For the same price should I buy a John Deere 345 or a Wheel Horse 520xi?

[rsoby2112]

They are both 99's and the both have 500 hours on them and 52 or 54 inch decks. I have to cut 2 1/2 acres of grass and buy a snow blower as my driveway is almost 400 feet. Any opinions would be appreciated. Also does $3,000 sound reasonable?

 

[klrobert]

If it were my choice, I would take the Wheel Horse for the same money. Before I got my Kubota, I had a Wheel Horse 512 that I used (and abused) for 18 years. That thing was tough as nails. I don't really have any experience with any of the smaller JD stuff, so I can't comment on it. Also $3,000 sounds really high for that tractor. I'm no expert, but I'm thinking in the $1500 - $2000 range.

 

[CHDinCT]

Another vote for the Wheel Horse. Reason being that the 5xxXi series used all the same attachments as the older wheel horse so you could use any of the WH garden tractor attachments back to the mid 70's (forget the exact year, but after a point, WH kept everything that used the attach-o-matic system standard). There are tons of used WH attachments around and they're typically cheaper than the JD stuff.

 

[sal64]

hello i just traded in a 99 jd 345gas dealer alowed me 3000 trade in .it had 275 hrs on it. i had lots of problems with fuel system never ran to good .

 

[rsoby2112]

Thank you for your advice. So far the Wheel Horse seems to be the best advice.