?Diesel Garden or Lawn Tractors

[ovrszd]

Gotta disagree with you there - my diesel (JD455) does at least twice as much mowing on a gallon than did my previous gas tractor (JD317) although it is a bigger and heavier machine. Even with diesel costing more these days it's a lot cheaper to keep the tank full.

The 455 is a lot noisier, for sure - don't even think about running it without hearing protectors.

Tim

I agree the JD455 sips fuel. I don't understand the noise thing though?? When I'm mowing I can't hear my engine at all, I only hear the deck.

I came from a JD322 3cyl gasser. The 455 engine isn't any noisier than the 322 but it vibrates considerably more when running anything slower than wide open.

I would consider it a step backwards to go back to a gasser. I would also consider it a huge step backwards to go back to a belt driven deck, give me PTO.

 

[Gittyup]

I agree that while the mower deck is running there is probably little if any noise difference between gas and diesel. However, mowing is probably less than 50% of my uses for my garden tractor. I have both gas and diesel. Working around the diesel is aggrevating wrt communications. Working around my gaser.... well it isn't really noticed.

No way do I believe that any diesel is even close to as quiet as my liquid cooled gaser. I'm sure there are some gasers that are just as noisy, but not all. You can't compare an air cooled gaser to a liquid cooled one. Noise levels are like night and day.

And there are many 50+ year old gasers out there still running strong. Take care of your machine and it'll take care of you. For the homeowner who is mowing grass, towing around a lawn cart, and moving a little snow, I just don't see the diesel as all that much better. In fact, there are some reasons it is not: noise, cold starts, costs to maintain, initial purchase cost, costs to repair, warm up time.

 

[TimS]

I agree the JD455 sips fuel. I don't understand the noise thing though?? When I'm mowing I can't hear my engine at all, I only hear the deck.

I came from a JD322 3cyl gasser. The 455 engine isn't any noisier than the 322 but it vibrates considerably more when running anything slower than wide open.

I'm very surprised to hear that - I have never heard a 322, but I always understood they were the quietest thing going.

My 455 certainly seems louder to my ears than my previous 317 (air cooled gas). Maybe it's not so much louder as it is a sharper noise - really bothers my ears more. I guess different people's ears are sensitive to different frequencies. Love my smelly, rattling Yanmar!
Tim

 

[jeffinsgf]

I'm very surprised to hear that - I have never heard a 322, but I always understood they were the quietest thing going.

My 455 certainly seems louder to my ears than my previous 317 (air cooled gas). Maybe it's not so much louder as it is a sharper noise - really bothers my ears more. I guess different people's ears are sensitive to different frequencies. Love my smelly, rattling Yanmar!
Tim

Tim, I don't know how, but you really do need to check your muffler. I believe you bought your 455 used, isn't that right? I did, too, but mine is quieter than any air-cooled engine I own (and that's quite a few). I think your muffler is rusted out. You've mentioned "smelly" a time or two, as well. While I can tell its a diesel, I wouldn't call my 455 "smelly". About the only time I get a good whiff is when I fire it up.

Who knows, you might even love your 455 more with a new muffler!

 

[shot_gun]

Some of us like the smell of diesel in the morning I didn't see any votes for the JD 355/gx355. If you can get over the noise ,smoke and vibration you got it licked. They had a 2cyl. 18hp yanmar. At full song they were pretty smooth but at and idlle they felt like they were coming apart. We only sold them to Harley customer types. They reminded me of the old 2 cyl lombardini motors in the older simplicities.

 

[artfull dodger]

For older diesel garden tractors, you have the following choices. Cub Cadet used a 3 cylinder Kubota diesel engine starting with the 782D/882 models, the 782d being painted red and lettered for IH, but was built by the Cub Cadet Corp. The 882 is indetical but painted normal Yellow/White. These are standard 82 series cubs, they use a belt drive to the mower deck, which works quite well. These were followed up with the 1512, and then you have the 1772 super garden tractor, longer wheelbase, power steering and the ablity to handle the larger 60" mower deck. All of the cub models can have a optional catagory 0 3pt hitch for rear mounted ground engaging implements. John Deere did the 330/332, they use a Yanmar 3 cylinder diesel engine, the 330 is basicly a 316(onan) with a diesel, and the 332 is the equilivant of the 318 with the power steering and dual spool hyd. JD also did the larger 430 diesel, much larger than the 300 class, had a hi/lo range rear end, hydrostatic transmission, rear diff lock, 3 spool hyd and a 20hp yanmar diesel engine. All of these machines can be gotten for under $5000 most of the time. You can go to weekendfreedommachines.org for the JD tractors and ihregistry.com for the cub cadets. They both have for sale forums as well as ones for general questions. There are usualy a few diesels for sale most of the time. I think there is even a 430 up for sale on the JD one now. Kubota also made the older G series diesel garden tractors, G3200,4200,5200. They do have a shaft drive deck, but I have found that parts are quite pricey for those models when things break. The Cub Cadets and John Deeres tend to more affordabe to fix and easier to find parts for. Oh yea, for service life on the engine, expect 4000+ hours if properly maintained, and around 1200-2000 for an air cooled gas motor, all depending on operating condition and proper upkeep. My 982 Cub Cadet in my pic has a 20hp Onan in it, while it is a bit of a gas hog, its easy to maintain, I know where to get parts for it and the power is awsome, I can run a 50" or 60" mower deck easily, it has rear 2000 rpm PTO for a tiller, catagory 0 3pt hitch and 2 spool hyd. I plan to do a total overhaul on the Onan power plant this summer or early fall. Many dont like Onans as the parts have gotten just a bit harder to find and some are pricy. I find that the main rebuilt parts, ie rings, gasgets ect are about on par with Kohler in my area. Only the connecting rods are a bit steep, but a necessary replacement when rebuilding one of these. The older rods have an opening just above the main journel that tends to be a weak point, new rods are solid. The diesels are great, low fuel consumption, but more things to keep maintained, ie radiator has to be kept clean to prevent overheating ect. I do find that the air cooled gas motors to be quieter, atleast in the twin cylinder versions. I have personaly owned a JD 330 diesel, Kubota B6000 and G4200 diesels, and a Cub Cadet 882 diesel. All the diesels were noiser at idle than any gas I have have had, at full power its a toss up, but then I wear a headset to protect my hearing and listen to the radio instead of the engine drone for hours on end while mowing. Cheers Mike

 

[ovrszd]

Tim, I don't know how, but you really do need to check your muffler. I believe you bought your 455 used, isn't that right? I did, too, but mine is quieter than any air-cooled engine I own (and that's quite a few). I think your muffler is rusted out. You've mentioned "smelly" a time or two, as well. While I can tell its a diesel, I wouldn't call my 455 "smelly". About the only time I get a good whiff is when I fire it up.

Who knows, you might even love your 455 more with a new muffler!

Yeah Jeff, I was wondering about the muffler too but have never heard of one rusting out. As for the smelly, the only time I smell or see smoke with mine is when it's being overworked and struggling. Otherwise, like you I might get a sniff when cranking.

And as Tim said, I love my Yanmar 3cyl. My old 322 used the same engine in a gas version. They are a great engine.

 

[m4hindra m4n]

exmark makes a diesel zero turn that i would recomend. it is still the kubota diesel engine but with exmark quality mowwing.

 

[jas67]

My Kubota G1800S with its 16HP D662 3-cyl 'bota Diesel engine is quieter while mowing than my Simplicity ZTR with an air-cooled Briggs 20HP V-twin.

Idle noise is about the same. It is noticeably louder at idle with the hood open. With the hood open, at idle, it sounds like a diesel, with the hood closed, you can hardly tell it is a diesel. The mower definitely drowns at the engine when mowing, I can't say that for the air-cool Briggs on the Simplicity.

Interestingly, even though it is the same HP (at a higher RPM, 3200, vs. 2800) as the D750A and D750AH on my two B7100's (1980, and 1998 respectively), the D662 in the G1800S is much quieter, both in terms of Diesel "rattle", and in exhaust sound. I'm sure that it has a much newer injection pump, and injector design, which is where the Diesel "rattle" noise comes from.

 

[Gravdigr]

We have a small diesel garden tractor we used in the cemetery for years. It's a ford lgt14d 14hp diesel. It's shaft drive to the deck with hydraulic transmission and hydraulic deck lift. That tractor is heavy and bulletproof. We actually wore out pretty much every part on the deck and the tractor still runs tough. Unfortunatly the gearbox on the deck finally gave up the ghost and parts are near impossible to find.

I would recommend a nice zero turn in the $5k range. I was just quoted $4,600 for a JD445z with 54" deck and mulching kit (mulching is best when mowing cemeteries). I have found my zero turn can do the work of 3 garden tractors when mowing tight areas that require a lot of manuvering. Also my cemetery is nothing but hills so I made a set of chains for it and steering is no problem, I get better traction with the zero turn than my tractors.