buzzerbaby
New member
I've been following on here for quite awhile now, thats why I'm posting to you guys and not another forum ;-). First some background. I own a little over 6 acres in southwest Washington, about 1 acre is "yard" and out of the rest I have about 2-3 that are useable. Awhile back my brothers neighbor had a Kubota B5200 with brush hog, finish mower, FEL and rototiller for sale and I bought it. I've been unhappy with it from day 1, no hydrostatic, leaking seal causing the FEL to lower as I'm using it and it also has Ag tires. I rarely use the tractor and my wife wants it gone. I also have a mid 80's JD 320 (similar to the 318 but they only made this model a couple years) garden tractor with a 52 inch deck, absolutely love this mower but.... I'm not very mechanically inclined and lately the mower has been making 2-3 trips a year in for service.
So now my dilemma, should I:
1. Buy this JD 1026R I've been eyeballing, put a 7 iron deck on, H120 FEL and maybe a few attachments.
2. Keep my 320 and keep having it worked on multiple times a year (it's dead in the water as we speak).
3. Replace the 320 and just get a nice garden tractor, preferably a 700 series with a diesel.
I really want the 1026r but my wife thinks I wont use it as much as I tell her I will. I can understand her hesitation as I rarely use my Kubota since it's a pain for me to switch implements (back injury) and the manual tranny is a huge hassle (for me anyway). And I've already got a quote on the 1026, they quoted 16,600 for the tractor, 7 iron deck, H120 loader imatch hitch and loaded tires, does that sound about right? I'm actually thinking of going with turf tires too since it'll be mainly a mower.
So now my dilemma, should I:
1. Buy this JD 1026R I've been eyeballing, put a 7 iron deck on, H120 FEL and maybe a few attachments.
2. Keep my 320 and keep having it worked on multiple times a year (it's dead in the water as we speak).
3. Replace the 320 and just get a nice garden tractor, preferably a 700 series with a diesel.
I really want the 1026r but my wife thinks I wont use it as much as I tell her I will. I can understand her hesitation as I rarely use my Kubota since it's a pain for me to switch implements (back injury) and the manual tranny is a huge hassle (for me anyway). And I've already got a quote on the 1026, they quoted 16,600 for the tractor, 7 iron deck, H120 loader imatch hitch and loaded tires, does that sound about right? I'm actually thinking of going with turf tires too since it'll be mainly a mower.
