Well used X 500 Impulse buy

[sd455dan]

Well My Trusty MTD Hydrostat is still going Strong....
But the Deck has had it and no parts available to fix it this time.

Wife said that's It -I hate driving that Gilson and we need a Mower Today... I said will all be --a-ned If I will Buy a new Plastic Home Depot or Walmart Mower, So we better hope someone has a used better quality older rider for sale. She says Fine but we will split the cost which i liked.
First place we check a Local Husky dealer says we have a few but only one that is a hydrostat mower. a JD X 500.

First 2 questions who built the Hydrostat, he says I think its a Peerless I said like an Eaton Peerless he says I think so.

Next question what engine, we pop the well cracked hood and see a v twin Kawi. I said that also looks Good.
Quick test run and everything seems to work well, smooth engine no odd noises no oil burning. deck spun up nicely. Turns out a recent widower had consigned it.

I ask what's the bottom dollar because the tag says asking $3000, lady says I think you could get it for $2200 and my wife says that's bad Karma call her and ask if she will take $2400, I am gasping at this point... they get the lady on the phone and of course she will take $200 more than her already admitted bottom dollar.

I ask if maybe her husband had a service manual and she thinks so, I also ask the dealer if they could throw in a set of new blades and they say no problem.

At this point we buy the mower and they sharpened the old blades until the new ones come in. Anyway here she is. Hope this one goes for a good long time Mower has about 840 hours on it. We shall see. Our MTD Hydro has several thousand. Did a bit of trial mowing seems good after raising the deck up a bit, our ground is pretty rough.

I hope we didn't get burned but was not going to buy a Nice pretty "new plastic drive" rider.

Maybe the wife is right about Karma.

first check I just did , look this up on tractordata
Nope not a Peerless Eaton... a Tuff torque K 72 B Mmm

 

[oldnslo]

I think you did OK.

Were you able to obtain any service records from previous owner?

that transaxle has a replaceable filter so if no records might want to consider changing that filter and fluid. Pretty easy task once you get deck removed. Will need small neck funnel to refill the transaxle.

 

[Doughknob]

I love the larger Deere riders. I had a GT235 before this X500. i did have something go wrong with the Tranny on the GT235 but parts were readily available and was able to tear into it myself and fix.

 

[sd455dan]

I think you did OK.

Were you able to obtain any service records from previous owner?

that transaxle has a replaceable filter so if no records might want to consider changing that filter and fluid. Pretty easy task once you get deck removed. Will need small neck funnel to refill the transaxle.

No not yet the lady that consigned it was going to see what her husband had in the garage. I am Hoping we get a paper full service manual. maybe an Operators manual to. I am a devout manual reader any way so here is hoping.
Actually this mower is quite a step up in power and cutting width. The Gilson is a 42 inch manual shift peerless 5 speed with a 16 HP Briggs I/C opposed twin. The Co-Op MTD is a 44 inch cut 18 hp Briggs opposed twin I/C with Peerless Eaton Hydrostat just changed fluid and filter on it recently as well.

Looking at the X 500 I am going to give it a good cleaning and clear out all the old build up on the mower deck.
I do see and like the greasable spindles, also using three overlapped blades so no need for the double sided timing belt or having the blades hit each other on the MTD. Over 50 inch cutting width and 25 HP will be welcome as well.

The only Mod my wife wants is for me to take some diamond plate and make a front grille guard/crash bar. No problem.
So what's the consensus on the K72 Hydros Overall??

 

[oldnslo]

I believe the K72 is a durable transaxle just keep the cooling fins clean and check the plastic fan occasionally to make sure something didn’t get poked up in it and break some blades off. If similar to my X540 you can easily see the fan from the rear on upper right side of transaxle.

 

[sd455dan]

Thanks,
Sounds Good .

I mowed one of the front yards tonight and the X 500 is growing on me .
It is a Nice and quiet deck with really good blade speed. Checked all the spindle bearings No play or noise in them at all.
I am going to disarm the PTO cut out when reversing . We mow with the others in reverse often. Having a clutch engage disengage re engage that often makes no sense to me.

Overall happy with the new to us mower, and now I can take my time with switching over the deck that looks good on a free Cub Cadet that we need to pick up- Not sure if the engine is blown or why it got parked but I think it is a similar width cut to the MTD Hydro.

 

[oldnslo]

For the reverse override on your X500 do you have to pull up on the deck engagement lever. If yes very simple to override you just have to put jumper wire across two contacts on that switch. This way just remove jumper and safety is now active.

 

[sd455dan]

Yep, I haven't tried the pulling up test yet but watched a vid that concurs with your advice. Did JD make an X 500 without the switch pull up feature?

 

[oldnslo]

Yep, I haven't tried the pulling up test yet but watched a vid that concurs with your advice. Did JD make an X 500 without the switch pull up feature?

No clue on if JD made model without the pull switch option. Doubtful but not sure.

My son just wedged a cloths pin under the knob on his to keep override disabled. This works for him since his young son occasionally drives the tractor so makes much easier to have switch active as required.

 

[sd455dan]

No clue on if JD made model without the pull switch option. Doubtful but not sure.

My son just wedged a cloths pin under the knob on his to keep override disabled. This works for him since his young son occasionally drives the tractor so makes much easier to have switch active as required.

Did a little clean up and other than the Hood needing crack repair. And either the suspension seat off the MTD or a new Yellow J D
The X500 actually looks pretty Good Going to check if it can be backed up and keep the blades spinning also checked the HST oil is nice and clean.