth of the driveway?

 

[Mad Mackie]

The plow is 54" and the GTs with wheel weights and two link tire chains do a super job, 8.00 X 16, 31" tall rear tires on these Ingersoll machines. The snowblower is a single stage 48" belt driven unit which I don't use very often as my driveway is crushed stone with the house 130' from the road. When I did snow removal, I hauled both GTs around in my trailer, one with plow, the other with the snowblower.
I usually make a single pass with the plow down to the street and then go out in the street and push back in to open the street entrances up and then plow the rest onto the lawn leaving room for more snow, U shaped driveway and I fill up the center with plowed snow.
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile:

 

[Mad Mackie]

Nice tractor, but for leaves I perfer the Scag.

How does the plow work out on snow? Can it push the heavy stuff at the mouth of the driveway?

I used both of these GTs for a lot of years doing a lot of customers. What is nice about them is the ease in which attachments can be installed or removed and that the collection blower can be operated without the deck running as it is hydraulically driven. Sometimes I carried a long hose with a metal end with a handle and I could suck up leaves from places that were not accessible even with hand held blower-vac which would get quickly damaged by sucking up stones.

 

[Mad Mackie]

No doubt that Scag ZTRs with collection systems are very effective leaf removal machines, the only problem that I have is that the blower is too close to the ground. In time my blower housing will need some TLC, but I will probably just replace it. This summer I was setup for mulching for the first time and when I reinstalled the collection system I hit and dug up a few spots before I got back into the routine with the blower hanging out the side and the bags hanging on the rear. I leave the weights on the front as the mount for the de-thatcher is tight against the weights and I frequently use the de-thatcher for cleanup.
The day that I bought my Tiger Cub, I left the house with the intention of buying a Kubota diesel GT or a new Ingersoll GT. When those didn't happen, I looked at a Ferris 2000 with a collection system, but at $13,400 was out of my budget, but the machine that I really wanted. By the time I got home that day, there was a 48" Scag Tiger Cub with a collection system in my trailer for $9,200. The Scag dealer put it together for me very quickly and we closed the deal, the rest is history!!!! I never even demoed the Scag, but I had several service customers that had Scag machines and I was somewhat familiar with them as result.
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile: