JD 140 H3 or GT275

[71ranger]

Hi all:

I'm new here and am trying to decide whether I should go for a classic JD 140 H3 or a newer GT275.

I have about an acre to mow and will probably be dragging stuff around in a cart often.

I would like to have the option of a blade on the front to push gravel and do some light grading.

There's a guy selling a 140 H3 in really nice working condition with mowing deck and a hydraulic blade on the front for $2250. Sounds high to me, but I can't find anything to compare it to. This one is a lot nicer than the "restorable" ones I see on eBay, but it's also not totally pristine. Everything works and the engine was rebuilt approx 50 hrs ago.

The GT275 is from what I can tell kind of an oddball JD model. I can't find a lot of info on it. It's hydrostatic with a 17HP Kawasaki from 1998. It has a newer Piranha deck on it and approx 400 hrs. Not sure what the setup is for implements, but I don't think it has hydraulics like the old 140. They want $1500 for it.

Or I could just cheap out and get a JD 170 with a cart for $700 and rent something if I ever need to push some dirt around.

I'm willing to spend the dough for the 140 H3, but I'm not sure $2250 is a reasonable price for it.

Thanks in advance.

George

 

[bontai_Joe]

The Deere 140H3 in really nice condition can be worth as much as $1250 to $1500, the front blade if equiped with the hydraulic angle can be around $400-500. If the tractor has any options on it like a rear 3 point hitch, or the rear PTO, they can add around $400 each. so depending on how that particular 140H3 is equiped, the $2250 could be either a little high or a fair deal. I'm sure he has added a little to his price to cover the engine rebuild as well. It was the best machine in it's class in its era, and even compared to most of today's models it will come out on top in features until you get to around the $8000 level.

The GT275 does not have the hydraulics of the 140, but is a decent garden tractor and the $1500 is a fair price in my opinion if in good condition and 400 hours is a nice low hour machine.

The 170 with a cart at $700 is high for what I see in my area, unless you are talking a Deere model 80 cart. The 170 is totally a lawn tractor, good for cutting grass and pulling a cart and I often see them for around $400. Pretty much useless for plowing gravel or grading.

 

[Mighty Dodge]

JD 140's are great little tractors. They were originally designed for commercial use. The 300 series is good as well. I've got 2 140's and my dad has a 314 and a 317. $2250 sounds high to me. Offer him $1700. Of course you'll want to see it run. Make sure it doesn't smoke, knock, etc.

M.D.

 

[awlchu]

George,

I'm not sure where you live but $2250 is too much for a JD 140 H3. For that amount of $ you can get a very very nice JD 318 with power steering and a twin cylinder Onan. (Before anyone laughs, once you have a garden tractor with power steering, you'll never go back.)

Go to machinefinders.com (JD site) and search for 140s to get an idea of prices in your area.

 

[pennwalk]

George,

The 140H3 is sort of a collectors item so sometimes people get a little irrationally exuberant on the price.

One nice feature of the GT275 is the pedal hydrostatic.

I have test driven the Piranha deck at the dealer in 6" grass and I was totally impressed. I believe it was replaced by the freedom deck and I see stacks of them (freedom decks) at the local dealers lots so it makes me wonder if there is something wrong with the Piranha deck too. It seems like they would do just fine in regular mowing. Maybe people realized they needed to do leaf pick-up in the fall and couldn't add a bagger?

Chris

 

[montanaman]

What is value to you? We have some saying the price is too high and if you look at the spread we are seeing, it's about $550. Sorry, but that will buy you nothing today. There are folks using 140s that wouldn't sell them for any price and if the one you are looking at is in very good mechanical shape, it may be worth paying a few hundred more for it knowing you won't start finding new problems every time you use it. The Kohler K321 engine on that is NOT a cheap engine with a long block costing over $1,000, so I would ask to see some proof of a rebuild and figure that as some value to the tractor.

I bought one many years ago and thought I needed my head examined for paying what I did, but at the time, it was what my budget could handle and I looked at every new tractor in that price range and saw nothing but junk! Not even sure why, but I still have it to this day. All of my mowing is done with a zero turn and if I need to haul something, I have much larger tractors to do it. That being said, I wouldn't sell the tractor, deck, and blade for $2200 but I guess I don't really need to.

I've also watched one of those front blades without power angle sell on ebay for well over $800 and the power angle blades will sell for even more.

Those older JDs really were good tractors and I'd take a 140,112, or 300 series any day over the newer stuff. Back when they were made, there were no box stores and steel was a lot cheaper!

For your needs, if the 140 is in fact in very good mechanical condition, I would think about it. It is cheaper to make an older tractor look good than it is to rebuild it, so I wouldn't worry that it looks a little used. It may have far more years left on it than one with fresh paint that's never been taken care of!

 

[955er]

I've had my GT 275 for 15 years and its been fine, but for $1500-1800 I would be looking at a used zero turn if I was looking to only mow an acre.

 

[Boatmechanic]

Hello everyone, I'm new to this site and my 140. Little background first. Bought my first home last year. After one snow fall I said not shoveling any more, have big garage, need beefy little tractor. Started looking and dooing all kinds of research. What I found was 800 lbs of kick *** for 600. It was about 3 hours away. When I got there it was a little rougher than in the pics. Aperantly old pics. Any way that weekend we got a prety bad blizzard here on long island. Well the tractor lasted 1 day. I was shooting oil, smoke and god knows what else. But I worked it through 22 inches of snow the next morning and cleared the driveway no problem. This thing just had so much potential. I had to give it new life...... After it did me hat favor of not killing my back I decided to show her a little love and repower her with a brand new vanguard 23 hp vtwin. Very little mods needed. No frame cutting, just had to change the exhaust. While true engine was out she got a good cleaning and some fresh paint. I will Mostlikely never have to buy another tractor again, and if I were going to I don't think anything would ever compare. Go for the 140. If you had to get a machine with all the capability of a tractor today I was told I'd have to spend close to 9000 dollars. That's right nine thousand....... Hands down there really isn't anything close to it.