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Weed cutter history?


CTD01

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Im just curious about The years or year that simplicity made the weedcutter 990370. I see in the 1967 2012 brochure that it was the first one to feature the weed cutter. It is also in my 1968 brochure and 69 brochure. I was imagining that by the time the 69 model year rolled out that they would have ban discontinued. Does anyone know approximately how many were made and for how long. They seem fairly difficult to find. Also in one of my other posts someone wrote in even tho they showed them for the broadmoor and yeoman that they never actually sold any.

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I’d love to know the facts, but I can imagine that lawyers somewhere had a hand in stopping the production and sale of the weedcutter.

I’ve seen them in advertisements for the small frames, but never actually one in the wild. I read somewhere that they are the same head units, but different hitches.

As far as scarcity goes, I’ve only seen four in person, my two and your two. That makes them more plentiful than my RBT sickle with triangular teeth (1690030) that I’ve only ever seen two others, and both of them were online. Of course that’s anecdotal, but I’m sure you get my point.

Perhaps a rare attachment section of the registry could flesh out a little better how many actually exist in the wild?

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I have had 2, the guy I bought the one from had yet another he wouldn't sell. A friend had one more.. so that makes 4 I have personally seen and/or used.

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I've never seen one locally. I also don't recall ever seeing any painted yellow or in the Allis offerings. I think they were only marketed through Simplicity, and possibly Homelite.

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I have one, and I know of one over in NH (belonged to a now deceased member) Mine is waiting to go back together. I purchased it used from my '68 2110 LL PO. At that time early 70s, Simplicity was restricted from providing PARTS AND DOCUMENTATION. I do not know, with any certainty, if this was a ".GOV" or a corporate legal counsel mandate. Strangely this was just about the same time-frame that "OSHA" showed up! I do not know where OPEA might fit in here.I canvassed other owners to see if they had a particular "safety" feature. No one did.

vaGANG2011.jpg

It is a 2" diameter hole in the spindle cover over the far LH spindle, which had a white bar painted across the top of the arbor end. This was visible from the operator position to indicate when it might be safe to dismount, after disengaging the driving idler.OH! BTW the hole is punched not sawn by the PO. (factory?)Nate and Cory have put together a decal kit for this attachment, but we still have to work out the one "Simplicity" label. Has to be a white over clear background.

vaGANG2011.jpg.3ed00b44e027908597da9de9e7165a59.jpg

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quote:Originally posted by CarlH

I have one also. Got it at a dealer auction for $10.


id="quote">
id="quote">I thought I did good at $44.
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For my $10 I got a pallet of stuff including the weedcutter, a Haban snowblower, and other stuff I can't recall (bad CRS here!). Sold the snowblower for $15.

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I have had 2 (furthering the pairing theme), 1 is still in my possession (came from NH), the other is somewhere in either MI or WI (originally from CT). Neither had the "hole" in the spindle cover.

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I have one. Bought it back around 2002? It came from southern MI. I need the proper hitch - came with a mid 1970's snowblower hitch for a front PTO clutch 7000 series. Too nice to pass up, even with the wrong hitch. Anyone have a hitch? I would take another complete cutter too - I can always copy a hitch or use a 1960's blower hitch as a starting point. I was told there is a slight difference in the idler pulley angles or something.

It's true - I talked with Tom from the Simplicity service department back in the 90's about them. He is the one who acknowledged that there was one built for the Broadmoors - same cutter, different hitch. It was destroyed and the production ended for the garden tractors. Since it was for the 717, that puts it roughly in 1967. It was not so subtle of a hint that it was a lawyer thing that ended them. Not sure if it was preventative of a lawsuit, or the result of or threat of one. He at first didn't want to talk about them, even in the later 1990's, but I pushed a little and knew enough about them that he knew that I knew.... Tim

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