Buying Advice Need help with a decision, Long

[GolfAddict]

...I am excited to find out whether or not the locking rear differential and Ag tires will let me mow without spinning at the bottom of turns....

I'm sure you'll have much better traction now. However, you won't want to have the rear diff locked when trying to turn - you will find it will tend to push you pretty much straight forward even though you have your front tires turned.

The locking diff will be great where you may tend to break traction with one rear wheel, or anywhere you may get stuck, etc.

 

[Crow Hunter]

I'm sure you'll have much better traction now. However, you won't want to have the rear diff locked when trying to turn - you will find it will tend to push you pretty much straight forward even though you have your front tires turned.

The locking diff will be great where you may tend to break traction with one rear wheel, or anywhere you may get stuck, etc.

With my current mower, I always lose traction at the bottom of the hill right after completing a turn. As I would turn to go uphill the inside tire would usually break loose and start to spin just as I was starting to point back up hill. I would have to shift my weight or "bounce" on the seat to try and get it to catch. Often I would just give up and back down the hill and try to go up at a different angle or get some momentum to go on over it. Sometimes multiple times for a single turn. Now watching my 105 lb wife try to do it was really rather entertaining.

I had actually worked out a "system" for making really wide shallow turns that seemed to work most of the time if the grass was really dry, at least until it started to cool off and the dew started forming.

I am hoping that the Ag tires will keep this from happening at all but if it does, rather than having to back down the hill or bounce, we can just hold down the diff lock and go on up the hill, since more often than not, it breaks loose while it is pointed in the right direction.

 

[GolfAddict]

The diff locked at that point will be a huge difference. Although, as you say, you may not even need it very often with these tires and heavier tractor. I think you are going to be really happy. Have fun!

 

[jenkinsph]

With my current mower, I always lose traction at the bottom of the hill right after completing a turn. As I would turn to go uphill the inside tire would usually break loose and start to spin just as I was starting to point back up hill. I would have to shift my weight or "bounce" on the seat to try and get it to catch. Often I would just give up and back down the hill and try to go up at a different angle or get some momentum to go on over it. Sometimes multiple times for a single turn. Now watching my 105 lb wife try to do it was really rather entertaining.

I had actually worked out a "system" for making really wide shallow turns that seemed to work most of the time if the grass was really dry, at least until it started to cool off and the dew started forming.

I am hoping that the Ag tires will keep this from happening at all but if it does, rather than having to back down the hill or bounce, we can just hold down the diff lock and go on up the hill, since more often than not, it breaks loose while it is pointed in the right direction.

Two things that help with turning uphill, four wheel steer and the hdap tires. I can vouch for both of these being an improvement. With the 4ws turning up hill it actually swings the rear end around downhill to get lined up with the next pass uphill. 4X4 makes a huge difference coming down the hill as long as the front wheels don't free wheel in the forward direction.

Try it and see how well it does on your lawn, you have 30 days to change to something like an x534 with 4ws if necessary.

 

[Crow Hunter]

Update:

I got it and then took it back.

I went by the dealership and picked it up on Aug 2nd after they got the back tires replaced. I brought it home and after I got done chasing down and putting an errant horse in a neighbors fence, I started to take it off the trailer. That is when I noticed 3 rather large skint up places on the deck where the paint had been knocked off and it was rusting along with numerous rust spots on brake and the deck lift pedals. So I commenced to cleaning them off and I went back inside and got on the computer to check to see if there was a way to just order some John Deere touch up paint for the deck. Not for looks, just to keep it from rusting.

While I was on my local dealer's web page, I noticed they started doing $500 off starting on Aug 1st....:irked:

I didn't even get my mower until after the 1st because they didn't have the tires they thought they did and had to wait for them to be ordered. Had I purchased it on July 1st and they changed their incentives, I wouldn't have had a problem with it, but the fact that I bought it on July 31st and they didn't even give me the tractor until Aug 2nd after they increased their incentives by $200 and didn't even bother to tell me about it kind of ticked me off. On top of the fact that my "brand new" $6,000 high quality John Deere mower had significantly more rust on it than my 3 year old piece of crap $2,000 Lowe's Husqvarna tractor with 100 hours on it.

So I didn't even take it off the trailer, I was in the parking lot of my dealer when they opened on Aug 3. I told them the situation and that I was not satisfied at all and they I hadn't even taken the mower off the trailer and I wanted to return it.

First he started in about how he had given me a great deal on that tractor being that I was a local buyer and had discounted it from MSRP. I responded that I intentionally bought it local versus buying online from Mutton Power and paying significantly less than MSRP with free shipping and no sales tax because I wanted to keep the business local and develop a good relationship with them as the local dealer. However, if they weren't interested in that, I would very happily order from an online dealer and save myself even more money.

My salesman said that he would take it back under the John Deere Promise and there was one that had been delivered to another store on 7/23 and he would have them make sure that it had no rust on it and if it had rust on it I could have the X500 that he had ordered to replace the one I had bought that was going to be delivered on 8/19 right out of the crate. I also asked him about the $200 refund and he said that he wasn't aware that they were going to increase the incentive on August 1st and that he was dealing with me in good faith. I said that if I had purchased the tractor even 2 weeks before, I wouldn't have a problem but the fact that I had purchased it and hadn't even gotten to use it and they changed the incentive, I didn't think was fair. I stated I could also just give him this tractor back and buy it from somewhere else or even his same store and get the $500 incentive if that was a problem.

He said he would give me a $200 refund.

So hopefully, I will be actually getting a X500 in the next couple of weeks.

Do you guys think I was being too anally retentive?

 

[Crow Hunter]

Got the new mower.

Dealer brought one in from a local store. No rust and only a small skint place on the deck, which I fixed.

Got to mow with it yesterday. Even though it has rained every day for the last week and it rained yesterday morning. Not a bit of slipping on turns and no bogging down even though the grass was really tall. The only time it slipped was when I tried mowing backwards up hill to get a spot I had missed. One tire slipped a little but I pushed the locking differential and it went right on up the hill.:thumbsup:

I wouldn't have even tried to mow with my old mower until it had be rain free for at least 2 days.

There are a few things about it that I don't like:

1. I hate the RIO. The Husqvarna method of just turning the ignition switch is vastly superior. I have to back up alot on my hill so having to lift up that switch every time I go backwards is a pain in the rear.

2. I don't really like the pedals or their configuration. The pedals have to be held down to go foward/backward doing this on a rough hill for 2 hours is really tiring on the foot. I tried using the cruise control but setting it at a comfortable speed going up hill means it is going WAY too fast going down hill and the only way to disengage it is to go faster:shocked: which is rather exciting. I also don't like the way the pedals are positioned. I would rather have the backwards be on the left and the forward on the right more like an automobile. I kept hitting the reverse when I meant to go forward, the aggravation of which was compounded by the RIO, which would shut off the blades.

3. I don't like the placement of the brake. The brake should be on the left side. Trying to back down a hill with a full load of grass clippings in the dump cart and then hold it while it is dumped is a problem. You have to take your foot off the foward pedal to engage the brake which means you start to roll backwards. I would rather it be on the left so you could engage the brake as you let off the drive pedals. I resorted to sitting side saddle to engage the brake while easing back on the rear drive pedal and easing off while I engaged the front drive pedal.

Other than that it climbed the semi-wet hills like a goat and it felt much more stable on the hills than my LGT2554. I will likely keep it and just get used to the idosyncracies. I just have to rewire 30 some odd years of mower controls. Snapper rear engine to Yamaha 3600 to Craftsman to Husqvarna. All with brakes on the left and forward speed controls on the right.

Obligatory pictures:

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

I've never driven the model you have, but the RIO, HST pedals and brake configurations on my GT235 are the same as yours. You will get used to all of those quickly. Don't sweat it.

 

[Larro Darro]

Congrats on the new mower. But if the 'Bota is still for sell at a good price, I would snap it up while you can. You can always level off a place for a shed. Good deals on tractors with hours that low don't come along very often. The twenty years will pass before you know it. You will go through several mowers in that time, but the orange tractor will still be going strong.

 

[RKJeepXJ]

I have some hilly terrian like yours and mow around a 800ft creek bank on a weekly basis. I've had my x500 for 5 years now and just rolled 400hrs, its been totally reliable. I run turf tires and I'm impressed with where I can take mine so I'm sure with bar tires its like a billy goat.

You'll get used to the HST pedal configuration, its completely natural to me now. I even just bought a LS4047 hydro tractor with the HST pedals in the cofiguration as the x500 just because I've become so used to it the kubota HST tractor pedal setup seemed horrible to me.

 

[Coyote machine]

Nice place! Here that water would be a pond, but I can't see it all so maybe a lake after all.
Where did you get the fountain and about how much do they run?
Can you modify your cutting pattern to do somewhat more crosswise and eliminate uphill turns and spinning tires completely?
Get the 10 hr cut if the price is right. Use it to level a spot and build a storage shed. You won't regret getting it- but you might regret missing a sweet deal.