Hi, all; I bought a fine old gear-drive Craftsman tractor, Model 917.251510, Serial# 111695C 001287, with a 20.5 Kohler engine, turf tires size 23 x 10.5 X 12. It runs like a Cadillac, but has no mower deck. I never wanted a mowing deck. I used the tractor for several years to go out on my hilly 15 acres and harvest firewood and haul it home for our wood furnace. There being no level ground anywhere on the property other than the kitchen (and I'm not entirely sure about that), it is not even remotely possible to drive this tractor anywhere around here without tire chains. Under the layer of oak leaves that covers the ground is a fine, red clay that the turf tires just dig into and spin on. Chains are mandatory. We've cleared a good bit of ground for a huge garden and orchard over the years, so I bought a brand new 42" mowing deck from Sears for this tractor, and took everything over to my local dealer to have it put together. I located the closest thing to an Owner's Manual for this tractor that I could, the same model but with a 14.5 HP engine. It has the same tractor frame and 42" mowing deck. I figured I should read up on the fine points of using and maintaining the deck before I got it home. And right there in black and white, on page 14, I found this sentence: [B][I]"Tire chains cannot be used when the mower housing is attached to tractor."[/I][/B] Well, shoot. That makes the notion of mowing anything on this hilly ground a joke. Without chains it'll take about three minutes to go out and get stuck on a slope. Less than that if it's rained recently. Being a natural born anarchist, at first I figured I'll just cut a little notch in the mowing deck where it might touch the tire chains. But on second thought, those little notches would be about a foot wide, each. And there's a spinning blade in there that throws things. And if the blades touch the chains or tire, well . . . So now I'm wondering if ribbed tires or snow tires are the answer. Are ribbed tires a bigger diameter than turf tires? Do snow tires actually work as well as chains? Can I get tires that are slightly smaller in diameter, and still add chains? I really hope to avoid weights because of the hills this tractor has to climb constantly. The transmission won't last as long. My experience hauling wood around here for years tells me that added weight on turf tires just makes them dig in and spin a deep rut all the faster. I suspect snow tires will do the same even with weights. Chains work best. Has anyone had any experience with this issue? Thanks for any advice. Antifa

My F525 has a PA540a unitized power unit. Bounced while mowing and drive wheels locked up. Engine runs but will not move with forward or reverse pedal. freewheel release will not let it roll. When I jack it up, wheels freely spin in opposing directions. Any idea what might have broken?