Well used X 500 Impulse buy

[sd455dan]

Oh..so its a very old machine. Guess you got your money worth from it then.

Yeah we really did, and It was was used commercially for over a decade for multiple rental properties my dad owned when he was offered a virtually new Honda Hydrostat mower which he bought he gave us the MTD within about three years he started to intensely dislike the Honda and paid us to mow his home yards and a couple others with both the MTD and the Honda. I will fix the MTD with whatever I can find that is a good serviceable deck. because like the Deere X 500 it has a very smooth Hydrostat and the Industrial/ Commercial Briggs opposed twin still also still runs great.

The Honda ( 4518)s were plagued with a Jerky hydro that even trained Honda techs sometimes couldn't fix or wouldn't stay fixed, which is a non smooth cruise.
They jerk constantly- a forward back problem. not to mention many other design problems. i have that hydro mower as well but it is broken down. I may just sell it as a parts machine. Does have a neat engine set up a liquid cooled inline 2 cylinder.

 

[Milo]

I disagree. Ive seen welded decks that look like there built like a tank. Way stronger than the thin stamped units.....

I don't think you disagree with what I said at all, you just (rightly so) feel a heavy fabricated deck is stronger than a thin stamped one. However I would certainly find a smooth, rounded, one piece, 7 gauge steel deck preferable to a 7 gauge deck made from pieces welded together.

 

[Milo]

On the cracked hood I wonder if this is from people just trying to lift in the center of the hood right above the console. I always reach across and and gently pull out slightly on both sides of the hood at the bottom of dash. This releases the plastic catch and hood opens very easily then.....

I wonder too but looking at the OP's picture where it's cracked I'm not sure? Anyway I now, as you suggested, lift carefully from the lower sides at the rear of the hood to open it on my X500. Gotta be gentle with these plastic hoods JD uses
I also picked mine up used, last year, with 97 hours. The original owner bought it in 2015 for his small lot and kept it in his garage so it looked basically new. To get a baseline the first thing I did was change the hydro fluid and engine oil, grease, check the deck level (which was spot on), and sharpened the blades. It came with a 54" deck as well as the power leaf/grass bagger system which is the main reason I bought it, because the power bagger system for my ZTR was going to cost me about what I paid for this whole setup.

 

[grsthegreat]

I don't think you disagree with what I said at all, you just (rightly so) feel a heavy fabricated deck is stronger than a thin stamped one. However I would certainly find a smooth, rounded, one piece, 7 gauge steel deck preferable to a 7 gauge deck made from pieces welded together.

no, i dont disagree..i was looking at a 8 and 10 gauge welded deck.

 

[Diggin It]

Both of my riders are stamped decks. The SCUT deck may be too ... I haven't really bothered to look that close. The main advantage to stamped in my view is the rounded edges underneath to move clippings and make cleaning easier. I've beat all three of them on rocks, roots, mole hills, divets, downs branches and pretty much everything else. All three have been straightened or repaired in one way or another. The two riders are over ten years old and no sign of rust through anywhere despite me being lazy and leaving grass caked on all winter.


But yeah, I'd have probably jumped all over a 585 for $2500

 

[Bentrim]

Yeah we really did, and It was was used commercially for over a decade for multiple rental properties my dad owned when he was offered a virtually new Honda Hydrostat mower which he bought he gave us the MTD within about three years he started to intensely dislike the Honda and paid us to mow his home yards and a couple others with both the MTD and the Honda. I will fix the MTD with whatever I can find that is a good serviceable deck. because like the Deere X 500 it has a very smooth Hydrostat and the Industrial/ Commercial Briggs V twin still also still runs great.

The Honda ( 4518)s were plagued with a Jerky hydro that even trained Honda techs sometimes couldn't fix or wouldn't stay fixed, which is a non smooth cruise.
They jerk constantly- a forward back problem. not to mention many other design problems. i have that hydro mower as well but it is broken down. I may just sell it as a parts machine. Does have a neat engine set up a liquid cooled inline 2 cylinder.

Know what you mean about that Honda. They got into the tractor market, apparently did not sell well, and got out of the tractor market. Since then they have quit handling most parts for them and if they do have the parts they are really expensive.
The engine is really neat, and runs smooth but needs to be removed for some work on them. Honda also used them on other equipment, have seen them on a generator.

 

[crackerjack222]

Years ago, I had a riding mower that we used to mow about 2 acres very often,(Houston area). I welded up cracks in the deck so many times it got to where I was welding over welds. I had a sheet metal shop bend up a rectangular deck out of 16 ga crs. I welded the corners, added new spindles, skids and wheels and we used that mower another 5 years before we moved to town and with a very small yard. That deck was still useable.

 

[sd455dan]

Years ago, I had a riding mower that we used to mow about 2 acres very often,(Houston area). I welded up cracks in the deck so many times it got to where I was welding over welds. I had a sheet metal shop bend up a rectangular deck out of 16 ga crs. I welded the corners, added new spindles, skids and wheels and we used that mower another 5 years before we moved to town and with a very small yard. That deck was still useable.

I find the riding mower deck comments interesting.

In all of the Riding mowers we have had, never any problem with dents or rust through or bad cracking, just bent spindles mangled or sheared off blades, destroyed bearings, bent pulleys, broken or ripped belts. I did have to straighten one once that got high centered and somehow when it was checked later the deck was bowed.

Other than that just problems with tractor Bush Hogs when they caught something substantial like payving stones, large rocks, tires, engine parts, large branches, or a 4 x 4 or two where a deck got a Big dent or actually ripped open.
I did buy a MTD 8 horse snowblower at night one time without looking closely at it since it ran fine. Looked in the daylight and the main engine wheel housing was completely spider webbed and they had stacked 2 license plates to mount the Snow king engine. I may take a pic of that housing and post it here (Might Crack you Guys Up)
I migged back together and then decided it was just not really going to be sound and have just saved the snow king engine for the MTD track drive.

 

[sd455dan]

Know what you mean about that Honda. They got into the tractor market, apparently did not sell well, and got out of the tractor market. Since then they have quit handling most parts for them and if they do have the parts they are really expensive.
The engine is really neat, and runs smooth but needs to be removed for some work on them. Honda also used them on other equipment, have seen them on a generator.

That mower was plagued by problems.

to name a few the pto had a brake that could not be adjusted to release before the deck spindles engaged so the only way not to kill the 18 hp engine was set the throttle wide open and slam the engagement lever into engage it would smoke both the brake and clutch. No way around it.

Coils started arcing externally from cracks and then igniter failed Over $600 then the Igniter failed again. Was not going to pay for another over 300 dollar igniter.
I Fixed it after the second igniter failed by shoe horning two $20 mid 1970s GM HEI modules and triggering off of the Honda trigger unit, and then used two standard GM coils that worked well.

Occurred to me that a twin coil off a Japanese 4 cylinder motorcycle could save one HEI module. was about to do that when the charging (stator) failed and those ain't cheap either
So put a bigger battery in. That worked until the starter quit.
See where this is Going. That is when IT got parked.

Thankfully the New Deere seems REALLY GOOD I don't mind the old Gilson at all and Once I pick up the other dead mower I may really fix up the CO-OP Hydro with some new nylon bushings and fix a small oil leak that started recently.

That Mower deserves being repaired, It earned it .
Can't say the same for the Honda.

ps picked up some Fiberglass resin today for the JD X500 hood ,and just a heads up.

Low life's are stealing the darn catalyst out of the can tops.
Had to go to the 3rd can before I found one intact.
Showed the store worker and had him pull them out of stock so nobody buys one gets home and can't catalyze their resin. smh

 

[grsthegreat]

If you bought it at hd or lowes…..they just went back onto shelf.