[rob love]

So a little update to the project. First the tires: I had found some nos of the original p-tracker tires when I started this project, but settled for some non-original tires for the back. I did buy two used ones thanks to superdave, and had located a few pairs out east. But after keeping an eye on ebay for a while, a stack of the proper p_tracker run flat tires became available on ebay for a very decent price so I bought a set of 4 new ones. The fellow at the border place commented that they were as heavy as light truck tires. Anyway, they will wait for spring before getting installed.

The other update is on the rear lights. The original lights were in poor shape, with one cracked lense and both brackets bent. The rear light kit from John deere is several hundred USD. I had replaced them with sealed LED light in steel. Ones which I had mounted underneath the cargo box. But I was not happy with them not being original. I had tried to locate lenses from speaker, whose name was on the lenses but had no luck looking over their inventory. I had resigned myself to paying john deeres price along with the 3 hour round trip to the US border and back. But a google search led me to photos of some taillights for a polaris atv from around the same time period as the gator. I got some from a company here in canada for $15 ea with free shipping and they were a perfect fit. I straightened an repainted the original brackets, cleaned up the wiring harness, and have everything reinstalled and working. As these lights are now the widest part of the gator, I can see them possibly getting damaged one day, and I am not quite loving the look of them, but they are oem and that is what matters most.

One last job will be to replace all the rubber lines along with the fuel filter housing over the winter. She loses a little prime over a few days and has to crank about 10 times to start. She used to start almost instantly....I want that back.