Went & picked it up today. Turns out it's an M371. I have no idea how old it is. Tires are all up & in fairly good shape. So I backed the trailer up to it unhooked the trailer & pulled my pickup in front of the trailer, put my home made ATV ramps on the back, hooked my winch to the Bobcat & pulled it right up on the trailer. Took about 15 minutes! I have it home now & plan on taking the power wash to it soon. The motor turns free & the oil in the motor looks new. So I plan on taking the carb off & cleaning it, make sure there is no old gas in the tank, replace the battery, plug & oil & then see if she'll fire up. Being it's not hydrostatic I haven't a clue how to opperate the thing. I've searched the web but can't find anything that would tell me how. Does it work like it's hydro cousin's? I did see somewhere that said that you have to move the drive belt to change from high to low but other then that ??? Does anyone have a website that would cover this? Thanks in advance! Lonnie
The 371 should have a Kohler K series engine. The steering sticks work the same, kinda....
Push forward for forward, one stick for each side and back for reverse of course. Where they differ is on a hyd drive if you center the sticks the unit will stop. Where on a clutch drive centering the sticks disenguages the wheels from the drivetrain. So if your on flat ground you will stop. If your on a hill you will freewheel to the bottom at an alarming speed.
To make the unit turn you often must pull one steering lever into reverse as a means of "braking" the wheels on the inside of the corner, otherwise they just coast along while the other side drives and the machine won't turn
Also there is no variable speed. You only have clutch in or out and slipping as a method of varying speed, and of course the engine rpm. Thats why they have a 2 ratio belt drive one is low 2.5 mph and high is 5 mph. Problem is if you need low for tough going, once you get out of the tough spot you still only have 2.5 mph max, unless you kill the engine and flip the belt over to high. For this reason, if you ever use a hyd drive loader you will find the clutch drive horribly slow. High does work ok for plowng snow though or other light duty tasks. Despite these short coming these unit regularly sell for 3 to 4k in good working condition.
I had one of these but quickly let it go for a 553. Diesel, aux hyd, standard quick attach and variable speed hyd drive, made for a much more usable machine.
Ken