430 or x748?

[Nooodles]

note to self. don't be an idiot and spend 10 k+ on a garden tractor. go buy a 318 and hope yours only has a blown engine and hope to find implements for it afterwards

 

[General Stuart]

note to self. don't be an idiot and spend 10 k+ on a garden tractor. go buy a 318 and hope yours only has a blown engine and hope to find implements for it afterwards

Hello Noodles
I don't have a Problem with it if a Guy want's a brand new machine, and desires to spend $10,000.00 I just don't fall into That Category, Nor do I feel That that New is Better. I have seen Plenty of the newer One's in the Mower Bone Yard's all ready, which Tell's me that they Must Not be as Tough as the Older one's as I have Yet to find a 318 in any of the Many Mower Bone Yards that I frequent. I am Not saying that a John Deere 318 is the Best Logical choice to Buy, But I have had a 314 in the past and that Kolher 14 Horsepower engine can't begin to compare to my Now 18 Horsepower Onan as far as smooth Running, or Power. With Owning the 318 I have found it is easier to locate Implement's for it that will Not work on some of the Other 300 series Tractors & and I suspect that there would be as they made the last 318 in 1992 and Not all of them can be still Out there running. I Now have every Impliment that I would ever need being the newer MOW 140/318 Replacement 48" Mowing Deck that is under my 318 that came on it and still Looked brand New when I Bought it Four Years ago, and they cost $1300.00 New so I am Glad it's Previous Owner bought The Mowing Deck for me to enjoy for many Years to come. It was His Grandson who Traded in my 318 for one of those Tin Winder's at that dealership, & I am Sure he did not realize what he was simply Giving away as These newer Replacement decks are made to go the Long Haul as they have all of their Mowing spindle Bearings Greasable as the Older ones were sealed Bearings that often went out over time. Late Last Summer I was Very Lucky to find a Model 30 tiller for my 318. It has the Optional 12" Tine extension added to it making it a True 42" Till. When I got it home I noticed that it started life in Saskatchewan, Canada as it's John Deere dealership sticker from there was still On it. The Tine's were Barely worn which Tell's me they must not use them much on the Frigid North & This was the Most expensive Impliment for me to find as I had to Pay the seller asking price of $750.00 for it, which is Average for one of these if & when you can find them but I soon Learned that it was well worth it as it is Wicked as far as Tilling and getting it to a 12" seed Bed with Just Three Passes. I Later on last summer I Located a Four way Hydraulic 54" dirt dozer blade for it and Paid $100.00 for it, as it had some rust and corrosion on it, But nothing that could not be sanded down and painted to Look new again which I have done to it. IMHO when John Deere started Producing Mower's for Lowes & Home Depot they sold their sole to The Devil ! Those Mower's are lucky to last as long as their Five Year Payment Plan. That said, I assume you can see why I often say in my mind New is Not always' better. I really hope someday to own one of the Larger 700 X-series Tractor's should my Old 318 Give up The Ghost on me, but I surely can not afford to Pay the Premium that they are drawing now.




I was into my 318 Right as I Only Paid $300.00 for it just about Four Years ago from a Tri-Green Yuppie John Deere dealership. I call the Tri-Green dealership's that as they seem to Cater more to those wanting weather Vanes, Garden Gloves, Plastic John Deere wheelbarrows, and Official John Deere clothing. I see no Need to wear a Pair of John Deere embossed Pant's or one of their Embossed golf shirt's when mowing or socializing. When I stepped into The showroom to pay for my 318 that they could Not even Bother to Look at or service as it was Traded in, and Paid Their asking price of $300.00 for it I did not see one Real lawn & Garden Tractor in their Line up. They had all of the exact same Tin cheaply Made Model's that we see at Lowes or Home Depot, with Price Tag's Higher than what I have Now in my fully restored 318 with all of it's Impliment's. I understand not everyone can afford a Larger more Heavy duty style John Deere Lawn & Garden Tractor myself included, but I sure would Not finance one of The Tin Lizzies that could Barely make the duration of the Revolving John Deere Payment Plan ! I just spent almost $1500.00 for a Fresh engine in my 1983 John Deere 318 as I felt "It Deserved it". The Old engine was getting some what tired but was still serving me Faithfully every week Knocking down 2-Acre's of Grass for our Nine Month Mowing season here in East Tennessee. I also was in the Process of Restoring my 318 and could not see simply a re-paint to Only later maybe Three to five years from now having to Pull it's engine to replace or rebuild it, so I Pulled the Trigger on a Brand new engine, and Never even Considered an Off Brand replacement as these Onan's are as Tough as Nail's and are made to Last as long as Their woner's Take care of them. I have Yet to see many Briggs & Stratton's a common Re-power for These 318's go 30 Years and still be running, and Now that Kohler is Having all of their engines Made in China, They are failing by cracking the Bottom crankcase housing, then exploding, No Thank You I sure don't want one of those, so I sent my Tired Onan engine in to my engine bulder as a core, and he told me that it was one of the Nicest one's he had ever gotten in as a core engine.



I can't take all of the credit for how good the Old engine Looked Internally as I was not the Original owner of it, but I can say that it got Three Oil changes per mowing season with fresh oil filter's each time using a high grade oil, so Taking care of your engine sure Pay's on the Long Haul as who Know's how many real hour's that engine had on it as the machine's hour meter was broke and not working for the past few years, but the fact still remains that the Internal Bearings and engine part's were still In good shape it, as it only lacked in compression which could have been easily solved with a fresh set of rings and a Valve job, but I decided to go all the way with a new engine so I could be the care Taker of it and after it reaches 50 Hour's it will be switched over from it's Now Castrol Heavy duty 30# Oil to Pennzoil Platinum full synthetic engine oil of 10-30 weight. I am a Firm Believer that synthetic engine oil is far superior than standard engine oil as I have a 2000 Dodge Ram with a 318 in it that I Bought New in 1999 and dropped it's Factory Oil at 43 Miles only to replace it with Full Synthetic engine oil, and it now has 200,000 Miles on it and I have Yet to get into The engine of it. :thumbsup: I did Take a recent compression Test of it late last fall just being Curious of what it's compression was ? I was Not surprised as it was only 25 Pound's less that what the engine had when it Left Detroit Back in 1999, and that further enhanced my Belief that this synthetic engine oil is Far More superior than standard Oil. As My Tractor and it's Implement's sit now I have a Total of $2600.00 in The complete Package all restored, which is about what they want for The Tin Wonder Mower's we see at Lowes or Home Depot, with just a Mowing deck of which you could Not Give me one to own, I have been Far Too Spoiled by my Old Faithful John Deere 318. Regards, Hammerdown


Here are smome Picture's of my Model 30 Tiller in action. I Tested it the day after I got it home last summer after driving from Knoxville, Tennessee to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for it which was a 1250 Mile road Trip that I did in One round robin only stoping for Gas and drive through food ! This Ground next to my Garage had not been turned since the Garage was Built in 1956. I can Tell you that although we have very Little Rock in our soil here in East Tennessee it's Red colored soil can be Rock Hard, but it was no Match for this Tiller as shown.





First Pass with my 85 Pound Airedale watching my new to me tiller work

Second Pass...

Third & Final pass now with 12" of Powder fluffed sub soil ! and No Dobt of how well this Tiller Dig's, it's an Animal

 

[PapeCAT]

Greetings yet again General Stuart:

Thank you for all the detailed information and the great pictures of your 318 / tiller at work. However, I couldn't help but notice that in a previous post, your pictures had two different seats on the 318. The leaf spring style seat as pictured above but also this style "suspension" seat as seen in this picture below - which do you prefer?

 

[General Stuart]

Greetings yet again General Stuart:

Thank you for all the detailed information and the great pictures of your 318 / tiller at work. However, I couldn't help but notice that in a previous post, your pictures had two different seats on the 318. The leaf spring style seat as pictured above but also this style "suspension" seat as seen in this picture below - which do you prefer?

Hello papeCAT

Sharp Eyes you have there. I had the Original leaf spring seat on my 318 after I restored it. I did not like the common spring sagging issue that I was having with it. John Deere did offer a Heavy Duty Suspension seat for the 318's but they were very pricey now being well over $300.00 so most when they left the factory came with the standard leaf spring seats. I located a used suspension seat that came off a John Deere 345 Tractor and bought it. it too had some sagging issues as they used one set of small diameter coils for the suspension Portion if the seat so I purchased some hewavy duty coil spring and added them behind the factory sones and it worked out well as shown. I Much prefer the modified suspension seat that I have now and only have about $30.00 total in it. Regards, General Stuart

 

[PapeCAT]

Looks Great, Nice work! I very much like the suspension seat setup as pictured here on my 430 as well.

Thanks

 

[General Stuart]

Looks Great, Nice work! I very much like the suspension seat setup as pictured here on my 430 as well.

Thanks

Hello Papecat
I appreciate your Kind word's. Your 430 has the heavy duty style suspension seat I would have Liked to mount on my 318 fender pan, but they run high even used, so I elected to go with the much more affordable John Deere Model 345 suspension seat. Perhaps' someday I will run across one that the seller does not want in Excess of $300.00 for and will Up-date my 318 with one, but for now the one I got is Light Years ahead of the Original u-shaped spring seat that it came with. Regards, General Stuart

 

[huskerz]

Vintage iron is cool.

 

[huskerz]

I bought my 318 5 yrs ago with the idea to run it a few years mowing 2.5 acres and doing landscape work around our new house. Attachments are hard to come by that is true. I hoped to accumulate a snow blower, snow blade, 3 pt, and possibly even score one of the 44 loaders. At this point, either rebuilding the motor or re-powering (vanguard or kohler) would make sense since it would run for another 20+ yrs. Those first few years I worked the heck out of the 318 not just mowing but using my FIL's homemade blade & scarifier that bolts directly to a U shaped piece of square tubing that he welded to my rockshaft. He built a similar hookup for his 20hp Deutz(Simplicity) some 25 yrs ago when it was new. His Deutz appears about the size of a 430, has a loader, and the deck is gearbox driven not belt. The Onan would use a little oil but lugged very well pulling the scarifier with 160 lbs. of weight on it. I also hauled countless wagon loads of rock and dirt building my retaining walls. Two summers ago I found a 332 on Ebay looking a little rough but only 1000 hrs and got it for $2000. I had to use the 46" deck off the 318 because the 50" was in worse shape. Plus I had just found the powerflow parts on Ebay for the 46". An hood off a 316 found on ebay and a complete fluid servicing and I was in business. I intend to paint it this winter and it will look almost as good as the ones you guys have. The diesel engine on these little tractors is amazing. I had the 318 for sale last summer but didn't want to give it away especially since the hydro is the same on the 332 (I think). It would be great to find a 44 loader and just keep it on year around for moving dirt, rock, etc. on my yard projects and firewood/snow in the winter. The 332 does all the mowing and snow blowing. I wish someone had a good review of the CTC loaders, since they look like they go on and off pretty easily. Selling the 318 and buying a CTC loader would make sense. I've even thought about selling it all and buying one of the x748se types but not sure if they are worth the money. It seems as though the PTO, 3pt, loader are all extras that cost more than one of the 1026s. The compact size of the 332 or x748 would be lost in this case as well with the ROPS.

 

[PapeCAT]

A CTC seems like a nice unit. I would love to have a CTC but they said they don't make a model to fit the 430...