First garden tractor

You a train engineer? We have a member (Grant) who rode the rails for many years.

Decks are always a wild card till you take the cover off and/or flip them over for a look-see but I don't see anything on that 317 that can't be refurbished. If it still has the Series 1 Kohler and it runs decent then you likely have a good engine. If it wasn't it would have busted a gut by now. That's the conventional wisdom anyway. I sometimes wonder if the fatal flaw Series 1 lore is similar to the overheating Honda twin issue. It may have happened in a few cases but not nearly often enough to be a reason to avoid them.

Nice catch...they are good machines. Top of the closed frame design tractors. I refurbished one after I had my 322 project almost done. Otherwise I might have kept it...sold it and an Onan 316 to one buyer. He almost had too little trailer space for the load...that was an entertaining day.

Engineer14 said:

Brought this home tonight. Gonna be a lot of work.

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Nice.....
You know what they say.
Pics or it didn't happen. We want to see the progress as you go through it. The 317 was one of the first garden tractors I really wanted but couldn't afford. The versatility of it and things you could do with it was dream stuff for a young aspiring homesteader with no money. Keep us posted on your progress. You made a good catch.

My first John Deere garden tractor was a 317. Welcome to the forum!


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I've been chronicling the repair process here: