Fuel consumption query

[JDgreen227]

From '89 to '02 I did my mowing with a Deere 318, weight with the 50" deck installed was about 1050 pounds with a full gas tank. Calculated the fuel consumption while mowing at full throttle a number of times and it usually came out to about 1 gallon per hour. I am thinking about buying a new garden tractor as my 4210 is somewhat large for much of my mowing, but I am wondering what kind of GASOLINE consumption a comparably sized garden tractor with a more modern engine would deliver. Thank you for any information you can provide me.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I think a lot depends on the engine brand and of course the HP. MY Kawasaki FS690V engine burns around .75-1 gallon per hour depending on how high the grass is. I can mow about 6 acres with around 3 gallons of gas where as my B&S engine on a Craftsman ZTR doing the same job will require 6 gallons of gas. It runs about 30% slower at top speed so it takes longer to mow. GPH doesn't always equate to acres per hour efficiency.

 

[JDgreen227]

Thanks for the input, Gary...yes, there are many factors involved...many variables...I am basically just trying to figure if I can justify the purchase of a second tractor for mowing the areas my JD is too tall and wide to do. Fuel consumption with my JD calculates to about .65-.70 gph with a 60" deck.

 

[Blade Breaker]

How many hours per week do you mow? I would think it would take an incredible amount of mowing to use fuel consumption to justify it.

You had me at "I am thinking about buying a new garden tractor". No justification needed. :thumbsup:

 

[JDgreen227]

How many hours per week do you mow? I would think it would take an incredible amount of mowing to use fuel consumption to justify it.

You had me at "I am thinking about buying a new garden tractor". No justification needed. :thumbsup:

I mow about 5 acres of yard, last spring and summer here were incredibly wet and I was putting about 25 hours a month on the tractor which was a huge amount...plus another 20 hours a month on my self propelled pusher mower. It's the time spent with the pusher going around the sloped and treed areas that is my issue...my doctor says my knees are shot and encourages me not to walk long distances.

 

[glc24]

From '89 to '02 I did my mowing with a Deere 318, weight with the 50" deck installed was about 1050 pounds with a full gas tank. Calculated the fuel consumption while mowing at full throttle a number of times and it usually came out to about 1 gallon per hour. I am thinking about buying a new garden tractor as my 4210 is somewhat large for much of my mowing, but I am wondering what kind of GASOLINE consumption a comparably sized garden tractor with a more modern engine would deliver. Thank you for any information you can provide me.

I think you are right on the money. I have a Onan 316 with a 50" deck that I use for part of my grass cutting. A gallon an hour is just about what I go through.


Greg

 

[Will_C]

I have a 23hp Kawasaki on a Toro zero turn-I burn mow than a gallon an hour, but that is less then I went through with a Case tractor with a 18hp Onan. Acres per gallon, however, the ZTR is the clear winner-probably 2 acres a gallon.

Will

 

[Will_C]

I have a 23hp Kawasaki on a Toro zero turn-I burn mow than a gallon an hour, but that is less then I went through with a Case tractor with a 18hp Onan. Acres per gallon, however, the ZTR is the clear winner-probably 2 acres a gallon.

Will

 

[bigtiller]

Over the years I have had a lot of jd garden tractors........ 318, 322, 425, and a 445. They all used about the same amount of gas to mow the same yard. I seen a dramatic decrease in fuel consumption when I switched over to diesels..... 455, X495, and a 2305. The torque increase was amazing! I wished I would have switched over years earlier.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I had a JD 332 diesel with rated 14HP but it pulled a 54" mower plenty good and only burned about 1/2 gallon per hour or less. Cant beat a diesel for power and fuel economy.
I don't think the fuel economy has substantially improved in the last 30 years. FI has made them easier to start and maybe get a bit more power from a smaller engine, but by and large, the engines have gotten bigger and bigger but it still takes about the same amount of fuel to cover the same area, now we just do it faster. On my 332, it would run about 5-6 mph but climbing a hill would need to pull back on the HST to keep from stalling whereas my ZTR with 26HP would not stall but most of the time, I didn't need all that HP as it was just burning fuel that was not needed for the load

 

[Gittyup]

I've just switched from a 425 AWS to an X739. The X739 seems to use a bit more fuel, but I think the tank actually holds a little less. Anyway, about a gallon per hour. If you want to cut down on trimming with the push mower, consider AWS. AWS with diesel will save you the most time and fuel. But, you can't get 4WD, AWS, and diesel unless you buy used (X749). New, pick any two. I wanted all 3, but picked the two that yielded the greatest utility for me: 4WD and AWS. With AWS, I don't have to trim but about once a month or so, and only very little then.

I will say this too: the new mower decks are great but extremely loud, much louder than my 425. Hearing protection is now a must.

 

[jenkinsph]

I would have to say that the fuel consumption of any of my tractors is low enough to not be an issue. I would not be overly analytical, life is short get the mower you wan't..

 

[jnovak01]

I just picked up an X749 with 105 hours on it. This is my first Diesel of any kind and it is quite the departure from gas that is for sure. Anyway I wanted to determine fuel usage so I filled her up and placed a piece of tape on the cap with the hours at the time of filll. Last night I just filled her up again and I was really amazed at how efficient the diesels are. 104.4 at the beginning and an even 118 at the end good for over 13 hours. I have to say that was not at full throttle all the time. I was mostly moving dirt with my FEL around the yard and it included one full mow at WOT. Anyway the efficiency of the diesel surprised me to say the least.

 

[RalphVa]

Diesel consumption on my 4010 over 660 hours was 0.46 gallons/hr. Gasoline engines with carburetors will normally use 50% more, about 0.7 gallons/hr for 18.5 hp. Think tractor fuel usage prorates by hp, not weight of the tractor. For cars, it prorates by weight.

Ralph

 

[buickanddeere]

Unless you mow golf courses or run a landscaping business running mowers 40+hrs a week. The diesel garden tractor for home owners is for bragging rights and will cost money than a gasser instead of saving money.

 

[nc redneck]

I have one commercial property about 5 acres where I leave a JD 757 60 inch O turn. Picked it up from friend who blew motor in it. I replaced it with new Kawasaki crate motor 18 or 23 HP cant remember. When possible wife and I double team mowing by trailering in Kubota BX 2200 also. JD loves gas and will burn around 10 to 20 dollars worth each trip. Kubota hardly moves fuel gauge. Plus it is quieter ( ear protection needed for JD ) mows better and with 4 wheel drive is safe to cut hillsides where JD can not. Diesel is the only way to go in my opinion. JD are very overrated in my opinion. This is a commercial rated O Turn ( no Home Depot ) I think new around same cost as BX 10 to 12 K. Glad I picked it up for $ 600.00 and put new motor in for $ 2300.00. Total cost 3 K and some time. If I had paid 10 K for it I would not be happy.

 

[JDgreen227]

OP here...I drove medium duty trucks for a living and had 31 years to compare gas motors in those trucks to oil burners...the fleet would get about 6-7 mpg for trucks like the Ford F600-700 gassers (370 cubic inch 2v and 4v engines) and the first diesel I drove, an IHC S-1900 with the DT-466 diesel would deliver 9-10 mpg for comparable use. The last work truck I had was an F-800 with the 5.9 Cummins, mileage for city/highway delivery work was about 9.8 overall during a 60,000 mile period. A diesel engine will consume about 35-45% less fuel, but if you pay a huge premium for the diesel up front the payback time can be decades.

 

[jnovak01]

Unless you mow golf courses or run a landscaping business running mowers 40+hrs a week. The diesel garden tractor for home owners is for bragging rights and will cost money than a gasser instead of saving money.

I agree with your comment and would have never bought a Diesel as the 749's were, for me at least, nothing more than a fantasy. I had to pull the trigger on this one as it was less than 100 hours, and under warranty for $8500. The 749 is wonderful to drive with AWS, but mostly AWD makes it so much better than my previous tractor which was AWS gas X485.

 

[prosperity]

You really need to do some math here. I did something similar with a commuter vehicle years ago. And.....I love diesels!

I have a Ford F-150 (gas of course) that is loaded - pretty heavy truck. My commute was 42 miles a day. I've been fixing up older VW turbo diesels for a while, and bought my dream TDI for commuting - an '03 Jetta TDI which cost $8K at the time.

Fuel used in the pick-up per month - 18mpg @$3.75 gal average - 840 miles per month = $175 per month
Fuel used in Jetta TDI - 51mpg @$4.50 gal average - 840 miles per month = $74 per month.

That $100 per month in savings was great! But....how long did it take for the TDI to pay for itself? Never did. At $100 per month it would take 6.7 years just to break even and that is not including the extra insurance and maintenance.

Same goes with a tractor if the only reason you are buying is based on fuel consumption. A small $3K lawn tractor/mower is not going to have an efficient engine and will likely burn more fuel than your diesel compact. Even if the little lawn mower would use less fuel (money wise) it would wear out before you would even think about breaking even.

 

[JDgreen227]

prosperity, I am not sure if your "do the math" comment refers to me or not, but the reason I started this thread was because I was curious about modern lawn care equipment fuel consumption. Since engineers have developed such improved fuel mileage in cars and trucks, I wondered if any economy advances had been made in small gas engines. As for the payback time for diesel vs. gas, I recall reading an article in an RV magazine...Trailer Life? back about 1998 or so. They compared 3/4 ton pickups, gas vs. diesel, and if I recall right they reported it would take close to a quarter million miles of driving to make buying the diesel pickup cost effective.

Do you guys here realize you have basically shot down my reason to buy another tractor...??? Yeah, now I have to get that 318 running again instead of buying a new one. :laughing: Thanks to all.