• Avoidstoppingwhendrivingup a slope. If it is necessaryto stop
whiledrivingupa slope,start up smoothlyandcarefullyto reduce
thepossibilityofflipping thetractoroverbackward.
ENGAGING THE BLADES
EngagingthePTO(BladeEngage)transferspowertothe cuttingdeck
orother (separatelyavailable)attachments.Toengagetheblades,
proceedasfollows:
1. Movethe throttle/chokecontrollevertothe FAST(rabbit)position.
2. Graspthe PTO(BladeEngage)leverandpivot it all the way
forwardintotheengaged(ON) position.
3. Keepthethrottlelever intheFAST(rabbit) positionforthemost
efficientuseof thecuttingdeck or other(separatelyavailable)
attachments.
iMPORTANT: Inthe ReverseCautionModetheenginewill auto-
maticallyshutoffif thePTOisengagedwith thespeedcontrollever
inpositionfor reversetravelwiththeignitionkeyinthe NORMAL
MOWINGposition.
USING THE DECK LIFT LEVER
Toraisethe cuttingdeck,movethe decklift lever tothe left,then place
itin the notchbestsuitedfor your application.RefertoSettingThe
CuttingHeightearlierinthis section.
MOWING
Tohelpavoidbladecontactor a thrownobjectinjury,keep bystand-
ers,helpers,childrenandpets atleast75 feetfromthemachine
whileitis in operation.Stopmachineifanyone entersthearea.
Thefollowinginformationwillbehelpfulwhen usingthecutting deck
withyourtractor:
Planyourmowingpatterntoavoid dischargeofmaterialstoward
roads,sidewalks,bystandersand thelike.Also,avoid discharging
materialagainstawallor obstructionwhichmaycausedischarged
materialtoricochetbacktowardthe operator.
• Donot mowat high groundspeed,especiallyifa mulchkit or
grasscollectorisinstalled.
• Forbest resultsitis recommendedthatthefirsttwo laps becut
withthe dischargethrowntowardsthecenter.Afterthefirst two
laps,reversethedirectionto throwthedischargetothe outside
forthe balanceof cutting.Thiswill give a betterappearancetothe
lawn.
• Donotcut thegrasstoo short. Shortgrass invitesweedgrowth
andyellowsquicklyindry weather.
• Mowingshouldalwaysbedonewiththe engineat full throttle.
• Underheavierconditionsitmaybe necessarytogo backoverthe
cutareaa secondtime to geta cleancut.
• DoNOTattemptto mow heavybrushand weedsandextremely
tallgrass.Yourtractoris designedto mowlawns, NOTclear
brush.
• Keepthebladessharp andreplacethebladeswhen worn.Refer
toCuttingBladesin the ServiceandMaintenencesectionofthis
manualforproperbladesharpeninginstructions. 17
MOVING THE TRACTOR MANUALLY
Yourtractor'stransmissionisequippedwitha hydrostaticreliefvalve
foroccasionswhenit is necessaryto movethe tractormanually.
Activatingthisvalveforcesthefluid in thetransmissiontobypass its
normalroute,allowingthereartires to "freewheel."Toengagethe
hydrostaticreliefvalve,proceedasfollows:
1. Locatethehydrostaticbypassrodinthe rearof the tractor.See
Fig.10.
Figure 10
2. Pullthehydrostaticbypassrodoutward,thendownand tothe left,
to lockit in place.
NOTE:Thetransmissionwill NOTengagewhenthehydrostatic
bypassrodispulledout. Returnthe rodto its normalpositionprior to
operatingthetractor.
iMPORTANT:Neverattemptto movethetractormanuallywithout
firstengagingthehydrostaticreliefvalve.Doingso will resultin serious
damagetothe tractor'stransmission.
HEADLIGHTS
• The lampsare ONwheneverthetractor'sengineis running.
• Thelampsturn OFFwhentheignitionkeyismovedtothe STOP
position.