Not quite forever...mine crapped out after 7 years. Kohler wanted something like $1600 for a new one. I bought a Tecumseh for $600+. More HP too...
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That is very unusual for a cast iron Kohler to fail if you changed the oil and kept the oil topped up. I had a cast iron Kohler on a tractor that I used in fields to chop brush and an occasional rock. I mowed 2 acres of grass for 20 years with it. I mowed an embankment where I had to get off the tractor and walk on the flat so that I could hold the tractor on the embankment so it wouldn't fall over. I plowed snow with it. I even plowed the road in front of our house and the neighbors houses with it. It was still going strong when I sold it. It had replaced a Tecumseh that didn't even finish the second season before it got a warped head and was junk. There are good cast iron Tecumseh's but mine wasn't cast iron.
I've expressed my concern with the price of the L series.. JD seems to have this line to compete with the big box store offerings, and I'd be concerned about, as you put it, the 'Deereness' of the product.
My advice on the John Deeres is to make sure you buy what you want; with the possible exception of the L series, a John Deere in a residential setting will last for decades, if it's taken care of.
We have a 214 that I bought in 1990 used.. had to put a couple batteries in it (because it uses car sized batteries I usually pick which car has the oldest battery in it, replace that battery, and install the take-out in the 214). Couple of belts, other than that haven't even tuned it up.
Currently having some problems with the belt tension system for the mower deck drive, and as I am currently out of commision with double hernia surgery we asked the daughter to take care of the lawn this time around. Mentioned daughter tried to mow with the push behind, but gave up and called her boyfriend, who brought over his family's old mower, a JD 430. Watercooled 22hp diesel, 60" deck, Hydrostat trans, differential lock, full hydraulics front and rear. Looks a little rough, but mowed the yard without a problem.
They just bought a new mower to replace this one.. got a nice zero turn radius JD. I asked what they planned to do with this one (the
430). They planned to sell it.For $300
I took some pain meds, went and looked at it and told the wife, who told him to unload it, we'll take it.
Sometimes you've just got to be in the right place at the right time..
Regards,
Jim
Mark THAT a bargain! Kate
| Regards, | | Jim
Bill B wrote in news:10juoct3ptru320 @corp.supernews.com:
I'm going on 5 years with my Murray, 17 horse 46" 3-blade cut. No problems. Paid $1250 for it at Wally World. I'd buy one all over again. (Please not right now, I can't afford it. :)
Hello group, Been reading everyones posts about the driving tractor mowers. We are building a house in the country with a huge front lawn(not our idea, it's required by the community), and we are trying to decide how to handle it (lawn service or mower) After reading some posts regarding these things having "automatic transmissions" and how they make the job easier, I am curious..I am sure they don't have transmission like a car which shifts gears and such, but was wondering how they work? Can you slow down, stop and go without having to disengage the gears and such? My guess is a standard one with a clutch you would be clutching and going to get around flowerbeds and such...Seems the auto is the way to go if your gonna have one..But just curious as to how they actually work...
Thanks so much! John
I don't know how the others work, but my previously mentioned Agway/Murray garden tractor has a Hydrostatic Automatic drive. It has a throttle handle on the dash that stays in whatever position it is set. An L shaped rocker type foot pedal on the right operates the mower's speed either forward or in reverse. Push more, faster. Push less, slower. It does not have cruise control, so the foot has to be kept on the pedal when moving, like a car. The mower engine speed is not affected by the foot pedal. The engine's rpm stays at whatever the throttle is set at, no matter what the foot pedal position is. When going down hill, lifting the foot from the foot pedal causes the mower to go into a sort of braking mode, so the mower does not freewheel down the grade. There is no shifting of the mower transmission that I can hear. A brake pedal is on the left side.
A lawn tractor must run the engine at a constant speed to keep the mower running at a constant speed. To change the tractor speed you use a different gear. My garden tractor has 6 forward speeds (gear selections). The highest is primarily for going from point a to point b in a hurry. The next is slower for mowing under normal conditions. The next is even slower for mowing around objects or in heavy growth. The next three gears are really creeper gears for snow blowing, very heavy mowing, etc. If your lawn has few objects, then the automatic transmission won't be doing anything. The advantage of an automatic transmission is it is easier to slow down when mowing around objects. It acts more like the gas peddle on a car but is operated by your hand. You push a lever one way to go faster and you push it the other to slow down or go backwards. With the automatic you only have a brake pedal. With the regular you have a clutch and brake. However, you don't have to worry about how you let out the clutch like in a car. You just put it in the gear you want to use and let the clutch out. Tractors are like that. You stop when you want to change gears. With a little practice you will get so it starts smoothly, but you don't need to master the fine skills of using a clutch to use a tractor.
Mechanically, the regular transmission has metal gears that last forever. The automatic transmissions have belts that can break. For reliability a regular transmission is best. For convenience an automatic transmission is best.
The clutch and gear transmission type are not as bad as you might think. Yes you have to stop, shift, back up and turn, stop, shift, etc. You get used to it after awhile if the ergonomics aren't too bad. You need the durability of gears if you are going to be pulling heavy stuff around regularly, but the "automatics" are nice if you are going to use it just for mowing or maybe drag a little utility cart around.
I don't entirely like the term "automatic" as applied here. I guess it's a sales thing, and who can understand the murky workings of their minds ;-)
The best, IMO, is hydrostatic. These use a variable displacement hydraulic pump driven by the engine and a hydraulic motor geared to the wheels. The pump displacement control usually connects to a single lever or pedal which gives you continuous range from forward thru stop thru reverse. Usually so reliable you could just drive it for years with no attention at all, although transmission fluid and maybe a filter should be freshened up at relatively long service intervals, and are easy to do.
Some of the cheapos use another approach with variable width v-belt pulleys to get adjustable drive speed. These work well enough new, but get "funny" with age as the belts wear valleys in the pulley faces. Most implementations have an in-line "shifter" with notches. It is also possible with two belts or with a belt and gear combination to get a single pedal or lever with continuous range from forward to reverse, but that's more engineering and most of them don't bother since they are designing for low price. The belts wear out and have to be replaced, and are usually not very easy to do. Some even call it a hydra-something-or-other drive to make you think you are getting a hydrostat, when in reality it is something else not nearly as good.
Caveat emptor, you get what you pay for, etc.
I would have to dissagree on needing gears if you pull heavy loads. I would be hard pressed to believe the gears in most typical L & G tractors are all that much stonger than a good hydrostatic drive unit. MOst consumer type L & G tractors are offered as baaaseline units with minimal everything be it gears or hydrostatic drives. I had a JD317 with over 4000 hours on it when I finally got rid of it, and it was a hydrastatic drive, and it was used hard and put up wet all the time, and it was used to pull more than what it should have all the time. I used to drag around a trailer full of firewood that weighted about 5 or 6000 pounds. It was used for ground tillage and breaking in the garden I had back then, 1 1/2 acres and it never missed a beat.
I now have a JD GX335 with hydro and its just as good as the 317 was..You do not need gears to pull things with and they certainly do not make it any more efficient or stronger. The JD lineup of the L series is built for light pulling loads as are most other similar units.
Nnnothing could be easier and more trouble free than the layout JD uses with their twin touch pedals. Throttle it up and go.......push harder on the pedal you have ore speed and torque. No need to come to a complete stop before hitting the reverse pedal either, so cycle time and fuction is a lot quicker with a hydrastatic drive with twin pedals than anay setup using strictly gears can even think about being. More andmore heavy dury industrial equipment is being suypplied with hydrostatic drives each year. Its a proven fact they are just as strong when it comes to use and pulling with and will last just as long. Visit my website:
Really? My 10 year old automatic tractor can drag a big homemade dump cart around, like a 4' W by 5' L with 1' H sides, and golf cart wheels, carrying dirt filled to the top of the rails. I have a ball hitch installed on the back of my tractor to pull the cart. The only problem towing it up some grades when full is that the drive wheels sometimes skid on the grass. My set of wheel chains helps in those instances. Also, I have a 48" snow blower attachment that weighs a couple of hundred pounds and requires that I weigh down the back of the tractor with wheel weights and a US Military GI can, filled with water, strapped to the back of the tractor. My driveway is sloped and I have no problem snowblowing while driving uphill. Did I mention that the tractor was 10 years old?
My auto transmission does not have to be refreshed with fluid and there is no filter.
I have all three, but the biggest drawback on mine (New Holland LS-55) is that you can't use more than one at a time. Of course that isn't a problem with the snowblower, but it is a pain to have to remove the mowing deck to use the rototiller and vice versa. If I had it to do over, I would make sure I could either use both at once OR that the attachments came off and on really easy. In fact, have the dealer demonstrate what has to be done for each implement to get them off and on, rather than taking their word for it.
DWW
Have you ever heard of a hydrostatic transmission? Many better mowers have them. They vary the ground speed hydraulically and are extremely dependable.
Barry
I thought I would throw my two centavos in here. I have 3/4 acres that I have been cutting for about five years with a $300 MTD 12.5HP, 38" cut. I have had to work on it quite a bit, especially at the beginning of this grass season. It is in damn good shape now after replacing a support bracket to the deck and rewiring it and replacing a bearing in the deck. I think it was worth the price and I learned how the darn thing operates rather well. So, I guess if you don't like mechanics, it would be the best to buy new one. I am really impressed with the Cub Cadet. They are always the winner's at the tractor pulls around here. The direct drive can't be touched by the belt drives. For the HP, I think they are the best value. If you can find a used one, I would jump on it in a heartbeat.
We have a 214 JD bought new in 1979. Use it for mowing (half to
2/3 acre), blowing, and tilling. Used to till for neighbors but now live where there is not much gardening. Mowed for a neighbor that had hip replacement one year. Have done a lot of snowblowing for myself and neighbors until a few years ago. (Now have a small driveway.) Have replaced the drive belts once, battery about 4 or 5 times, mower deck bearings and idlers a couple of years ago (I forgot how quiet it was). I hope it lasts another 25 years, unless of course I find a deal like Jim.Roy (and anyone else),
The tiller for your JD317 was belt driven was it not? I'd heard that there were problems with belt driven tillers. The local JD salesman where I live said he rarely sells them. I'm looking at an JD LX 280. Would this model with tiller do a good job breaking ground and keeping a garden tilled, in your opinion?
Thanks.
Yes, but hydrostatic transmissions are not automatic transmissions. They are manual infinitely variable transmissions. Automatic transmissions shift automatically with the load, not with a lever. The automatic transmissions are belt driven on cone pulleys. My Kawasaki Mule has an automatic transmission, not a hydrostatic transmission.
Right! But why would anyone want one of those when they can have a hydrostatic drive? There are an awful lot of hydrostatic drive mowers on the market.
Barry
For one reason a hydrostatic drive is much more smoother, and it does adjust itself automatically according toload on a lot of models, but its by applying more pressure, and no difference in shifting is felt as it does not shift, it just applies more pressure for more torque when needed. Put it in drive and go and forget about everything else. Visit my website:
Because some people don't have to keep changing the speed of their mower. They let out the clutch and mow until it is done without shifting. A hydrostatic would be a total waste. Why pay extra for something you are never going to use. The dealers push them because they make more money on them. Not everyone needs one.
I have arranged my 2 acres so that all obstacles have a nice round edge that are easy to mow or I have a mow pattern that makes it easy to mow all sides without backing up and slowing down.
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