Its all down to fuel consumption

beenthere · Jan 11, 2010

I've had the Deere Kawasaki's for over 15 years, and never a problem. Mostly had AWS tractors. With the juggling of model numbers, I'm not sure if what you are asking about and what I have (400 series like 425, 445 and now an X485) are close to the same. But are in the 25 hp range.
I wouldn't go air cooled, after my neighbors experience with a mouse building a nest in one side. He didn't find out about it until it cooked one cylinder. Not a good story or outcome. That was Simplicity.

fredkos · Jan 11, 2010

IH, I have not been able to locate a Deere dealer yet that was even one penney below msrp, never mind one that was matching the $500 Deere rebate, Deere people are an interesting lot, arrogant-condecending are just two words that come to mind-and I have stopped in to about 7 different dealers, the experience has always been the same, basically this, 'take it or leave it'... I cannot imagine doing business this way even in high season, never mind in the dead of winter, in a showroom with only two people in it......
My wife was with me on two different occassions and she called both of the dealers, 'creepy'.

baucom, very helpful info on noise level thanks; now if I could only get solid numbers on fuel consumption....

beenthere, I was pretty much set to go for the liquid cooled until the dealer made the comment that he would not spend the money on one himself-I always thought that liquid cooling was better in the end-I did buy an air cooled BMW bike though-AND Deere uses liquid cooled throughout the X700 series-their flagship models, which is why I found what the dealer said even more confusing.

aerostar · Jan 11, 2010

I have a GR2110 with about 75 hours on it. It is one of the newer ones with the fixes/upgrades. I use it soley to mow about 2 acres of pretty thick grass with the mulching option on the deck.

I have had no issues at all to date with it. Surprisingly, even though my lawn is perfectly flat and I don't really need it, the AWD makes for far less rutting in the turns when the ground is soaked. My neighbor tore up his back yard pretty good with a 2 wheel drive tractor.

Fuel consumption is about .75 gal/hour when mulching heavy grass.

fredkos · Jan 11, 2010

aerostar, its starting to look as those the Kubota uses about 25% less fuel per hour than a Kawasaki just enough to offset the extra cost of diesel fuel??

The strong points of the Kubota are the seat, sweet 3 cyl engine and awd but what I don't like is the way they engineered the glide steer as I understand it the 'system' is merely a cable which somehow disengages one rear wheel as a turn is made-a bit hokey but not overly trouble prone, and it seems to work.

Deere : Kubota
Deere : Kubota
Deere : Kubota

Going nuts.

aerostar · Jan 11, 2010

I wouldn't actually call the glide steer system hokey. It has two heavy-duty cables that go from each front wheel to a lever on the transmission. All of the clutching of the wheels is done inside the transmission with wet clutches. It's really sort of like an automatic locking differential if you will. The problems Kubota had with them in the past were mostly related to the cables breaking. This was caused by a mounting arrangement that had the cables make a very sharp curve. They have changed this on the newer models.

I really like the torque of the diesel. No matter how thick the grass is, the engine never lugs or really shows any sign that it is working harder, just keeps chugging at exactly the same RPMs.

Good luck with your decision!