[LazyPup]

Your old Toro was built back in the day when they actually installed metal bearings instead of plastic sleeves and they used real steel to make the body components. I would not hesitate to restore it by changing the engine.

I have a 1974 model Troybuilt at my sisters farm. The snowblower head can be removed and a rear tine roto-tiller attachment put on the back of the frame for complete year around performance. That machine is currently on its third engine and still going strong.

My neighbor has a 1966 International Harvester Cub Cadet tractor that he paid the outrageous price of $700 for when it was new. He uses that machine to maintain 14 acres of lawn, a push blade for light dirt or snow removal and he has a snowblower attachment and full canvas cab for when the winters get rough. He also has a hydraulically operated garden plow and disc for serious garden work. That machine has an 18hp engine and real hydrostatic drive and i have yet to see any tractor on the market today that can keep pace with it, even though it is still operating on the original engine albeit a bit noisy since the muffler rusted out years ago.