Hello Everyone,
I am new to this forum so please bare with me as I do my best and I appreciate any feedback anyone has to offer.
I am looking to upgrade my lawn tractor. I would like to upgrade to another John Deere as they have been reliable for my family for a long time (father, grandfather). I am John Deere dedicated ;-)
My current lawn tractor is a Deere X320, which works great for mowing and some light material hauling (wood chips, landscape supplies etc..). I put on about 50 hrs a year currently with mowing and landscaping work.
I only have to mow a 1/2 acre but it is very steep (all of it, there is not one flat spot really) and though the X320 works great for mowing, when going up the hill with a 17P utility cart can sometimes be challenging depending what I am hauling. Even with 2 rear weights the tires don't grab all the time and there are times where I have not been able to make it up the hill and have had empty carty halfway and make multiple trips (pain in the rear). I am concerned about adding more wieight (if it is possible) or HDAP tires as I don't want to burn out the tranny or tear up the lawn too bad (if the tires do spin).
So here is what I am looking for a lawn tractor to do and any insight from anyone is welcome and appreciated as I do not want to under do this or over do it.
Questions:
1. I would like something that can easily pull a 17p utility cart full of dirt or gravel up a steep slope (say 30-40 degree slope roughly)?
2. I am in Southeastern Wisconsin so I would like something that can handle all of my snow removal needs using a blade. I know some poeple might disagree but I will use the blade for snow removal and light landscaping purposes so it is more functional than a blower at this point. My drive is not very large 45 feet long by 40 feet wide, relatively flat with plenty of room to pile snow on the side. I would like something that can plow through the 2 feet of snow the plow leaves at the end of the drive.
3. I am also thinking of using the tractor and blade to clear sidewalks and driveways in the neighboorhood as some side work. The blade would make this go much faster than having to blow the snow.
4. I would also like it to be able to handle more attachments someday, rear tiller and some other PTO attachments.
So I think that covers most of what I am thinking and I apologize for the long post but I am really up in the air at this point.
I was originally considering a 4WD Deere X728, then thought maybe the X748 to go with the Diesel because I have been reading that it will last longer and have a little more pushing and pulling power??? Then I thought maybe I am overkilling this and could get by with a X540 or something in that range. I need to manuever around a 1/2 acre yard and mow so I am thinking 54" deck so I can still get around everything easily. I want to be able to get the mowing done as well as all of the other things mentioned above.
I also don't want to look silly in the nieghboorhood mowing a 1/2 acre yard with a giant tractor.
I will wrap up with this, my motto is always go big or go home, but I don't want to go to big in this case....whatever that may be. I would like to keep the cost under the price of say a new X748 or in that ballpark I guess.
If I am missing any info please ask a question and I will respond. Sorry for such a long post and a big thanks to anyone who can help provide some info to me so I can decide what to do...
I am new to this forum so please bare with me as I do my best and I appreciate any feedback anyone has to offer.
I am looking to upgrade my lawn tractor. I would like to upgrade to another John Deere as they have been reliable for my family for a long time (father, grandfather). I am John Deere dedicated ;-)
My current lawn tractor is a Deere X320, which works great for mowing and some light material hauling (wood chips, landscape supplies etc..). I put on about 50 hrs a year currently with mowing and landscaping work.
I only have to mow a 1/2 acre but it is very steep (all of it, there is not one flat spot really) and though the X320 works great for mowing, when going up the hill with a 17P utility cart can sometimes be challenging depending what I am hauling. Even with 2 rear weights the tires don't grab all the time and there are times where I have not been able to make it up the hill and have had empty carty halfway and make multiple trips (pain in the rear). I am concerned about adding more wieight (if it is possible) or HDAP tires as I don't want to burn out the tranny or tear up the lawn too bad (if the tires do spin).
So here is what I am looking for a lawn tractor to do and any insight from anyone is welcome and appreciated as I do not want to under do this or over do it.
Questions:
1. I would like something that can easily pull a 17p utility cart full of dirt or gravel up a steep slope (say 30-40 degree slope roughly)?
2. I am in Southeastern Wisconsin so I would like something that can handle all of my snow removal needs using a blade. I know some poeple might disagree but I will use the blade for snow removal and light landscaping purposes so it is more functional than a blower at this point. My drive is not very large 45 feet long by 40 feet wide, relatively flat with plenty of room to pile snow on the side. I would like something that can plow through the 2 feet of snow the plow leaves at the end of the drive.
3. I am also thinking of using the tractor and blade to clear sidewalks and driveways in the neighboorhood as some side work. The blade would make this go much faster than having to blow the snow.
4. I would also like it to be able to handle more attachments someday, rear tiller and some other PTO attachments.
So I think that covers most of what I am thinking and I apologize for the long post but I am really up in the air at this point.
I was originally considering a 4WD Deere X728, then thought maybe the X748 to go with the Diesel because I have been reading that it will last longer and have a little more pushing and pulling power??? Then I thought maybe I am overkilling this and could get by with a X540 or something in that range. I need to manuever around a 1/2 acre yard and mow so I am thinking 54" deck so I can still get around everything easily. I want to be able to get the mowing done as well as all of the other things mentioned above.
I also don't want to look silly in the nieghboorhood mowing a 1/2 acre yard with a giant tractor.
I will wrap up with this, my motto is always go big or go home, but I don't want to go to big in this case....whatever that may be. I would like to keep the cost under the price of say a new X748 or in that ballpark I guess.
If I am missing any info please ask a question and I will respond. Sorry for such a long post and a big thanks to anyone who can help provide some info to me so I can decide what to do...
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