zetor5245,
Kyle - CompactTractorFan,
Do not let anyone detract you.
I personally own 14 Jacobsen front mounted mower deck tractors and rent 12 of these out to cash paying customers. Have several different Jacobsen models now in the fleet. Of these, only two are carcasses used for parts. All are between 30 and 10 years old, with most just about 30 years old. Have one in year-round service which is about 35 years old, it is the 3 wheel GA200 conversion - love those three wheels in tight places - also - it has a mechanical steering link instead of a hydraulic steering link - so positive steering is available with the engine off.
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However - I must admit and warn you:
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Stay away from Jacobsen dealers because they charge overly excessive top dollar for everything (they are owned by conglomerate Textron - who thinks everyone is a US Government agency - they also make and market the Cessna airplane line and defense systems to the military)
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Most of the components on a Jacobsen are commercially available except for the body panels, frame and aluminum drive train castings. A fabricator can fix / replace / etc. most of the body panels and frames. Drive train castings - you are almost stuck. However, there are plenty of part machines available for a song. Why pay $1,200.00 for just a new hydrostatic drive from a Jacobsen dealer when you can spend $200.00 to $500.00 to pick up a parts machine with a whole front axle and hydrostatic drive in tact plus a lot of other good useable juicy parts. Also, a good aluminum qualified welder and a machine shop can repair many broken aluminum casting issues.
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I use an automatic transmission shop to rebuild the hydrostatic drives - admittedly - only one so far.
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If necessary almost any hydraulic shop can work to good effect on the rest of the hydraulic system components and parts - but so to can my trusty tractor shop dealer.
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Many used Jacobsen machines get bought up for their engines. The buyer removes the engines for re-sale, disposes of the rest of the machine in some manner - scrap or offered as a parts machine. When they do this, a parts carcass can be purchased for as little as $150.00 (containing thousands of dollars in useable spare parts).
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Plus Jacobsen is trying to phase out of supporting their own older product lines where ever and when ever possible.
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Jacobsen realizes that one of their own biggest competitors for their new machines is the durability, reliability, and longevity of their older 200, 300, 400, and 500 series machines. Jacobsen offers to take these off your hands - if you pay Jacobsen - who then scraps these machines. Of course, the other trick is Jacobsen phasing out support for these machines.
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I use routinely use two different dealers to work on my equipment. I use them because they are conveniently located close by and because I know them and because they do excellent work. I use one only to work on my mower decks as that is their expertise skill level. I use the other, who happens to be a Kubota dealer, because they have expertise in working on all kinds of farm, golf course, building & grounds, and lawn & garden tractors. The last is also a White, Grasshopper, and Wheel Horse dealer - showing how far they go back in the business and the range to their expertise.
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My work center is next door to the former - so they just come over on a routine basis and cycle through my mower decks, automatically. The latter is located about 1.3 miles away from my work center, so it too is conveniently located - I always have one or two machines cycling through those folks for preventive maintenance and full inspections.
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The tractor shop does my brakes - everything in that respect is commercially available. The brake pad part numbers and sizes are listed on the Jacobsen Website on the machine's drive train BOM. Take your brake pads and the BOM info to a NAPA auto parts store. Heck - take your brake pads to Midas - better yet take the whole machine to Midas, let them install them - and get a full replacement warrenty on parts and labor.
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I currently own four snowblower attachments, four debris blower attachments, one rotary sweeper broom attachment, and many 60" and 72" side and rear discharge mower decks, 14 differnt ones in all.
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I have three mechanical PTO and eleven hydrostatic PTO models in the fleet.
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I have one configured with a Yazoo Trac-Vac System.
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I have two three wheel and eleven four wheel models. Mentioned why I like the 3 wheel unit earlier.
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Because I am rotating my Jacobsen units through a tractor shop which is a Kubota dealer - I always take time to compare my existing Jacobsens to the current offering of Kubotas. Feature for feature naw, Jacobsen wins.
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The Kubota machines are "fairies" in a side to side comparison with the Jacobsens. The comparable Kubota machines are very lightly constructed. The comparable Jacobsen machines are much much more robust.
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I have two Industrial Ford Continental Gas Four Cylinder powered GW224s 4W 2WD, A Kubota 3 cylinder diesel powered GW224 conversion 4W 2WD, A Kubota 3 cylinder diesel powered C417D 4W 2WD, A Kubota 3 cylinder gas powered GA200 conversion now water cooled 3W 2WD, A Kubota 3 cylinder T528D 4W 4WD, four Kubota 3 cylinder diesel powered T422Ds 4W 2WD, two Kubota 3 cylinder diesel powered T422Ds 4W 4WD, A Parts Carcass A Kubota 3 Cylinder diesel power (converted from some former gas engine) C420G 4W 2WD, and A parts carcass Onan air cooled GA200 3W 2WD.
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I never had any non-routine issues with any of my Jacobsen machines. Except for the two parts carcasses, everything is operating as required and as expected. Not bad for the individual ages of these machines. I bought the hydrostatic unit the transmission shop rebuilt - for a song, $50.00. the shop charged me $150.00. $200.00 total for what would be $1,200.00 new purchased from Jacobsen.
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A big thing that is happening right now is that California is implementing new tighter emission standards which many existing machines are not able to meet. For the newer Kubota engines, conversion kits are available which when installed, allegedly will allow these engines to meet the new California emissions restrictions. However many California agencies are selling their fleets for export only out of the state of California. Hence, used auction prices are good right now for good machines - if you can find an in-expensive way to have any of these machines shipped to yourself. I bit the bullet and bought a flatbed trailer - and go get all of my machines myself.
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RAD Technologies of Canada for many years is the actual OEM for many Jacobsen, Kubota, John Deere, etc. snowblowers, debris blowers, and quick connect mounting adaptors. You can place a Rad Tech snowblower or debris blower next to a Jacobsen, Kubota, John Deere, etc. of the same age and vintage - and be hard pressed to find the differences beyond the paint and decals. There is a lot of information available on this contained in other postings on the MyTractor Forum - as a matter of fact there is much useable information all over the MyTractor Forum if you know what you need to search for. True, you must filter through all of the supurfulous reteric sometimes to get to the actual technical meat - but we are a social forum as much as a techincal forum - so we like it like this.
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I am always on the look out for used snowblower, debris blower and quick connect attachments. With experience, knowledge and skill, these are always showing up on eBay, the government surplus sites, on Google and Yahoo searches, in Craig's list, etc.
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Stay away from dealers - as these used pieces are almost always overpriced through dealers. Have a lot of patience and be routine in your searches.
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Conversions can be aggravating, time consuming and expensive - particularly if you do not own or have access to the tools you will need. With the same amount of time invested - you can find attachments made to fit without any conversions. I have converted two Olathe Model 67s debris blowers made for the Toro Groundsmater and an older Kubota debris blower unit (a probable Olathe model something or other) for use on the Jacobsens - with great success but also with a lot of effort. I have a RAD Tech debris blower (same as the current Kubota debris blower model) made to fit the Jacobsen with the Quick Connect (similar but slightly configured differently to the equivalent Kubota unit).
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I converted the Yazoo Trac-Vac to attach to the back of the GA200 (converted to water cooled Kubota 3 cylinder gas engine powered). It was originally designed to fit a zero turn machine. But its design is fairly univarsal - and looks it, ugly.
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Snowblowers and debris blowers available made to fit these machines almost always are in relatively good condition - save a requirement perhaps for a little paint. These attachments seem to get little use because the seasonal requirements are very short - most of the time, when these attachments are installed, the machines spend most of the season sitting and waiting. Heck in two weeks most of the leaves are down - requiring the debris blower to be operated just a few times each year. I live in lake effect country - so my four snow blowers are in service seemingly every week for two or three months - unusual - not the norm.
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It is worth your while to take the time and find units supplied with the quick connect feature - what a blessing these devices are.
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I put a receiver hitch on the back of every machine - what a blessing.
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Every opportunity I get, I buy and mount briefcase weights on the back end of the Jacobsens. There are plenty of old decrepit Toro Groundsmasters out there just rusting away waiting to donate their rear briefcase weights for use on living breathing Jacobsen machines.
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Tractors are like women. Everyone tries to pick their favorite machine, and us guys do not agree on the characteristics of what we hold as a favorite machine.
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You can not go wrong with a good used Jacobsen. Very dependable and reliable. But not pretty nor sexy. Purpose built to be strong and durable. Built to industrial durable quality level - not home owner consumer quality level like many similar equivalent Kubotas.
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For under $5,000.00 to $10,000.00 (depending on your online shopping skills and patience) a good 20 year old Jacobsen with ROP, cab enclosures, mower deck, debris blower, snowblower, dozer plow, and rotary broom can be had. The equivalent new Kubota with those same bells and whistles would cost you over $40,000.00 new.
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I make my own cab enclosures from Lexan Plastic sheets, gate door (strap) hinges, screen door closure handles, and velcro.
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Also a blessing, on the Jacobsen website you can still find parts drawings, bill of materials, and manuals for many of these machines and attachments - but jacobsen has been weeding through them. notice some old reliable manuals have disappeared. Fortunately - I took the time to down load copies of every manual I though usefule - and just in time too.
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Trying to do the same for the part drawings and BOMs. Many of the BOM part numbers are the same as the commerical parts numbers. Love that when it comes to bearing replacements (and brake pad replacements).
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I stop and walk through every old tractor and lawn & garden repair shop / graveyard I can find - it is amazing what you can find and use in the forgotten corners of these places.
