Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire That new garden tractor smell

Bought a new Dixon lawn & garden tractor. 54" deck, electric lift, with a Kawasaki 26hp motor. I think it's a quality built unit, but a few years from now will tell. Being it's not a MTD/boxstore rig is a plus to me.



Comes complete with a bull bar. Not sure how well it will protect the front end should I ever T-bone a moose running across my yard.

Looks GOOD!! Dixon has a good name, and Kawasaki makes good engines.. I have a Kawi engine (18 hp) on my '88 Deere and in 23 years it's needed only a couple coils, two spark plugs and a valve train gear.

Congrats!!!

That will make plenty of yard mulch right up till opening morning, nice tractor congrats.

Gunner

I'm not familiar with Dixon. I do think you'll be happy you got the heavier garden tractor instead of a lawn tractor. They're much more versatile. Mine is a Craftsman. I've built a heavy cultivator for it and have a dozer blade on the front. With tire chains, it will move a pretty heavy load of snow.

Do you have a manual tranny or a hydrostatic? I have the hydro and my partner has one with the manual. The hydro is much handier for mowing, but even though my partner's has a slightly smaller engine, his manual is clearly stronger in the pulling catagory.

Yep! The fact that it came with a Kawasaki sold me. Plus it's quiet, much like a Honda 4 stroke outboard. Tractor made in South Carolina.

I spent yesterday peeling of all the "dont insert pecker into moving flywheel" type stickers, as well as rewiring the laywer switches that kill the motor if you lift your ass 3 inches off the seat.

Gotta love a new lawn toy. Think I spy a number of parts on your Dixon in common with my sears professional 2009 - which was told (as are number of others), made by a common manufacturer associated closely w/ husqvarna. Your's is a bit fancier than mine, though! Hope it puts out good work for ya.

Been meaning to get around to this. Any words of wisdom? Also needing to bypass the "safety" feature in the ing. switch, that kills engine if shift into reverse w/ mower deck engaged - unless you've the ign switch in a second "on" position. One of these day.

I HATE seat switches. Mine makes it miserable to mow my orchard because I can't lean over to duck under limbs without killing it.

It has the wife friendly hydrostatic trans. I went with a bigger tractor than I need for cutting grass, as I also pull a 60" DR Power grader on my long gravel driveway.

Another nice feature this thing has is you can mow in reverse without the motor killing. One feature that I didnt have to rewire/bypass. They got it right at the factory.

Yep, Good eyes! - Dixon is owned by Husqvarna. In doing pre purchase research, I did conclude that the sears tractors do share (or did) the same trans, among other parts possibley.

Not sure what your seat kill switch looks like, but they're all basicaly the same whereas they are all designed to be an "OFF" (like key off) switch, unless you are seated which makes it an "ON" switch. Rewire/bypass the seat switch to so the circut is always connected regardless if your are seated, or off the tractor.

Arm rests and a fully functioning cup holder.

Ya done gooooooood!

And just cuz you got a push bar don't mean you can go knocking down trees and fences with it.

MGD bottle fits in the cup holder PERFECTLY!

Before I bought my Craftsman, I looked at Husky, also carried by Sears. Many parts were interchangeable. The only readily noticeable difference was the color. I got the Craftsman because they had it in stock. With the Husky, I'd have had to pay for shipping.

If you mow large open areas, the manual tranny is probably the best. However, I have lots of trees, bushes, etc. The hydrostatic saves a whole lot of clutching and shifting. There's no comparison for that.

Nice! Those Kawi motors are outstanding, and yes, you will like the bull bar if you have trees.

Up to this point, I held your posts in high regard.....

I'll try to keep it off of the interstate...

The bar tilts down so for clearance to also tilt the hood down. I've thought of taking the bar off - 4 bolts, 5 minute job. But it looks nice, so I'll see.