Garden Tractor Needed?

   / Garden Tractor Needed? #21  
I appreciate all the helpful comments. As my very first task for the tractor will be hauling rock (several tons over multiple trips), my focus should be on the transmission. Pretty much all of the tractor offerings at the Big Boxes seem to be geared more towards mowing task. It seems as long as I stay away from the entry level K46 and Intek B&S, I am on the right track of my needs.

I am still not sure used is for me (although the offerings in Lancaster County area seem o' plenty). I would gather get new so I can take care of it from day one and every scratch will have a story!

I am currently leaning towards CC GTX2000 with 42" deck ($4,000), as it has the beefy, servicable transmission and smaller deck size. The JD 320 is a close second, but the cast tranny in the CC is appealing to me and the dealer stands out more for offering long-term service.

I really wish the Husq YTH42V42LS was available with beefier tranny. It seems silly to me that the 16HP tractors have the same tranny as some of the 26HP ones, you would think they would scale up together. I read some posts that you can replace a K46 with K66. I am doing to ask the local Husq dealer (family owned business) his thoughts on that. For $2,500 with a Kawaski 24HP and 42 Fab deck, that is a nice platform for me. And I really like their instrument cluster far better than either CC / JD, not that I would buy on that alone. If I had a way to upgrade the Husq transmission should I run into issues, I could sleep better at night.

Feel free to chime in. I realize comparing the $4,000 CC with the $2,500 Husq is not really apples to apples. I see it as buying top of the line low end unit (Husq), or entry level GT (CC) with a tranny that I do not need to think about. Even if I never actually own the core aerator, snow blade, etc., knowing I CAN is important to me.


Thanks again, what a great forum!
-John

I see you aren't far from me. In nearby you craigslist there is a 345 and and 425 for sale. Both are far far superior to the cc you are considering, and for less money.
You will be buying less if you go with the cc, new or not. The 425 especially; it has power steering, drive shaft tranny AND drive shaft mower deck, real hydraulics, a tranny the size of a small car, locking differential, and is liquid cooled engine. The CC is a toy by comparison.
 
   / Garden Tractor Needed? #22  
John,

As stated earlier, we use ours to haul dirt and rock to the gardens, and I've used it to haul a little gravel to establish trails through our property, but if I didn't have the old 135 and I was looking for something that would do most of what you are looking to do, I'd be looking for a used SCUT.

The advantages of a three point hitch and a PTO (post holes / tilling / raking / spraying) brings it to an entirely new level, and you will never exceed the machines capabilities for what you've described.

From your first post your intention was pretty much to mow the lawn, maybe tow an aerator and leaf collector, which can all be done with ease with a box store mower, been doing it for years. Now that you've included hauling several tons of rock is it possible there are other projects looming on the horizon the Mrs hasn't told you about........ :laughing: Why should you be any different than the rest of us.

Attached link is to give you an idea, 200 hours on a diesel engine is nothing. More money yet again than what you're looking at but a different league entirely.

$2500 ride on to a $4000+ ride on to a $7000 tractor..........

http://www.marketbook.ca/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=6864831&LP=TH&
 
   / Garden Tractor Needed? #23  
BurntGasket,
I would look at the x310 and x320 Deere riding mowers for your described uses. The CC 2000 mowers are fine too but I haven't used them myself. About the transmission differences, all of these can be repaired. The K58 has slightly more torque than the CC's tranny.
 
   / Garden Tractor Needed? #24  
I see you aren't far from me. In nearby you craigslist there is a 345 and and 425 for sale. Both are far far superior to the cc you are considering, and for less money.
You will be buying less if you go with the cc, new or not. The 425 especially; it has power steering, drive shaft tranny AND drive shaft mower deck, real hydraulics, a tranny the size of a small car, locking differential, and is liquid cooled engine. The CC is a toy by comparison.

Power steering makes an amazing amount of difference. The hotel I worked for went from a Cub LT1050 to a GT3200 and it was amazing how much less tired my arms were after 3-4 hours mowing on the GT than they were after mowing 2-3 hours on the LT.

Just my $0.02

Aaron Z
 
   / Garden Tractor Needed?
  • Thread Starter
#25  
Every time I think I have my mind made up, I find a new path to check out such as the 425 you suggest. My wife just wants me to buy something...anything...at this point. But I am having fun researching and learning along the way. Maybe if I drag this out longer she will just tell me to get a new $10,000 tractor and be done with it :) Thanks for the ideas!
 
   / Garden Tractor Needed? #26  
Guarantee you if you test drive the 425 nothing less will do. Of course an x749 would be even better!
 
   / Garden Tractor Needed? #27  
Guarantee you if you test drive the 425 nothing less will do. Of course an x749 would be even better!


I was a little hesitant to buy the x749 initially but after having it for a over a year now I am glad I bought it. The little machine handles a large variety of my jobs by itself and is easy to trailer around town.
 
   / Garden Tractor Needed? #28  
Depending on how much courage you have, you might consider a Wheel Horse. I am using my Dad's 30 year old C125 8 speed almost daily. I love the machine and it's built like a tank. Parts are not too terribly hard to come by, but I'm sure are disappearing now that Toro is out of the high end garden tractor biz.

I have considered replacing it, but all the good machines today are too high, and wouldn't allow me to cut under our apple trees, so I'm hoping that the machine outlasts me, and if I were a betting man, I'd surely bet on the tractor.

There was a C125 in the paper about three weeks ago for a very reasonable price if in any kind of decent condition. I called the day after the paper came out, thinking it would be nice to have twins, but it was already sold.

The best Wheel Horses are now pretty long in the tooth, and you have to deal with the competition of collectors and enthusiasts, but they are great machines if you can find one at a reasonable price.

Dad only bought the Wheel Horse because the garden tractor he ordered from Sears turned out to be vapor machine.. He paid almost twice as much as he would have for the Sears machine, and on this rock, the Sears job would have been on a junk pile in four or five years.

I agree with previous posts about the CCs and the big box machines. From what I've seen, they are built to look nice in the store and fall apart soon after they leave.
 
   / Garden Tractor Needed?
  • Thread Starter
#29  
After much thought (and reviewing the input on this thread, thanks!!!), I am now more open to purchasing used. It seems that 75% on the forum suggests used across many threads, so I want to take the advice into strong consideration.

I located a few JD 445's, are they close enough to the 425's that are being suggested, or should I stick with the 425 model? In terms of hours, how many hours, is too many? I suspect I will put about 30 hours/year on it, and would hope I can get 10-15 years out of it, ideally longer, but at >10 years, I would not be too disappointed if it died. The one 445 is listed at $3,500 at 1285 hours.

The Wheel Horses that were suggested are of mild interest as my father still has his from 25 years ago, but in terms of parts, etc. It seems with the JD dealer very near my house, if I am going to "risk" it with something used, I want to at least have a path to get parts and service.

Thanks again for the input!
-John
 
   / Garden Tractor Needed? #30  
The 425 is carburated gas, 20 HP. The 445 is fuel injected gas, otherwise the same as the 425, but gets 22 HP. The 455 is diesel, 22 HP. I think all can be found with AWS. But there are more that don't. $3500 for the 445 is about the going price. You might be able to get him down a little. At those hours, my only concern would be the cam gear. Early models, before '97 I think, had a plastic cam gear that would fail. Mine failed last year on my 425 at 997 hours. I replaced it with the new steel one myself, along with water pump, oil pump, governor gear, pushrods, and and handful of gaskets and such (stuff that made sense while in there). It cost me $600 total. Dealers are charging around $1300 for similar work.

You can call in the VIN number to JD and they will tell you if the tractor your considering has a plastic or steel cam gear. If it's plastic, ask if the gear has been replaced and if so, to show proof. If it still has the plastic gear (very unlikely at those hours), I'd only give $2500 for it so that I could get it replaced.

I know this warning sounds ominous. The tractor is worth it
 
 
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