Garden Tractor

[flyboyx]

i don't know a lot about that brand, but i agree they can be pretty awesome depending on the model you choose. actually, most smaller john deere models use yanmar engines.

you do have to do some research to make a good choice on whichever model you choose. some of those little grey market 4wd tractors are really cheap(mitsubishi's for example), but they have some fundamental design flaws that don't make for a very good tractor. off the top of my head, i know that some of them don't have a built in pressure relief in the hydraulic system. so...if you overload the hydraulics, they simply shear off the drive shaft for the hydraulic pump. not so bueno.

some of the reasons i really like kubota is that they make all of the parts that go into the tractor, they are indeed well made, there are plenty of dealers around and most parts are still availible, the price is a lot cheaper than a similiar john deere but they still have a good resale value when you go to sell it.

older kubotas have some innate issues too. for example, if the tractor has set outside most of its life, the steering box is probably shot because the top seal goes bad and water sits in there. some early models like the L245 don't use a spin on filter for the hydraulics but rather a little screen in the bottom of the transmission. if the tractor sits outside, the trans will be full of water and crap. it will be almost impossible to keep the screen clean and the hydraulics working.

[M-technik-3]

There is also Yanmar...they are affordable as well, I was considering picking up one just recently but misses said no and I don't blame her since I did not want to sell My JD318

[flyboyx]

ive seen 17hp kubota's in the price range you are talking but anything bigger should be around 6k in good shape plus another 2 if it includes a loader. over the years there have been a few other threads about tractors and such. do a search for "kubota".

as i have stated previously, if you have work that a garden tractor won't handle, i suggest you wait until you can afford or find a good deal on a real tractor.

if you are a handy guy, there isn't any reason not to buy a tractor in distressed condition. they are very simple to fix. you can always find the service and parts manuals on ebay.

the kubota i pictured on page two probably cost me nothing in actual money by the time i was finished with it. i originally bought an L275 off of craigslist for 700.00. it was a 2wd tractor with turf tires and a broken steering box. after doing some searching on a national craigs search engine,i found a 4wd tractor with the bf400 loader. the ad included no photos but said the machine was in "puzzle condion". the owner sent me a few cell phone pics and i agreed to buy the entire mess for 1700.00. i spent about 2 weeks looking for a cheap shipper. that aspect ended up costing another 6 hondo. once i had both tractors, i took everything apart, replaced all the seals, and made one good 4wd tractor/loader combination. i would say i spent well under 4k. all the extra parts were sold on craigslist and orange tractor talks. i figure i made pretty close to all my money back with a little sweat equity.

[PeteD]

All great points. Any input on the JD GX255 with all those attachments? I offered $3,000, He wants $3,500. Frankly, I think it is probably worth that. The tractor is well maintained and in great condition. The owner is selling it out of his front yard on a road that no one goes down.

My reason for not going to $3,500 is I think at that price point I am in entry level 4x4 Kubota (based on months of researching local tractor listings). However, a good Kubota in that price range is also tough to come by.

[flyboyx]

put light knobby tires on the zero and i promise you it will make it up any hill you would reasonably mow with a tractor sitting under your butt.

[PeteD]

Thanks Chad,


I'm not looking to spend much more unless I'm getting into some heavy machinery. Which, to your point, I should know what I'm getting into. I don't know anything about tractors. I can turn a wrench, but frankly given space and time constraints I have less of an appetite for tinkering with machines I expect to work when I need them to. I think that is the reason I have not jumped on an older machine and another reason why I'd like to sell my e36 daily driver and move on to something newer...but I digress.

Also, a zero-turn will most likely not make it up my hill. The GX255 has a locking diff; frankly that was one of the main reasons I even considered putting an offer on it, of course being useful in all seasons seems nice too.

[chadthestampede]

If you can afford it go for a 20-30hp kubota with a loader. You'll be surprised the amount of uses you will find for it.

That being said, I have an older 2wd kubota b6200 with a 60" belly mower and a plow that I picked up cheap a couple years ago. While a 4wd with a loader would be far more useful, around here even junk 4wd tractors with loaders are fetching around 6-10k. I plowed my driveway all last winter with it and had very few problems, even with the heavy winter we had. Properly ballasted you can do quite a bit with it. With the 60" mower deck cutting 2 acres of lawn goes pretty quick as well.

You have to know what you are getting into though. My tractor is gear drive, which can be annoying at times but it gets the job done. In the future I'll definitely be purchasing a more powerful hydrostatic tractor with a loader, but for what I do now this works. And the price was right.

Do some research. Check out orangetractortalks.com for info on anything kubota, and any tractor you look at check out the specs on tractordata.

If you do decide to get a garden tractor my vote is for a jd 318.

My ideal setup would be a heavy duty older garden tractor or zero turn for mowing, and a bigger kubota with a loader for everything else.

[PeteD]

I threw a $3,000 offer on a JD GX255 with the vacuum bagger and snowblower attachment. He wants $3,500. I feel I need to step into something bigger, such as 4x4, after $3,000.

Thoughts?

[BillBrasky]

318's only came with the 18hp Onan as far as I know. 317's and 318's were also popular for many engine swaps. That's a nice 318. Take good care of it and it will last forever. The one thing I love about John Deere is parts availability. You can look up the part diagrams with numbers at jdparts.deere.com. It's the same luxury that we have with BMW's that we can look up our own part numbers and still buy them at the dealer.


I'm currently in the market for a clean 318 with a bagging attachment for my house. I have a '79 317 that I use at my shop. 317's are good tractors as well, but you have to make sure that it has the updated Kohler series II engine or an Onan replacement. Series I had lubrication problems on inclined surfaces and most of them blew up. Mine is a very early 317 and the motor was replaced in '82 with the 2nd serial number Series II off the assembly line. I can only imagine what a 23hp Onan would be like in that chassis. Mine is 17hp and it will pull a wheelie if you rev it full throttle and jam it in forward. I think I could get a speeding ticket in a school zone.

[M-technik-3]

Maybe seller replaced it with bigger one. When I get it home will snap some more photo's.

[flyboyx]

Put money down on this today.



Came with snow blower and tiller but no cab. 23 hp OMAN engined older with lower hours on hobbs gauge. 702 hours and was made in 1984.

48" mower deck and cost less than a fancy one at home depot that will fall apart in 8 years.

still an amazing tractor but tractor data shows 18 hp

http://www.tractordata.com/lawn-tractors/000/0/3/36-john-deere-318.html

its the same as my dad's

[quickervicar]

That Onan will outlast the Kwaks in modern Deeres, even with a 700 hr. headstart. Pre-1987 they used the B43G engine in '87 they switched to the slightly larger P218 model. Both were rated at 18hp, both by Deere and by Onan, according to my specs.

Well bought, sir!

[squidrope]

Very Nice! I didn't realize the 318 had 23hp. I looked at a 316 and it had 16hp, I thought the 318 was 18. Good to know.

Some manufacturers will market the higher end model with a higher HP #. The "lower" end model will be marketed with a lower HP #. Even though both models have the same engine and the same HP (higher #). I learned me this when I purchased my previous Toro.

[M-technik-3]

Some are and some are not. This one was.

[PeteD]

Very Nice! I didn't realize the 318 had 23hp. I looked at a 316 and it had 16hp, I thought the 318 was 18. Good to know.