Simplicity Landlord DLX

[bjamison]

Anyone have one of these? Picked this up for $100 today. Seller said it had a broken rod and later said it makes a terrible noise when running - not sure which it is, or both. I pulled the plugs and gave it a spin, but no clanging/banging around in the engine - like a broken rod or anything else.

It has an 18 hp B&S Vanguard, 50 inch deck and Tufftorq K71 rear end. Similar in a lot of ways to my Dad's Simplicity Prestige. No power steering or hydro lift, but foot control hydro fwd/rev. Has just over 400 hrs.

 

[mschutz]

I don't know much about them but I was looking at the new Simplicity's at the local dealer and I was impressed with them. Still has a metal hood. We had Simplicity's when I first started mowing the lawn but if I remember right I had trouble with the belts on the transmission and I begged Dad for a Cub Cadet.

 

[dfrisk]

BILL - There was a good Simplicity dealer in my home town where I grew up. They sold a LOT of the small rear engne riders that steered with a tiller lever in the 1960's and the small lawn tractors in the '70's. But the big garden tractors were really rare.

20 yrs ago around here we had a real good outdoor power equip. dealer within 4-5 miles of our house and Simplicity was their #1 brand. They also sold several short line ag equip. lines, and Kubota, and for several years was the states largest VICTORY motorcycle dealer as well as all other Polaris lines like snow mobiles, ATV's, etc. But they closed up shop six yrs ago and all those orange tractors have disappeared. I can't really remember when I last saw a Simplicity in someone's yard. Many of the places I used to see them now either have newer CC's or those pesky green mowers made up north of here 40-50 miles, or an off-brand bought at a big box store. Seems odd too since Simplicity's were/are built just 60-70 miles east of here.

Simplicity is known for having the best mowing deck of ANY brand mower on the market. Simplicity was owned by Allis-Chalmers for many years from 1965 till 1985 and a similar model Allis was made as well as the Simplicity. I know for a few years Simplicity made identicle models painted the trademark sickly Duetz green decaled Duetz-Allis after Duetz bought Allis. The employees bought up control of Simplicity in 1985, then in 1994 Kohlberg & Co. bought controlling interest in them and in 2002 Snapper bought them up and in 2004 Briggs gobbled them up.

Looks like the thing is in decent shape, not all beat up, and relatively new, but with only 400 hours on it it should be. Hope the engine problems turn out to be minor.

 

[sblunier]

You have $100 in tires there.....the rest is pure profit!!!

 

[bjamison]

Thanks everyone for your comments. The tractor is in great shape - except for the engine. It has a 50 inch deck, which from what I glean from reading posts on these tractors (and other similar models that use the same deck) that it is one of the best mowing deck Simplicity ever offered.

I came within a hair of buying a Simplicity Sovereign back in 1998 when I bought my first Wheelhorse tractor. I went with the Wheelhorse because my FIL had one, I bought a '97 year model - the last with the cast iron Kohler magnum engine in it and the Simplicity was about $1,000 more expensive. These Landlords were being sold along side the old style Sovereign's - which were the bread and butter tractor even back during the A/C days. I really like my Wheelhorse tractors and when I branched out (just for kicks) and wanted to try the Simplicity and Cub Cadets - just to see what they were all about, I found a Sovereign - which I have now.

I consider this Landlord DLX a more "modern" tractor. By that, it has foot controlled hydro and for my Wife and Kids, a very easy tractor to start and safely operate. I just need to get an engine in it.

I found a donor engine that may fill the gap in a free tractor I'm going to try to pick-up this weekend. It is a 14.5 hp engine vs 18, but if I can get it to work (and it's looking promising) then at least I can drive the tractor around and do some light mowing.

Dennis - you are right that Simplicity tractors give a great cut and stripe with the rollers across the back. What most don't know is the Wheelhorse deck is basically the same - both are ground supported and follow the terrain. I've mowed with my IHCC 109, and it does a good job, but on my lumpy and somewhat sloped yard, the side to side cut can leave something to be desired - if you are looking for a 100 point cut. My Wheelhorse tractors give a great cut - just like the Simplicity IMHO, just not the stripes.

My Dad bought a zero turn mower I believe about 6 or 8 years ago and after about 60 years of using a steering wheel, he just couldn't get the hang of two levers on the zero turn. He sold it and bought a Simplicity Prestige, which is similar to this Landlord I bought - but heavier build IMHO. It has power steering and a diff lock. It was his retirement present to himself after fussing with push mowers and lawn tractors with tiny wheels that constantly would spin. He is a happy camper.

Not in a hurry to get this tractor going, as with all my tractors, there is a limit to how much $$$'s Momma will let me spend without getting grouchy and I look at the back log like unread chapters in a great book - waiting their turn.

 

[bjamison]

Update on this tractor. It's pretty much been setting since I bought it. The long term plan is to put a new Briggs Vanguard in it - a direct replacement for what's in it now.

For now, I'm doing a band-aid, if nothing else so I can move the tractor around under it's own power - a new repower would be a next year project.

I was given an MTD riding lawnmower with a 14.5 hp Briggs IC engine in it. The tractor was otherwise trash, but I believe the engine is good. The engine has the correct bolt-up pattern, shaft diameter and length. What I don't know is if the engine has enough amps on the charging system to drive the electric PTO - but we'll see. Again, if I can just get an engine in the tractor to move it around under it's own power, that will work for me.

I know everyone bashes the MTD lawn tractors, but this tractor did a pretty good job on camp duty with a lot of different drivers - some who EVERYTIME they drove it did so like they had never driven anything or were half drunk or both - so it saw a lot of abuse/neglect.

It was a complicated deal getting the engine off the MTD and in doing so, I kept the entire wiring harness intact - so if I needed to I could use it on the Simplicity. Since the tractor was trash, I flipped it over on it's side and unhooked the drive belt and pulley. Also took off the mowing deck. There must have been 4 or 5 nice coil springs holding things together I will keep and a bunch of washers and hitch pins.

Next stop for the engine is a bath, carb rebuild and install in the Simplicity. Next stop for the remainder of the tractor is the scrap yard.

 

[bjamison]

As I said in my earlier post, I found a 14hp engine out of an MTD lawn tractor, however I never warmed up to installing the Briggs IC engine and didn't. Instead, I waited to see if a used Vanguard might pop-up. I found one for $200, but it got snatched-up before I could get to it. Another one came-up for $400, but I wasn't to confident it was a good engine. For $400, I want to hear it run and couldn't.

My Dad has a Husqvarna (sp?) lawn tractor with a tufftorq tranny in it, model K46 I believe. If you do a search, you will find that some folks have had tranny failure with them - leaving another wise good tractor. The tranny in my Dad's Husky failed after 22 hrs, but was replaced under warranty. The tranny in the Simplicity Broadmoor I believe is a K51 - but don't remember the exact model, except it is very similar to the K46, perhaps the same, but with a charge pump. Problem is - the Broadmoor's tranny sometimes fail too. I worked with a guy that had a Broadmoor and his tranny failed. Soooo, I kept my eye on the classifieds and sure enough - an add appeared for a Broadmoor with a bad tranny and the Vanguard engine in it was for sale.

The long and short of it is - I bought the engine. The engine was still in the tractor, so the owner fired it up for me and it sounded great. We pulled out the engine, throwed it in my car and I gave him $100.

Now I got $100 in the tractor and $100 in the engine. This thing is starting to get expensive...

The engine is a direct bolt-up to my Landlord, the only difference is the muffler. This engine, though a twin cylinder Vanguard is 14 hp vs the 18 hp engine that came with the Landlord. The 18 hp Vanguard muffler is exhausts off of two cylinders directly into the muffler. The exhaust on the 14 hp Vanguard is exhausted off both cylinders, but manifolded from two pipes down to one and that one goes into the muffler. Both mufflers bolt on the same to the tractor. Not worried about the hp - this engine is a band-aid, hopefully a long term one!

I pulled out the old engine tonight. This was quite possibly the EASIEST engine removal I've ever done. Everything was straight forward and simple. As I said, I've got other color tractors, including Cub Cadets, some are more simple to work on than others, but this Landlord was a pleasure to work-on.

Tomorrow, I will clean out the engine bay and install the new engine and try to give it a try mowing.

One thing - this Landlord has a 50 inch deck, but I don't think the 14 hp engine will be necessarily underpowered. My 126 has a 48 inch deck and it is 12 hp and pulls the deck very well.

Hopefully I'll have some pictures tomorrow.

 

[jchamberlin]

Bill, if you can get mowing for $200.00 you're doing good. I can spend that on one spindle & pulley on a Cub Cadet.

.

 

[dfrisk]

BILL J. - Don't expect too much from that little 14 HP engine. You're running thru a hydro-static transmission, probably hyd lift on the deck too, elec. PTO clutches... they all sap a little HP. Plus that tractor is considerably bigger/heavier than a standard sized CC.

The Onan in my 982 is rated 19.9 HP and with all those same hyd. losses I really wouldn't want much less HP.

What you're doing is about like mowing with a 38" deck on a CC with a 7 HP K161 Kohler. Yes, they'll pull it, but operating at full load all the time catches up with them fast.

 

[bjamison]

Update: Got the engine in the Simplicity. Removal was pretty easy, re-install was a little more effort, particularly getting the PTO back on.

This tractor doesn't look like it was physically abused by the PO, but I think maintenance was badly neglected - probably why the original engine died.

Here is a pic of the all the oil soaked grass packed in the engine bay that I pulled out:

My Dad has a Simplicity Prestige - which is basically an updated version of this tractor. It, as well as this tractor, are very bad about blowing grass out of the left front of the deck. Simplicity makes an anti-blow out kit - which lowers the front edge of the deck. I think I can make one.

Here is the engine in the tractor:

And after mowing with the tractor:

The grass was tall and very thick. The 14hp engine handled the grass pretty well. I can't say it ever bogged down, but sometimes I could hear the governor pull in a bit. I wasn't mowing zero turn speed, but also wasn't creeping either. The tractor is VERY smooth. Turning radius is very tight. The deck dispurses the clippings nicely too. The one thing I tried, but couldn't really get was striping - the deck has rollers across the back of the deck.

Even though the 14 hp engine is a band-aid, it was a drop in replacement for the 18 hp engine. All electrical connections were identical. I am hopeful this band-aid engine will last a long time. I'll replace the belts and blades over the winter.

 

[bjamison]

A little striping with the Simplicity:

 

[jchamberlin]

Bill: The lawn looks nice, but the angle of the shot leaves me feeling a bit unsteady on my feet.

 

[bjamison]

Broke out the Simplicity tonight.

Replaced the PTO shaft side main seal, changed fluids, greased, sharpened the blades and got in a mow.

Got a little surging going on, haven't figured that out - yet...

 

[bnolte]

Looking at what you have done, you got a real steal on that one (with a little sweat equity). I brought a DLX in 2012 complete with a 50 inch deck, snow blade, wheel weights, chains, and a recently replaced Vanguard 18 for $1,200. I have been running it hard for 4 years, and in general replacement parts are pretty reasonable for belts, blades, and electrical stuff. and the spindles are rebuildable and have sealed bearings.

I really like the foot controls and the tight turning radius compared to the 129 I used as my main mower before. It also makes it easier to use it as a platform for a 15 gallon sprayer I use around the property.

 

[dmerkle]

I purchase a new Simplicity Landlord in 1996. My Landlord has an 16 horsepower Briggs Van Guard, 6 speed manual transmission, 50 inch mower deck, 44 inch snow thrower, blade and a cab for snow throwing season. I've added a rear sleeve hitch and electric lift.

The tractor has over 1300 hours on it. The only parts I had to replace was the starter gear an a few springs.