I have an old beat up ford lawn tractor 12.5 hp kolher front end and hydrostatic trany are Cast iron. Manufactured a nice cab on it. Blower and mower deck are built to be The Last one. Do regular maintenance and fix when needed all bearings and related parts easy to get. Even the hydrostatic drive is made to be rebuilt. Not like mtd sealed can’t change fluid throw away crap. I guess we now live in a world of planned obsolescence.