X380 with 7 bushel rear bagger inbound!

[deathtoblackberries]

The eagle has landed! So guys there is a lot of plastic on this mower, I'm okay with that plastic does not rust and weighs less. I have a 4,000 lbs Kubota I was looking for a mower that would be easier on the lawn. The X380 will be a garage queen living her life indoors when not mowing. My larger Kubota will take of things that need to be destroyed with a backhoe or FEL, like blackberries WHICH by the way I utterly destroyed them from my property!!

This is still a bit of a tall step up from the ground to the deck.

This is a good looking lawn tractor, love the grill. Get some grass, bring it!

This bagger/blower assembly can be removed fairly quickly without any tools and is pretty light weight. The blower fan is plastic by the way. The front tires seem a bit low on air I will check.

That is a man sized gas cap I like it. Also love the location vs the Kubota which is on top of the hood. Heaving a 5 gallon can of diesel up onto the hood yes I'd rather not.

Nice sized tires, a fraction of the huge beat juice filled Kubota rear tires.

Here's the new Accel Deep deck, almost a shame to mow with it this afternoon it looks so clean and shiny. I noticed while shopping lawn tractors some had rather lame anti-scalp wheel assemblies these look more robust.

So zooming around my driveway the manual steering seems perfectly I'm more convinced saving $1,000 on power steering was the right decision.

The engine bay is quite neat and tidy I like it. The hood by the way doesn't have a catch or lever holding it in place, you just lift it up.

 

[beenthere]

You can step on the deck wheel bracket to make the "step up" in two, rather than one.

Nice looking rig.

 

[s219]

Great, glad you finally got yours! I felt bad you started the thread and then two others of us took delivery before you!

Before I forget, pull off your hose quick-attachment before it gets packed with grass like mine did...

I have mixed feelings on the plastic -- when it cracked on my old Deere it left dangerous jagged sawtooth edges and was big $$$ to replace -- but let me say I am glad the main body and fenders are still steel, and the paint job is top notch.

I can look over the X380 and find very few things to complain about. After shopping around, I again came back to the conclusion that Deere has the best riding mowers in this price range.

I think I have another few weeks before my lawn needs an honest mowing. This weekend, I gave it a very light trim just to get some time on the mower.

 

[deathtoblackberries]

I found something to complain about...idiots at the tractor dealer don't know how to install something properly and the belts ate through the plastic belt guard near the blower. They also forgot my owners manual for the tractor, I did get the manual for the deck, blower, and chute. Gomer Pile delivery guy also slapped a metal spring loaded hook on the front of the tractor scratching the paint on the bumper. Did I mention they are idiots?

Other than that about 1/3 of my lawn mowed and so far so good, its pretty tall and a bit damp but its chewing right through it. Emptied the bags now about 6-7 times. No clogs yet.

 

[deathtoblackberries]

So the delivery guy says she's fueled and ready to mow. After about half an hour I look down and see this belt guard all cockeyed.

The belts ripped right through it.

Its toast, I had to remove it, it would no longer stand upright.

So I will be having a chat with the dealer tomorrow.

That said the first mowing went well. Typical for our area and the reason I purchased this lawn tractor with a bagger it had rained and rained without a break and when it finally dried out enough to mow today the grass was like 8-9 inches tall. The Kubota would have made a mess of the lawn with rows of grass clippings. The bagger vacuumed it clean, I lost track of how many times I emptied the bagger I have two big piles of clippings. The X380 mowed right through the tall grass seemingly without effort, never once bogged down or even hinted at it. She does drink some gas unlike the Kubota which sips diesel slowly.

It usually takes me about 60 minutes to mow with the big Kubota deck, the X380 logged 1.4 hours plus maybe 20 minutes spent emptying the bags, acceptable. The only odd thing I found was with the X380 at full operating temp having only shut off the engine for a few minutes to empty the bags it sometimes require some choke to restart, weird.

Things I HATE already holding in the stupid reverse safety button while trying to steer one handed, that's retarded.

Things that took some getting used to...the forward/reverse pedals are more touchy than the Kubota, I had to learn to feather them and when you let off the reverse pedal too quick its like slamming on the brakes. I was about to start yelling Yee-Hah and do the one handed bull riding pose. I did notice the transmission won't hold the tractor in place on a slope with your foot off the gas, it will roll forward.

Things that seem baffling...you can't start the mower deck with your foot on the brake what the ****? I'm guessing another retarded safety nanny e.g. if you hit the brake the mower deck shuts off?

Things I love...the hydraulic mower deck start/stop that's some brilliant engineering love it. No more holding in the clutch, shifting, letting the clutch out just push/pull the button on the dash. The bagger is working quite well, even with the grass long and a bit damp it sucks like a shop vac, she destroyed untold numbers of pine cones too.

 

[mapper]

dtb, unless they have changed it the lockout for operating the deck while in reverse can be released after you start moving - it's still a pain in the butt though.
It looks like a few things have changed since last year, the belt guard for the blower and on last year's deck the anti scalp wheels can be rotated 90 degrees at one of the settings to aid in pulling it out from underneath the tractor for servicing.

It probably will never be as pretty as it is now before it has been used all season cutting grass. Enjoy!

 

[s219]

Yes, the reverse operation button just needs to be pushed before you hit the pedal (or shift into reverse on gear tractors of old) and then you can let go.

I was stymied by the PTO not kicking on because I was stopped with the brake applied, which seems odd, but not a big deal. Just need to train my brain.

What annoys me however is that if you don't apply the parking brake before dismounting the tractor with the engine running, it kills the engine. That's new to me. I may override that one.

 

[deathtoblackberries]

I can look over the X380 and find very few things to complain about. After shopping around, I again came back to the conclusion that Deere has the best riding mowers in this price range.

Fully agree. Kubota is not a player in lawn tractors in this class/price range. I looked at Toro but they fell short. I looked at Cub Cadet which the newly re-designed lawn tractor similar to the X380 had some nice features but wow is there owner hatred of Cub Cadet tractors out there and many reported problems. A zero turn was not a good fit for my lawn, too many slopes and at 1 acre just not large enough to warrant one of those plus bagger options seemed limited.

 

[deathtoblackberries]

Yes, the reverse operation button just needs to be pushed before you hit the pedal (or shift into reverse on gear tractors of old) and then you can let go.

I was stymied by the PTO not kicking on because I was stopped with the brake applied, which seems odd, but not a big deal. Just need to train my brain.

What annoys me however is that if you don't apply the parking brake before dismounting the tractor with the engine running, it kills the engine. That's new to me. I may override that one.

Hmmm well that would make it a bit less annoying I'll give that a try. Having got used to my Kubota single forward/reverse rocker style pedal having a separate pedal for forward and reverse took some getting used to. Its funny because when I first purchased the Kubota I hated that thing. lol

I'm guessing you can't engage the mower deck while the brake is pressed because you can exit the tractor with it running with the parking brake applied e.g. that would let you hop off the mower with the blades spinning. That safety switch on the Kubota is on the seat.

 

[deathtoblackberries]

Here you can see the dealer carved the crap out of this guard...and it still rubs on the belts (face palm) so I'll have them order a new one and I'll install it properly. I'm surprised they don't have guard designed for the bagger system that doesn't requiring chopping up the standard guard, kind of retarded imo. They also ordered up the belt guard that was destroyed. They said "we'll have to get that tractor back in here to see what's going on" to which I replied no I'll install in this time so its installed properly (stern look) and they caved. lol