JD X 310: The Good and the Questionable
Model Year: 2012
I have recently purchased a John Deere X310 to replace my very old and very worn LT155. There was no direct replacement for the LT155; you have to go lighter or heavier duty. I decided to move up. Admittedly, I am very picky and want a tool to work the way I want it to work. Very unfair, of course. I have only used the machine about 10 hours, and have not decided if I will keep it. On the other hand, I'm not sure what the alternative would be. Here's the good (compared to my old LT155): - The twin cylinder engine is smoother than the one-lunger. - The machine is slightly faster in forward and reverse, which is appreciated. - The seat provides better lower back support and rides smoother. Here's the bad: - My main gripe is the power steering. It is effortless, however, they have increased the steering wheel turns, lock-to-lock, by 100%! My LT155 is 1.5 compared to the X310's 3 turns. The result of this is your steering corrections are greatly increased from the old machine. You need to be constantly spinning the wheel back and forth with the palm of your hand. - They have reduced the rear wheel size. I'm not sure if this is the cause, but the new machine will spin the tires more easily when going up a steep hill. - The seat kill switch is overly sensitive. Better not lean over on a side hill or the machine will kill. - The reverse pedal is too high, relative to the forward pedal. I keep catching the side of my boot when trying to reverse. - If you try to reverse while mowing, you must lift the mower engagement switch or the mower will shut off. If you are maneuvering in a confined area where you must repeatedly go from forward to reverse, you must keep one hand on this switch. I hope I can rewire this to eliminate this annoying feature. When I bought the mower, I expressed my frustration with my old mulching-only mower deck. Of course, it didn't work well in high grass. I opted for the regular deck and a mulching kit (which is REALLY hard to install). The mowing results are questionable. I wish the salesman knew that the new mulching-only deck had ports you can open if you needed to mow tall grass. It would have been a no-brainer decision for me. I do like John Deere, but you gotta wonder if they every use these things before they put them on the market... hope this helps someone with their decision.
Pros: Faster, better seat, easy steering.
Cons: Slow steering ratio, annoying switches, poor traction, awkward pedals.