ADVICE ON WHICH TRACTOR TO BUY

[jamesfr]

had a JD 2305 with a belly mower to mow 1 1/2 acres and also to use in our tree service business. The 2305 was over kill for mowing but undersized for heavy lift tree work so I traded it on a JD 3720 while the 2305 was still worth something. I'm looking at some used JD lawn / garden tractors as follows and would appreciate your advice to help to make the decision:

YEAR MODEL HOURS PRICE WARRANTY ENGINE TRANS ATTACHTS
2008 X540 470 $4500 NO KAWA TUFF T K72A 54" SQUARE CUT

2010 X530 199 $5000 SOME KAWA KAN 72A 54" DECK

2011 X500 030 $5000 SOME KAWA TUFF T K72B 48" DECK

2012 X500 050 $5000 SOME KAWA TUFF T K72B 54" DECK

2011 X500 030 $5500 SOME KAWA CHAINS -PLOW- CART48" DK

I'm leaning towards the 2008 X540 although it has more hours because; (1) it is water cooled, (2) the trans is probably heavier duty, (3) it has a trans fluid filter while the X500 does not, and the overall machine is probably heavier duty. My property terrain is hilly but not overly severe so i'm guessing any would be suitable. the JD 2305 was fine as it was 4 WD. Any comments, advice, help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jim

 

[Gary Fowler]

You are likely right to go with the water cooled engine and heavier machine. 470 hours on that machine shouldnt be any issue as long as it has been serviced properly and not mistreated. Can you check the cylinder compression on it to see how tight the rings are? Make sure the HST works properly. A good run on hills to heat it up would be my advice as some folks report that they get problems with their HST when it gets hot, they loose power. If it works good climbing hill after an hour of running, then it should be good. I have a very old around 1984 model 332 JD with a Yanmar 3 cylinder diesel engine(14HP) with HST and it still works perfectly. I have no idea what kind of transmission it has but it is a good one. If you could get a used garden tractor with similar features, it would last a while and then some. I mow about 3 acres and use either the JD with 54" mower or my ZTR 26HP gas with 55 " mower. It takes almost a full tank of 6 gallons of gas to mow and only about half that to mow with the diesel. Even though the gas claims to have almost double the HP, the JD can mow just about as fast on the 14 HP.

 

[Zebrafive]

I too would get water cooled vs air cooled. Quieter and I believe will last longer.
I have a 1989 JD 285 with 800 hours. I did require a water pump at about 500 hours. It was leaking coolant. I had the dealer repair it. They installed a new water pump (I don't know if the water pump is rebuildable) and recommended a new crank seal since they had the engine out and labor would be minimal. They said the seal was seeping oil.