Lawn tractor. Can I ask here?

[MoPops]

I amlooking at a JD Lawn tractor to replace my dying old Craftsman. It an X540, looks like new, except a torn seat. It is a 2006, with 1100 hours on it. He is asking $3,000. Is this a fair price? It really looks nice. Older gentleman has had it. He has taken good care of it. Kawasaki 23HP.
Any help appreciated. I do not know anything about these. Except they seem expensive. Ha!

 

[Peter 315]

I just looked prices are all over the place........I guess if its in real good shape offer 2500.00 and see what happens.......Pardon Our Interruption

 

[MoPops]

Wow. Thanks for the link. Seems like it may be a little over priced with those hours.
Thx

 

[Roadworthy]

In addition to the number of hours you may run into parts availability issues. I have a 2010 Craftsman Garden tractor with a leaky transaxle. Finding a part number is no problem but the part no longer exists - anywhere!! So I can either part it out or dig into the transaxle hoping to find a usable seal. I'm mechanical - I'll fix it. Can you get parts for the Deere? You can get some fairly decent stuff new for the money he's asking. Figure how big a property you need to mow. Many lawn tractor sites will recommend a size tractor suitable for that size property.

 

[MoPops]

Thanks. Looks like JD made these until recently. Hopefully parts won’t be a problem.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

I suggest you do not buy that machine. Here are my reasons.

1. I owned a lawn service for about 18 years. Most commercial mowers will start to give lots of problems at about 1200 hours
2. A zero turn mower will reduce your mowing time by about 40% compared to a lawn tractor.
3. $3000 seems over priced for that unit. I sold a commercial Scag mower with about 1250 hours for $3000 about 2 weeks ago.
4. Look at 'homeowner' models of zero turn mowers. I bet you can get one for about $4000 and probably get some low interest financing on it also.

 

[Diggin It]

1. Commercial mowers are beat to crap long before homeowner models.
2. Not every property is suited to ZTRs. Mine isn't.

 

[4570Man]

1.
2. Not every property is suited to ZTRs. Mine isn't.

I bet I could mow it with mine.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

There are lots of the X540 model for sale on TractorHouse.com. After looking at the asking price on there, the $3000 might be a fair price for this unit.

I don't know why the link below says "Pardon our interruption". It is a link to TractorHouse.

Pardon Our Interruption

 

[MoPops]

I’m still thinking about it. I really would prefer a zero turn, but I’ve got some pretty tricky hillsides, including a steep slope all the way around my pond. I have heard the zero turns aren’t that good on side hills.
I was just trying to stay away from the box store lawn tractors that seem to fall apart in a few years, and are not really worth repairing.
Thx

 

[MoPops]

I have continued to look around. The first one I was looking at was an 06 with 1,100 hrs. I致e found a 2013 with 400 hrs for a lower price.
Looks like the x540 is pretty reliable. Kawasaki engine, water cooled. Some clutch issues reported. Going to check it out Wednesday

 

[GeneV]

I amlooking at a JD Lawn tractor to replace my dying old Craftsman. It an X540, looks like new, except a torn seat. It is a 2006, with 1100 hours on it. He is asking $3,000. Is this a fair price? It really looks nice. Older gentleman has had it. He has taken good care of it. Kawasaki 23HP.
Any help appreciated. I do not know anything about these. Except they seem expensive. Ha!

Yeh I'd say that's way expensive for a 14 y/o lawn tractor! For around that price you could get a real nice brand new Craftsman or Cub Cadet garden tractor, 26hp, with locking differential and a 50" or 54" deck (depending on make). I've had the Craftman version for 4 years, it's been a great tractor.

If you've got hills and slopes and stuff, that's what you want if you're thinking tractors for mowing.

 

[MoPops]

Yeh I'd say that's way expensive for a 14 y/o lawn tractor! For around that price you could get a real nice brand new Craftsman or Cub Cadet garden tractor, 26hp, with locking differential and a 50" or 54" deck (depending on make). I've had the Craftman version for 4 years, it's been a great tractor.

If you've got hills and slopes and stuff, that's what you want if you're thinking tractors for mowing.

Thanks Gene. I appreciate the feedback. I have a Craftsman now with 50” cut, that’s been a workhorse, but it seems like I’m always fixing something on it though. I think I may try a JD and see how it works out. Just a lot of $$. Even for an old used one. I am thinking there is a reason for that besides just the name.

 

[oldballs]

Seems like a gamble any way you go Mo. The original X540 may have been well maintained such that the 1100 hrs is not that big of a deal.......just a little overpriced maybe by $500. The deck itself may need new spindles/bearing etc pretty soon to. And look for stress cracks in the deck. Those parts are expensive also

Why don't you buy a brand new Kubota BX SCUT and be done with it for years to come. Then you can spend your time "working" instead of "working on IT". Maybe Kubota has some deals going now.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[MoPops]

Hey Mike, thx for the wisdom. I must be looking at the wrong Kubota pages. It looks like I can get the one JD mentioned above for $2700 or the 2013 with 400 hrs for $2800. I didn’t see a Kubota in that range. I did see a bunch of Husqvarnas in the less than $3000 range, but I get mixed reviews on Husqvarna.

 

[Diggin It]

Why don't you buy a brand new Kubota BX SCUT and be done with it for years to come.

You gonna pony up the other 15 grand to help him out?

 

[JJZ 109]

Screenshot shows the closest I could find in model year from a local JD dealer for comparison. If you average it out, that 2006 has run about 78 hours per year. I don't know the life cycle of those machines. I do know that the 2016 X394 that I bought leftover new in 2017 just hit 125 hours after 3 full mowing seasons plus the current season, good for about 35 hours per year. That's generally mowing one acre that the home sits on along with another acre I own next to the home about half the time. That was about a $5700 machine, with 4 wheel steer, power steering and hydraulically raised deck. Wife loves it so she mows often with it, making it worth the price of admission!
I did just recently buy a slightly used (only 28 hours) BX2380 with 60 inch belly mower and I had the dealer add a loader. It did not approach the $15k mentioned.
As far as a zero turn, that's your call. I've owned 2 and will probably never get another. I'll keep the reasons to myself as it seems guys like to argue here for no real good reason.

 

[kthompson]

MoPops, not a commercial mower here but we are cutting four yards. Ours, mother in laws, passed grandparents and now our youngest daughters house being built beside us. About 8 acres. We use two ztr mowers, can not imagine using anything else other than there are times can not cut the side yard at my mother in laws. It has decent slope and if it is wet it is easy to mow down hill but don't think about turning back up hill, will not happen and talked about easy to bog down!

if you are considering a ztr mower go to any store with large shopping cart and pay attention to the front wheels on them. They don't steer, they steered by being pushed. They are just caster wheels, worthless on steering a cart or mower. Then realize the way you steer a ztr affects the pull ability of the mower. As best one wheel is left full power while the other may be pulling totally against moving the direction you need to. Other words the pull wheels often are fighting each other. When you realize what is going on with the front wheels and the pulling wheels you will understand why I and many others will tell you ztr can be dangerous on side slopes, wet slopes and mud. ( I know no one has mud in their lawn but the edge of road ditches do.) You will be fighting the steering even on a dry side slope with a ztr as the front wheels do nothing to prevent the front end drifting downhill, remember they are casters only.

 

[shooterdon]

I am in the camp that $3k is for a 14 year old JD lawn tractor with 1100 hours is too much money.

Do a bit of number crunching. How many acres you cut and how often?

You might get another 6 years out of the JD (it will be 20 years old then), but you can buy a new tractor with warranty for the same $$$s. My cheap (under $2000) Husqvarna (from Lowe's) is 8 years old and I have replaced the starter for $45. I keep hoping it will die so I can get a ZT but it keeps chugging along. But I do not use it heavily. 40-50 hours a year.

I am under the impression even the "cheap" riders will go 400-500 hours. That is 10 years for me.

 

[MoPops]

Thanks for the feedback. I did find a couple of grasshopper ztr mowers that appear to have a lower center of gravity than the typical ztr, but they really seem complicated to me. I’m just about 90% sure I’m going with the 2013 JD X540 with 400 hrs. Will be looking at it tomorrow, and taking my trailer with me. I don’t know exactly how many acres I mow, but it takes hours. That’s why I was really looking at zero turns. But a big part of it is around our pond, and the pond is a long ways from the barn. Steep side slopes all the way around, and it’s often got some muddy spots. I’ve had to pull my present mower out once with the Honda Big Red. I may even fill the tires or get weights for the JD just to help with steep side hill tipping.. I also have a long stretch of roadside that’s too steep to mow.
Which leads me to a question.. How can you come off of a side hill like that? If you go down and out the deck gets hung up really bad. (I know first hand). Maybe I’ll just let it grow up.