Buying Advice Advice on 2320 purchase for mowing and snow removal

[jcmseven]

A Gator is NOT an ATV for plowing, it is MUCH more. Even the gasoline Gator weighes about 1450 pounds, a solid 600+ pounds more than a heavy ATV. You will not have problems with the front end being pushed around. My diesel Gator plowed as fast, or faster, and better than my neighbors 3500 Dodge dually, and that's no joke. All the UTV's are serious improvements over almost anything out there for plowing snow.

As for the 2320, I would have to politely disagree with beenthere. I am assuming you have the older X500, which is now the X700 series. They are excellent machines, I have had three of them. The 2320 is quite a step up, though. It is a true compact tractor. It has the following: two range hydro, a siamesed higher flow hydraulic pump, standard mid and rear PTO's, dual wheel brakes, bigger wheels and tires and higher axle capacities, 650# more field weight, a full category 1 three point hitch with rockshaft control, jobstick loader operation, and full lit ROPS, among other things. Needless to say there is a difference. One must ask if those areas of upgrade are enough to merit the upgrade itself. To me, yes; to some, no. Though both are excellent machines comparing a 2320 to an X500 (or 700) machine is comparing an apple to an orange. As for plowing I think the 2320 would do well. It is a heavy machine and the blade is not very large, so it would handle it in about any snowfall with ease. It would not be as fast as a UTV, though. My UTV blade is 72" and I can plow consistently at 10-15 mph v. a 54" blade at 5-8 mph with virtually any utility tractor over the same plow area.

John M

 

[JJKJ]

Regarding the driveway surface, I don't think the type of surface will have a big impact on what my plans are. The surface type comes into play with my preference for a blade over a blower, but I think I would still prefer a blade regardless as I think it would be more efficient for most snows. My plans are to eventually concrete the main drive but the lower drive will always be rock/pebble.

The big reasons I'm looking at upgrading from my X500 are:

- Moving from 2wd to 4wd. I think 4wd will remove snow and mow my hilly area better than my 2wd.

- I'd like more ground clearance than my X500 has for any work I may have to accomplish on my land. This is also why I originally considered an ATV with blade in conjunction with my X500.

- I'd like to step up to hydraulically operated implements. With my X500, if I add a blade, it will be manually angled and I think the hyd operated blade will be quicker and obviously easier.

Regarding size, I did get multiple quotes back from the dealer. He has a 2520 in stock that he could give me a pretty decent deal on in comparison to the 2320. With the same equipment, the 2520 is $1600 more.

After watching the snowblade videos, I'm seriously reconsidering my need for a blower. I think front blade would do almost all the work I need from what I saw. How hard would it be to swap between a blade and a FEL? I think if I had a FEL to move snow piles if it gets piled too high/close and for other tasks around the acreage, I would be pretty well set up.

Thanks,

John

 

[JJKJ]

Thanks for the info John, I'm going to research the Gator a bit more.

My X500 is the new version X500 (2008), not the HDGT. I bought it when I had just under an acre to mow and a 60' driveway to clear. More than adequate for that work, but undersized for what I have now.

 

[jcmseven]

It's not that tough. JD has the quick park 200CX loader (the more expensive one and the one you would want of the two--not the 200X) available on the 2320 and 2520 tractors. Once you get the hang of it, you can fully disconnect the loader in less than 5 minutes. The blade comes with a mounting bracket (don't forget to figure this in the cost) with hydraulics for angling that go to the couplers used by the loader. This takes about 5-10 minutes to mount up including the time to scoot the pieces around and hook up the hydraulic lines. Thusly, as a conservative estimate I would say you could easily swap them over with a couple times of practice in less than 20 minutes total. I do warn people not to wait until the snow is falling to do it, though. You might want to practice anyway before the snow starts to make yourself most efficient in the time of need. John Deere has done a nice job making these pieces easily swapped and used friendly, but they are heavy--even the mounting bracket weighes about 80# and those tricky hydraulic lines always seem to not seal perfectly the first time. I am including this correction factor in my time estimate. Truthfully 10 minutes is about what it took me to do the swappo (from a then 45 loader).

John M

 

[jcmseven]

Yes, the X500 you have is the former "300 series). Yes there really is no comparison between this and the 2320. As for the 2520 I like them. They have much faster hydraulics than the 2320 as they have two truly independent hydraulic pumps, one for the steering and one for the implement. They will not lift any more in weight, but the cycle times of the loader is faster. They also have a bit more torque and horsepower and a direct injected diesel engine which makes for better cold weather starts and a little more low end uumph. Unfortunately, this did not translate into better performance, at least on my property. The 2320 I bought pulled a box blade, etc., just as well--if not slightly better--than the 2520 I tested also. Since I do not use my loader that much, I really did not need the extra hydraulic speed, so I went with the 2320 and saved the money. Opinions as they are the 2520 and 2720 to me are priced at a point where one could almost justify going into a 3000 series for a bit more money. They have much heavier running gear and are more capable still--provided unlike me you have the space to use them. John Deere has this marketing gig down to a science. They price the highest end machine in each given line such that it places the buyer into the next series for a little more money. I know they got me three times into a machine that was really bigger than I wanted for this very reason.. Darn them,

John M

 

[beenthere]

My bad. I thought your X500 was a 4wd, and was either an X585 or X595. Guess Deere crept in with that oddball number to cause confusion. It worked.

 

[ChuckinNH]

My bad. I thought your X500 was a 4wd, and was either an X585 or X595. Guess Deere crept in with that oddball number to cause confusion. It worked.

Yes, even Deere is confused! If you go to their web site, and try to "build your own" X500 series, you will get options for the X700, and older X500 series Garden tractors.

 

[gwjd]

honestly if your looking for just a mowing/ plow machine go with a kabota 3060 or 3080 front mount trim mower get the 4x4 my college plowes with them kabota makes a nice hydrolic front blade im in central MO so most we ever get is a foot but they were blowing threw that ant there was ice underneth using the stock r3s they go for right under 20k new, and they mow way better than any thing and if you got a hill its even better than a zero turn. they also make other atachments there are good used ones runing around cheep theses are industrail machines and they would last a long time even if they were fairly used due to low use.

also the park i used to work at had one it mowed like crazy eazy on fuel and nor real problems minor stuff, ours had like 3000 hours machine ran great, mower needed some tlc but not to bad for that old on a deck, i only got it stuck once and that was when i slid down the hill into a swampy area and a golf cart got it out

 

[Dutch445]

All this talk about pushing snow, lifting with
the FEL, sounds like a lot of work to me.

Nobody has mentioned just getting the 2320, or even
a 2305 if it works sizewise, and using the 62" mid mower,
and just the front 54" blower. New for this year, the
54" will make quick work of any kind of snow, by moving
it once. a couple passes, and you get back inside.
when heavy snow comes, you move it once and your done.

think about this compared to what you have now, and you
have 10" wider blower, diesel with 4wd, better economy, more
weight/traction, and much quicker mowing with the 62" deck
with the higher groundspeeds of the cut.

that's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it!

 

[jcmseven]

I defer to Dutch on all JD questions. Dutch is the man. Where have you been???

John M