1990 Montgomery Ward 16/42 -16hp twin cyl. lawn tractor
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Remember going to Montgomery Ward? I do, it was one of the last real department stores selling a full line of products. They sold lawn tractors since way back, originally being made for them by Gilson. Then from the late 1970’s to the late 1990’s when they stopped selling tractors, they were made by MTD. In the later years, Ward’s also sold them under “Signature 2000″ and “Powr-Kraft” brand names. I saw this “needs work” tractor for a good price, so I snapped it up. Now that I think about it, this tractor was probably purchased at the same store loacation I used to go to. It has a Briggs & Stratton 16hp opposed twin-cylinder motor, a 7-speed Transmatic transaxle, a 42″ deck and 9/10ths of a grass bagger. The guy I bought it from said it had no ignition switch when he got it, and all he had done was verify the motor cranked over when jumped directly to the starter.
Duration : 0:6:45
I couldn’t remember what was wrong with this Craftsman LTV/10 lawn tractor, so I figured I would see if I could get it to start, but quickly found out it’s 10HP Briggs & Stratton engine had no compression. Just listen to it! I don’t need a gauge to tell me it has no compression when it sounds like that! It was about then I remembered where it came from. We bought it for $35 at a swap meet a few years ago, drove it about 150 feet, and it abrubtly died. The motor is fixed now, it ended up being a burnt valve.
This is the first drive of a Murray or MTD built Noma Performance All-Wheel-Steer tractor with an 18HP V-Twin Kohler Command engine. We bought it for $100 last Sunday, and had just unloaded it from the truck to take a look at it. It appears to have been sitting a long time, but fortunately someone ran the gas out of it, so the carb wasn’t damaged. The engine runs super smooth and quiet too. It’s a shame the tractor itself is such a mess; the choke knob is broken off, there’s no brakes, reverse doesn’t work, and the steering gear is messed up which is why I had to keep getting off and fixing it. The scraping sound is the belt on the deck, which is also messed up. I’m kicking myself because just a few weeks ago someone nearby had 2 Scotts branded parts tractors up for sale on eBay, and they were identical to this Noma.