Scotts S2554....?

   / Scotts S2554....? #1  

CentralVA

New member
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
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3
Hello all...

I've got a five acre farmlet, with about 4.5 acres mowable lawn/pasture. I've been looking around for info on small tractors and the Scotts tractors (sold by Home Depot) got my attention because they're made by Deere, but go for a lot less money.

The S2554 (25 hp 2 cylinder Kohler engine, 54" deck, PTO) goes for about $4000 in my neck of the woods.

Info can be found here:

http://customer.deere.com/en_US/scotts/intro.htm

I'd appreciate any opinions anyone might have about this machine....

CentralVA
 
   / Scotts S2554....? #2  
CentralVA,

I have no working knowledge about this tractor, but I have been around a few forums and folks have been generally quite happy with their 2554 purchases.

The 2554 compares most closely with John Deere's
SABRE line. The John Deere, John Deere's (YELLOW and GREEN) are a bit heftier in both build quality and price.

Go to the Garden.web forums under tractors and do a search on 2554. There is quite a bit of information there on that particular model.

Not to throw you a curve ball, but you have a rather sizable area to mow. Have you considered a ZTR (zero turn radius) mower. If mowing is your primary objective, there are plenty of models that will do the trick very quickly. Toro has a nice unit that is a bit more than the 2554, but might be worth the look

Also, PowerMax (a TBN member) has a terriffic tractor package for sale that you might want to consider. It appears to be in better than new condition.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=lawn&Number=120810&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=>http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=lawn&Number=120810&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=</A>
 
   / Scotts S2554....? #3  
CentralVa

I believe 4.5 acres on a lawn or garden tractor would be a hand full. Not only would it be hard on you but on the tractor also.

IMHO I believe a small compact tractor would fit the job better. It would also pay for itself with longevity. You will also find many more uses for a tractor on that acreage.

If you do decide on a lawn or garden tractor. I looked at the Cub Cadet mowers at Lowes. To me they seem much more substancial than the Scotts. I own a JD.

$4,000 is a lot for a mower.
 
   / Scotts S2554....? #4  
CentralVA,
Check out <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.midlawns.com/faqs.htm> THIS LINK </A> and scroll to the bottom couple of paragraphs. Its food for thought for the differences between JD, Sabre, and Scotts. This is a JD Dealers link. (midlawns.com)
 
   / Scotts S2554....? #5  
What else are you planning on doing with your 5 acres? Are you planning on hiring it done or doing it yourself?

Youll be surprised how good the return on investment is for a larger compact tractor once you start adding up the jobs you will need to do over the next 5 years or so. Its worth taking the time to think about this now.
 
   / Scotts S2554....? #6  
CentralVA,

I owned a 2554 for about a week last year. In that short time, it seemed like a pretty solid machine, although I never even tried to mow with it. The main reason I bought it was to try to haul a trailer around our property, which is quite steep in places. I did a reasonable amount of looking around, and for the money, it was tough to beat it. The "true" JD's were a LOT more expensive, and the Cub Cadets were more too, but not as bad as the "true" JD's. I can't remember exact models I was comparing.

The first thing I did with it when it arrived was try to take it up our back drive, which is around 30 degrees or so and dirt and gravel, most of which is not compacted very well. The tractor, with me on (I weigh about 240lbs) went up no problem. A few days later, I tried to take a half trailer of mulch up (maybe 300lbs), and as soon as I was on the incline, the rear tires started spinning, and then the front-end started coming up. Luckily, I got off the pedal quick enough that I am alive to tell you about it. It went back to Home Depot immediately.

The moral of the story is, if your property isn't reasonably flat, you may want to bypass "garden tractor" and go to a small compact diesel, like the new Cub or Kubota BX series. I own a BX2200, and it goes up the same driveway, with a 400lb. tiller on the 3pt hitch, and a FEL bucket full of dirt (about 350lbs or so), and it doesn't even hesitate. 4WD makes a huge difference. It's a lot more money than the 2554, but then it's a lot more tractor, too. For not much more than you would pay for the higher end 400 series JD's, you get a "real" tractor with 4WD, diesel engine, CAT 1 3pt hitch, etc.

Kevin
 
   / Scotts S2554....?
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Thanks for all the replies....

I'm going to check out all information and links you guys gave me. I really do need to think a little bit harder about this, mainly because of two factors:

1) Only about 3 acres of the 4.5 acres is relatively flat... the rest slopes away rather quickly down to a creek bed on the northern edge of our property. That area is open and needs to be mowed, but I'm probably going to need something that handles slopes better than what kyoders described in his reply.

2) At the very least I'd like to do my own tilling. The wife and I don't have huge gardens, but it would be nice to manage that on my own. In the past I've hired someone to do it, and I don't want to buy a separate tiller. I've also got a few fallen trees I need to cut up and haul up that steep northern slope.... If I sit and think about it I can probably come up with several more jobs that might be beyond the limits of a machine like the S2554 ....post hole digging.... etc. etc. The S2554 does have a PTO and can do some tilling, but it doesn't sound like handles hard work on steep slopes too well.

My first couple of years here I beat an old 14 hp Briggs and Stratton 42" deck machine to death keeping the 4.5 acres mowed. I weigh over 250 lbs. You can imagine what that was like on the steeper parts of this property -- not to mention the amount of time it took me to keep that mowed. Needless to say I wasn't mowing it all as often as it needed to be mowed.... it would have taken all my spare time.

Now I just mow about an acre, enough to keep the lawn around the house looking good, and hire someone (a guy with a real tractor) once in awhile to knock the rest down. Not an ideal situation.

Based on what I've read here I probably need to look at getting a real tractor. Otherwise, I could end up spending money for something like the S2554, and then turning around and buying a real tractor anyway when I find out it can't do everything I need to do...

Off to do a little more research!
 
   / Scotts S2554....? #9  
CentralVA,

Maybe they've updated them, but I don't remember there being a PTO for the 2554. If you aren't going to jump to any purchasing decisions in the next several days, I will drop by Home Depot and verify that the S2554 is the same machine I had last year. I can't imagine they've changed them that much. In any event, something with 4WD might be necessary, depending on how steep your hills are. The 2554 itself, and me, would go up the gravel driveway, which is about 30 degrees most of the way. So if all you were doing was mowing up/down it, the 2554 might still do it.

When I was talking to the salesman at Home Depot, I described the situation to him. It turns out, he even knew where it was at, but didn't realize until we were signing the papers. Anyway, he "guaranteed" it would handle the hill. He then said, and even if it doesn't, you have 30 days to return it no questions asked. When I returned it, the kid at the return desk did ask me why I was returning it, and when I said it wouldn't go up my driveway, he shrugged his shoulders and told me where to pull up to unload it. My point is, if you think the 2554 might be useable for your situation, you might want to take advantage of this return policy. Of course, you should verify that it really is your store's policy, first.

If you've got time to do some looking, it might open up new doors for you. I am extremely pleased with my BX, and I'll bet the new Cub Cadet sub-compact and the newer JD 4XX/5XX machines, and even into their 4010/4100 line, would be worth a look. 4WD makes an incredible difference. I think I forgot to mention that my BX won't go up the driveway in 2WD if it's fully loaded, but in 4WD it doesn't even hesitate! If you do decide to look around at sub-compacts or even larger compacts, the buying/pricing forums for the various tractor colors can give you a lot of good info. Good luck with whatever path you follow, and maybe I'll run into you on one of the other forums.

Kevin
 
   / Scotts S2554....?
  • Thread Starter
#10  
Kevin,

I probably won't make a purchase until the last week of May, so I've got a little time to think things through.

I haven't laid eyes on a 2554 yet.... perhaps I'm mistaken about the PTO. I'm not going to be heading out to the closest Home Depot for at least another week, so if you happen to eyeball it before I do....I'd appreciate that input!

That 30 day return policy sounds promising. If the machine can drag me and a trailer of wood up the slope from the creek bed, it would be worth at least considering even though it can't do everything I'd like to do with a machine. Of course we can't always get everything we want when we want it.

My main limitation is money... I can really only afford to spend between six and seven thousand max. So whatever I decide to do, new or used, has to fit within that figure.
 
 
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