New JD 2038r!!!!

[bigtiller]

It'd work good too with draw-bar work like moldboard plow, cultivator and harrow.

 

[SI2305]

2038 update

Its official. The new green tractor is no longer pretty green. I got it the first layer of dust and I can now call it a working tractor. Granted, it only worked for about 1/2 hour but I did some mowing with it and not just a single pass of flat land. I was positively itching to get some more seat time on the machine So I got up this morning and decided to do some trail maintenance. I started out by clearing out a patch of ground under some trees that had grown tall with grass and raspberries. The old LX4 was a great tool and I was wondering how its big brother was going to match up. The results were mixed. On the plus side, I had always loved the way the LX4 could munch its way happily into the thickest of underbrush and leave nothing but chips in its wake. In this case, its big brother the 6 footer did not disappoint, easily cutting down all the dense underbrush I could throw at it. The one downside though is that it is much harder for me to maneuver into tight spaces. I am not surprised by this and this is really no fault of the tractor design, rather a consequence of the larger size of tractor and rough cutter.

After that little bit of cleaning I took the tractor out and tried some trail maintenance. This task is probably not the foray of a rough cutter. For starters the trail grass was only 6-8 inches tall and it was a little difficult to mow the trail, make it looked mowed without the edges of the mower frame digging into the ground. On the plus side, I really got to test out the position hitch, something I dearly missed on the 2305. Leveling out that big mower takes a bit more skill and effort than the old 4 footer and this meant adjusting the length of the top link. I can see why hydraulic top links are popular and I may consider this in the future. Again, this is not really a criticism, just realization that with bigger equipment comes different responsibilities, but it was not terribly difficult to simply lower the mower to the ground to relieve pressure and adjust the top link and jam nut from there. I did use the mower on a section that is typically a trail but had not gotten mowed yet due to overgrown brush impairing the zero turn mower. Again, the 6 footer shined when it went through the adjacent brush that I had largely cut down last weekend (planning a bunch of chipping next weekend--more on that). It was also decent on that grass as that section had not been touched this year and was standing a good 12 inches tall. Perhaps the biggest issue was that this trail section has several small hills/dips that made the rear cutter really want to fly up into the air while cresting one of these little knolls and then the edge of the cutter wanted the dig into the ground as I came out of one of the valleys.

Overall, I think that the tractor did a very good job, but I probably need a different mower for the trail task. For that job, I have a 5' woodmaxx hydraulic offset flail mower in mind. Why 5' instead of 6'? Maneuverability. If I ever want to get back into the woods again, I am going to need a much more maneuverable mower to do any clearing and the flail mower would be perfect. Sitting so close to the rear of the tractor, the flail mower will follow the contour of the ground much better than the rough cutter. The rough cutter is a fine tool for cutting acres of grass, but it is not the attachment for mowing with more finesse. I will have to wait till my wife lets me buy yet another attachment for this purchase though.

The loader is a touch surprising. I was used to the old curved arms of the 2305 and I loved the visibility they gave and the extra reach they provided for a small tractor. Initially I was disappointed when Deere went back to a more angular design, expecting reduced loader visibility. However, the new loader may just be perfect for this sized tractor. The old 2305 could easily push its front end up by using maximum downward extension of the loader arms, even when the bucket was in the float position. The new loader for the 2038r will only just touch the ground in the float position, though by tipping the bucket forward, it can give the front end a nice lift upwards. At first I thought this was a drawback, but this morning I learned why it is a plus. While I was doing some of my clearing under trees that required maneuvering, it was the mower and NOT the loader that reduced my maneuverability. With the 2305 I always had to have half my mind focusing on where the loader was when I was backing up and turning simultaneously. With the 2038r, the loader stays nicely tucked close to the tractor frame rather than swaying out and away. This made difficult maneuvering a little bit easier.

My first real test of the mower will be coming in a few weeks once the field grass grows up a bit and I give the acreage its first real mowing. In the mean time, most of my mowing will be doing trail work. I do have a fruit patch that desperately needs mowing and I will likely try that in the next week or two and I will report on that. The next big task for the tractor will be this weekend when we do a LOT of chipping. This last weekend my neighbor and I trimmed up 650 feet of living fence and we will be hauling brush, moving the chipper and moving a trailer in the process. I don't know exactly how everything will work out, but I will update after we get done.

SI2305 (old handle, new tractor)

 

[bigtiller]

Sounds like a lot of fun.

I didn't see an iMatch quick hitch on the 3pt in your pics. Is there a reason you didn't get one?

 

[bigtiller]

Another thing I noticed with your ruff cut mower. I lowered the lift pins on the mower frame to the lower holes. I am able to lift it much higher now. I also have the iMatch so maybe that makes the difference.

 

[SI2305]

Bigtiller,

Funny you mentioned the Imatch. I placed the order for the tractor, loader, high capacity bucket, lift hooks, and the 6' rotary cutter. I completely forgot about the Ihitch. 2 days before delivery I asked if they could put one on and they told me that they did not have one on the lot! They are ordering one for me so I will just have to be patient. Incidentally, I am glad that you mentioned the position of the lift pins. I think this will make the rotary cutter easier to handle on the little hills where I have had some troubles and I am certain I will get better lift. This is exactly what I did with my 2305 and LX4. Thanks for reminding me.

SI2305

 

[SI2305]

2038r mowing update,

This portion of the 2038r review is late, but I thought I would give an account of its rough cutting performance. My field area (4-5 acres) finally grew tall enough that it warranted mowing. In the past, This was always something I took on with a bit of trepidation as the old 2305, being a small frame tractor, was really undersized and under powered to do in any reasonable time frame. Earlier it was very common for me to take all day (interpret as several hours) to mow the acreage. This was made worse by the fact that the 2305 would always overheat, slowing down my work even more. The process was arduous. The 2305 responded to every bump, rut and uneven portion of the field, exasperating my back issues. The mere 4' mower barely took a bite out of the grass with each pass and perhaps worst of all, when mowing tall grass, I would be inundated with a practical shower of dust and pollen as the grasses shook loose their seeds as I moved through the field (to boot, I have some pretty serious hay fever).

The main reason I got the 2038r in the first place was to make mowing easier and it did not disappoint. I did mow MUCH earlier in the season than I usually would, mowing through 18" tall grass as opposed to 5-7' tall grass so this is not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, but the results were still impressive. The single biggest and most important difference between the two tractors is the ride. The 2038r is simply a much better tractor for mowing over the rough ground. Mind you, the ground is still rough and the tractor does acknowledge the presence of dips and bumps in the surface of the ground, but it does so without the violent jerking up & down, back & forth that the old 2305 did. Instead, it gently glided and rolled over most of the dips and bumps, the much larger wheels simply not reacting as much as the smaller ones of the 2305 subcompact tires. The much longer wheelbase also diminished the bumps that did occur and finally, the seat suspension largely took care of those bumps that did get through the other layers of defense. In comparing the two tractors, you can think the motions of the 2038r as rolling and the 2305 as jerking.

Coming in a close second to the gentler ride is the much larger cut thanks to the 6' rotary cutter. What a difference those extra 2 feet make! In reality, the old 4' cutter was more like a 3' cutter. Whenever I mow (and I assume others do this too) I always drive with the inside of my front tire riding right up against the uncut portion of the grass. It is both easy to see & align and also provides some overlap & avoids uncut grass. Unfortunately it also reduces the cut width. In the case of the already small 4' rotary cutter on the 2305 I figure that I was losing about 1' to overlap. I still mow with the same approximate amount of overlap now, but instead of having an effective 3' mowing cut, i have a 5' mowing cut. At almost twice the size effective cut, I was amazed at how fast my passes in the field ate up the un-mowed areas. Combine the larger cut with the faster speed and I got all of my mowing done in just over an hour! This is absolutely amazing considering that I usually mowed for more like 4-5 hours in hot, dusty and exhausting conditions. I can actually enjoy the mowing now as opposed to dreading it like I used to (hence the once-per-year mowing I did earlier--no more!). In addition to the larger sized mower, I should add here that the position hitch helped a lot also. In the 2305 I perpetually had a hand on the 3pt control and constantly adjusted the mowing height as I mowed over the uneven surface. The new position hitch made mowing simple enough that I actually had the unnerving feeling that I was forgetting something important. I simply raised the deck each time I reached the end of the row and then lowered it when I re-started mowing. Having the position hitch was nice as I did not need to constantly re-adjust the mower height.

I should mention a couple of other improvements/features, the first being the view. Normally, this would seem trivial as i am mowing and not sight seeing. However, in this case the commanding view is relevant for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I sit high enough that even if I were mowing through tall grass, I would not be sitting in a veritable rain shower of dust and pollen. Also, the high perch gave me a commanding view of my surroundings. In the past I sometimes drove blind through tall, dense grass. No more as I can easily see wherever I need to mow. coupled with the height is the fact that I did not have a blanket of seeds covering my front grill. My reason for liking this facet is directly related to another feature offered on the 2038r and not the 2305--a temperature gauge as opposed to an idiot light. As I stated earlier, I never managed to mow my field without overheating the 2305. This was due to two parts. Firstly, sitting so low the front of the tractor became blanketed with a thick layer of chaff. This blocked the airflow and ultimately overheated the engine, a fact I did not appreciate until the engine overheating light popped on. Now, the front of the tractor sits much higher and is not nearly as susceptible to the dense layer of dust that inevitably covered the old 2305. To boot, should the engine lack airflow cooling, I would know about this before overheating thanks to the temperature gauge on the dash.

Overall, the tractor is just what I was hoping for, especially in regards to the mowing qualities (in case you could not tell that already). Being able to comfortably mow all of my acreage in just over an hour makes a huge difference in my mowing workload. One final facet that I am checking in to is the fuel consumption. I have not had the chance to check fuel usage yet (I hope to fill up soon and get an initial idea of fuel usage), but my old 2305 sipped a mere 2/3 gallon/hr. Thus far, it looks like the 2038r is using just a little more than that, but I can mow so much faster I am sure that I will be saving on fuel in the long run.

At any rate, I hope this review is useful to someone thinking of making the upgrade to the new JD2038r. I don't have any other 3 point hitch implements to compare to, but when I do, I will update then.

Best wishes,

SI2305

 

[bfloyd4445]

those belly mowers are ok for golf courses parks tc. but are useless in a yard because the tractors are to high. I have a craftsman riding mower with a briggs 26hp motor that is 15 years old and still runs perfect. I'm gonna get a 2032 or 38 but i have been reluctant because of that mid pto without protection under them. I go over all kinds of stuff in the pastures. Today i went over a large plastic feeder and made a bow tie out of a T post. I can just imagine what would happen if the end of a T post hit the mid pto when brush hoggin/

 

[bfloyd4445]

You must have no trees to speak of or other obstacles n your four acres for head bangers. Ever thought of letting it grow out for hay? That's a lot of tractor for a lawn mower...smile..
Wish i had one i keep using my ancient old Ford 200 diesel but thats gonna change shortly

 

[plastikosmd]

great review, sounds like the perfect machine for you