I was given this tractor on the condition I would pick it up, which sounds fair to me, at least the price was right. When I arrived I was shown what appeared to be a brand-new TSC/Husky tractor, nothing other than the dust that had settled on it in storage. The owner explained to me that he had bought it in a winter sale at the TSC store, brought it home and put it in the garage. One day his wife decided to mow the yard in the early spring, got the tractor out put gas in it, and off she went, about 15 feet. She thought the 6" X 16" BRIGHT RED sticker on the steering wheel that said "NO OIL" meant "Do not put oil on the steering wheel." Both of them were medical professionals  and did not want to embarrass themselves by taking it back to the store to have fixed. 

I hauled it home, and started checking it out. Turning the engine over by hand trying to analyze the "cluck-clunk" sound I heard. I discovered a hole in the side of the block, out of which parts of a valve lifter and part of a connecting rod exited. Oh-Oh, that's what we call "expensive noises."

I checked around and found a new Briggs&Stratton 12HP at the local Rural King farm supply store for less than $400 complete, which was less than I could buy a short-block for from the local Briggs&Stratton Lawn and Garden dealer. I took my "prize" home and in less than an hour had a "new" lawn tractor up and running. This Husky 12HP, 40inch cut has performed flawlessly for 5 years now. Normally it would have been washed and waxed before being put away for the winter, but I was sick, hospitalized, and it didn't get done.  

I will put some photos of it cleaned up as soon as or whenever I get some time. 

10-1-2007 Update : the Husky is gone, worn out to the bone. In two summers this little $500 tractor  earned me around $3,000 mowing other peoples unimproved lots, plus caring for my half-acre. The deck fell broke,  parts were not to be found. The last I heard of it a fellow out in the county has it and is still looking for a deck.