hodoms said:
I went to the dealer and test-drove the 2520 today and I'm ready to buy but I have a few concerns. First I drove it on slopes similar to my property and it seemed like it had plenty of power in high gear but many have been complaining about the high gear having zero power but I will add that I did not have the mower engaged. Do any of you think I had no problem because the mower was not engaged? I hate to get it home and engage the mower only to find that all surplus power is gone and it will no make up my gentle slopping property (not very steep at all but has slopes) in high gear because mowering in low gear is a deal breaker. I also thought the seat was crappy like on the 2210. Does Deere offer a premium seat for the 2520? Will the 2520 lift high enough to dump into a standard dump truck? Does anybody know if Deere offers a grapple for it? Also, how much does the 2520 lift, Deere claims 1277 but I find that hard to believe at full height. Does anybody know how much the 2520 will lift at FULL height? Hard to believe a 1865 pound tractor will lift 1277 to full height. I have seen many people post that the 2210 are small but the 2520 did not seem any bigger to me. Actually it seems like a 2210 with bigger tires. Which I like because it is easier to trailer but it seemed a lot bigger than the 2210 into I step onto it. I will be bulldozing a small rental house of 700 sq feet will the 2520 be enough tractor to load the stuff left after the dozer break it up a little. I will be loading the stuff into a very big dumpster will the 2520 be enough tractor or should hire it out to someone with bigger equipment. I welcome everyone opinion on the step up from the 2210 to the 2520. The tractor will mainly be mowering for now but in the future when I get some more land I plan on buying a 5-foot rotary cutter.
Hi Hodoms , I have owned a 2520 for a season and I will do my best to try and help you with some of your questions. I have been able to cut in high on sloped land. With that said cutting in low at full speed is still a quality speed.
In regards to the seat, it is crappy IMO. The build quality is fine but for whatever reason the seat feels like arse. Some users say they love the feel of the seat. Everyone will have different taste due to body sizing/mass etc. If during your test runs you noted the **** feel like crap, it will not get better. In the end the seat is a small detail which can be changed if you really feel the need.
Now when it comes to lifting, ( I do alot of pallet lifting off the back of a 53" foot trailers and bought the bradco pallet attachment) I am going to say no way in **** will this tractor lift 1277 at full lift. I honestly don't see this tractor lifting 1200 lbs much over a few feet at best.
Some users have tried to say they lift 1500 to 2000 lbs. That is false. For starters the biggest pallets I pull off the back of a 53" footer ( lets say 5 feet high off the ground) are excatly 725lbs. And this 2520 really and I mean really, really, struggles to get that 725lbs pallet off the back of the truck. It is a job that is done very slowly. With that said, 725lbs load plus the weight of Bradco ( just balling parking I would say 250 to 300lbs maybe someone can chime in on the weight of Bradco?) Lets say 1000 lbs, at 1000 lbs this tractor has nothing left at the 5 foot height range. At this point I have lifted about 100 skids in total at 725lbs. and it's always done with alot of caution.
If this turns into a huge debate, ( I have a feeling it will) that last bit of proof I have was in the summer I was moving pallets with bricks around the yard. I was sort of surprised how little the pile of bricks the 2520 could move per run, brick does add up tho so anyway I kept adding bricks until it could no longer budge. I was able to get it to the point 1 brick extra it could not lift and 1 brick less it could lift. I still have that pallet of bricks in the yard. I just need to weight up a brick, count the numbers of bricks on the pallet and do simple math. This will give me to the lbs lifting capacity.
Without going into all that 1000 lbs is max. if you ask me, and I speak from real life use.
In the end it's a great tractor and you will be happy with your purchase. You just need to remember it's an entry level series of tractor from John Deere. Expecting it to do the same speed/power/jobs of the big full size tractors is asking alot. If you need a smaller type of machine with decent power to do things you will be fine, you will find the 2520 has plenty of punch and good power. Just remember a 2520 is what it is. For most every day use around the farm, house acerage etc. you should be fine.
Good luck and enjoy the machine.