Ordered a John deere X740 today

[jcmseven]

Coobie, I would be curious to see what you find mowing your grass and time. I have not had a Kubota ZTR, but have had a Gravely PM260Z and two JD ZTRs, all with 60" cuts. I do not mow professionally, but do have to mow a reasonably large volume of grass. I have had several X series over the years x485, x720, x595 (the predecessor to the x748) and they each have come reasonably close to my ZTR's in mowing speed on the lawns I do (most are hilly and fairly open). It is true I could mow faster with the ZTR, but the difference in speed was not great to achieve the same cut quality. I am sure a commercial mower would appreciate the difference mowing multiple lawns and gaining little bits here and there, but I could not and I feel I am pretty good with a ZTR. I also love the diesel. The difference in power and economy is amazing and they retain better resale. I now have a little 2320 which is good for my current needs, a little loader work and box blading, some snow removal and mowing too. I have had bigger machines but it is a good choice for me right now and a testament to having the right tool for the job is paramount, whether it be the X series or something else. If I had to have one tractor for mowing, and snow removal and did no loader work, it would be an X series. Folks can talk about other brands all they want in this class, but five minutes in the seat of an X series v. its competitors in the class is usually all it takes. I can tell you that I have had two 3720's, a 4310, a 4520 and now a 2320 and have enjoyed them all, but moving snow from our drive and our road and neighbor's drive where we live (steep), none of those machines would hold a candle to my x595 four wheel drive diesel with a front blade, which really impressed me. So, there are some things a sub-compact or compact tractor cannot do as well as a tractor like the x series. You are a lucky man to own one as they are a true pleasure to operate and are bulletproof. As for the definition of a 'real' tractor, if we use frame presence or lack thereof as criteria, none of my tractors would really qualify because they all had at least a semblance of a frame. Another definition, "any tractor that positioning one's self in different positions on the seat make no difference in traction or performance is a 'real' tractor."

John M

 

[jenkinsph]

John M,
I have been a participating member her for a few years and have listened to others about how fast the ztr's are. My x749 can mow at full speed if I am removing the top 1/3 of the grass (cutting it when it is 6" tall down to 4" cut height). That is about 8 mph on a smooth lawn and is fast enough for me. Most of the time I run a little lower ground speed and enjoy the process. Besides mowing too fast around trees and you can easily damage the tree bark, doing this repeatedly will kill the trees.

To the point about ztr's being faster, I am sure they can be, but it seems to me from following the forum that most members lawns are not smooth enough to utilize the higher speeds. That is if you are bouncing around at a high speed the cut appearance will suffer. My own lawns are tilled planed smooth and rolled two times so I can mow at a fast clip (pun intended). My customers lawns without reworking can be hard to mow above 3 mph.

 

[coobie]

Coobie, I would be curious to see what you find mowing your grass and time. I have not had a Kubota ZTR, but have had a Gravely PM260Z and two JD ZTRs, all with 60" cuts. I do not mow professionally, but do have to mow a reasonably large volume of grass. I have had several X series over the years x485, x720, x595 (the predecessor to the x748) and they each have come reasonably close to my ZTR's in mowing speed on the lawns I do (most are hilly and fairly open). It is true I could mow faster with the ZTR, but the difference in speed was not great to achieve the same cut quality. I am sure a commercial mower would appreciate the difference mowing multiple lawns and gaining little bits here and there, but I could not and I feel I am pretty good with a ZTR. I also love the diesel. The difference in power and economy is amazing and they retain better resale. I now have a little 2320 which is good for my current needs, a little loader work and box blading, some snow removal and mowing too. I have had bigger machines but it is a good choice for me right now and a testament to having the right tool for the job is paramount, whether it be the X series or something else. If I had to have one tractor for mowing, and snow removal and did no loader work, it would be an X series. Folks can talk about other brands all they want in this class, but five minutes in the seat of an X series v. its competitors in the class is usually all it takes. I can tell you that I have had two 3720's, a 4310, a 4520 and now a 2320 and have enjoyed them all, but moving snow from our drive and our road and neighbor's drive where we live (steep), none of those machines would hold a candle to my x595 four wheel drive diesel with a front blade, which really impressed me. So, there are some things a sub-compact or compact tractor cannot do as well as a tractor like the x series. You are a lucky man to own one as they are a true pleasure to operate and are bulletproof. As for the definition of a 'real' tractor, if we use frame presence or lack thereof as criteria, none of my tractors would really qualify because they all had at least a semblance of a frame. Another definition, "any tractor that positioning one's self in different positions on the seat make no difference in traction or performance is a 'real' tractor."

John M

The X740 with(60inch) 7 iron deck should be delivered by this coming friday.I will post my results verses the Kubota ZTR.I mow somewhat hilly terrian,flat open spots and around trees.While I loved the speed of the ZTR it tore up our lawn to much.Maybe I was a crappy operator.LOL.To compare time wise from what I mow with now the ZTR(60 inch deck)would take 1 hour to mow the yard,the ingersoll 4020 with 48 inch deck takes 2 hours and 15 min.I assume the JD X740 should be some where in the 1.5 hour time range.coobie

 

[jenkinsph]

Mowing conditions can make a huge difference in the time it takes to cut the lawn but the x740 should be able to mow about an acre in 15 to 20 minutes in open ground. I mow my rear lawn which is 1.45 acres in about an hour while trimming close to the trees. I enjoy mowing my own yard and don't get in a hurry and take my time. I have mowed it in 40 minutes when trying to beat a thunderstorm.

 

[AKfish]

You've got a beautiful lawn, there Steve! :thumbsup:

Sure could use a single strand electric fence and some "horse apples", though...

AKfish

 

[jenkinsph]

Thanks Larry, I have a new 5' page link fence to install this fall to keep the dogs in. Everything including four pallets of sackrete are sitting here, I just need the time to do it.

 

[jcmseven]

Steve, I 100% agree. I am not "anti-ZTR" but just have not been able to reproduce the dramatic mowing time results I hear from some ZTR users. As I have mentioned in a prior posting some time ago, a ZTR is much faster mowing than a standard, run-of-the-mill lawn tractor, and the claims that "my commercial ZTR with a 60" cut mows my lawn twice as fast as my 11 HP Craftsman with a 48" deck" are likely true. The JD x740 is not a usual lawn tractor, though, and the difference in efficiency was not too great. I really enjoyed mowing with my ZTR and wish I still had it. My most recent ZTR was a 950 JD with a 60" MOD deck. I feel this machine represents likely the pinnacle of ZTR's out there. Not that it is the best, just that there are not many competitors that are going to be significantly faster. My x595 would mow my parents lawn within about 10-15 minutes as fast as this ZTR ultimately would, and the quality was about the same. I could increase the speed of the 950 mowing and widen the gap, but the low profile rear tires and short wheelbase v. the X series would cause the machine to bounce all over the yard, killing me and leaving missed grass in the process. In reality, I was only able to mow at 5-6 MPH to achieve a cut I found satisfactory and the X series could match or exceed that ground speed and cut just as well. It would also not scuff the grass on hills or damp areas as did the ZTR. I will be interested to see if Coobie finds the same true.

John M

 

[coobie]

The X740 won,t arrive until sept 23,bummer.Well in the mean time I ordered the 3 point hitch(Cat 1)to have installed when it arrives.coobie

 

[jenkinsph]

coobie,

While I have several more expensive attachments for the x749 here is the one I get the most use out of. This lttle rake does a good job with yard cleanup and saves me a ton of time. Everything Attachments has their own version with replaceable tines that I would recommend.

 

[6thgpSF]

COOBIE, curious,is that engine a Yanmar?I had heard once that Deer had cut their ties with Yanmar,I know that Cub Cadet and Yanmar merged so was curious if Deer still uses their engines...russ