Have him check around at small engine or mower repair shops for a good rebuilt. I’m always looking for people in a little tight or in a moving, divorce, type situation and am able to pick up some pretty wild deals just by carrying some cash for a quick sale. I got one of these MTD’s with a little trailer, less than a year old, for $250 this fall. It may be a POS but seems fine – there is a wild belt and pulley system to run everything, and I can see you need to be careful with it, but really how often do you use something like this? These B&S motors should be fine with any care for 700/1000 hrs. , and that’s about 30 years the way I use it. I got a wild hair and bought 20 tons of small boulders for landscaping – I load the little trailer up and use it to haul the stuff around where I want them. These toy tractors with a mower underneath aren’t really that good as straight mowers. Check out a real riding mower with a zero turning radius. At any rate I still need a push mower for getting under the few mesquites I trim around, and for that I’ve got a Craftsman I gave a guy $85 bucks for. If he just wants to blow money on a little tractor, tell him to get a little old Ford and fix it up, pull a wagon in a parade or something. I Think Murray, MTD, and several $800-1200 range brands are really the same, but if they’re not abused or left to sit idle for months on end they will be fine for non commercial use.

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89 300E
79 240D
72 Westy
63 Bug sunroof
85 Jeep CJ7
86 Chevy 6.2l diesel PU

"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
Marcus Aurelius