Upgrade from JD 2305 to 2320 then too ???? or am I crazy?

[yelbike]

After a catastrophic case failure on my JD 2305, I bought a JD 2320. I love it but now I'm starting to wonder if I need something larger yet. The only chore the tractor struggles with tilling with my 60" king kutter (Behlen) tiller. My wife mows with the JD Z465 Zt and if I help her, the 2320 spins the 72" farm king rfm like nothing(doesn't even require full rpm).

The 2320 had no problems last year with the tiller, but now I've adjusted the skids a little higher so its tilling a little deeper. The engine drops rpm easily even at a snail pace. I don't want to kill the engine. I don't put all that much hours on it so I thought i'd likely not replace this tractor for a long time. The reason I justified the zturn mower was to keep the hours off the tractor. I just started researching the 3220, but realize the pto hp is the same as the jd 2320. I really wouldn't know what the next step up in the jd line up would be.

The loader speed is of no issue for me neither is the hi/low range speed.

I mow about 5 acres and till about 2 acres(tree lines).

Thanks for imput.

 

[XSKIER]

How many hours on your 3TN76V? Mine seems more powerful at 55hrs than it did at 10rs. I think the next logical step for you would be for a 300CX, 3520 Cab, and iMatch. Good luck in your shopping!

 

[XSKIER]

I feel that your current tiller and mower are some awfully large PTO attachments for a 19hp anyway.

 

[jenkinsph]

I think you misread the numbers, if you meant a JD 3320 then it has 25 pto hp. Your 2320 has about 18 pto hp which is quite a bit less.

I use a Howard Rotovator HR4 tiller 60" behind my x749 mower, it will drop off a few hundred rpms' if I go too fast but does a good job overall. That should be the same engine as your 2320 too. When I use this same tiller with the larger 820 31hp pto it never slows down, so adding a few more horses should help you.

When I use the Deeere 673 tiller with the 820 I can load it down a few hundred rpms' occasionally but the 4520 50 pto hp can run it full speed and up to 2.0 mph.

Hope these comparisons help you work it out, my thoughts on this would be to consider a 2720 with 25 pto hp and the lighter weight setup, should be a good fit for a 60" tiller.

 

[KennedyDiesel]

Not sure what you are tilling, but here we have a heavy clay type soil that makes balls easily. My 455 runs the 450 (50") tiller with no shoes as I till my garden deep. To get the depth I run quite slow just inching along otherwise the tiller starts to ride up.

 

[yelbike]

I'm tilling an area roughly 2000' x60'(not sure what that equates to in acreas). Mostly field blown topsoil. It does too ball up when its now dried out enough. Sometimes I get slowed down to a snails pace. It doesn't ride up, just bogs the rpms down. I bought the larger tiller mainly for keeping the tree lines black. I figured tilling the sod up last year was going to be tough and slow going, it wasn't bad at all. But this year I'm trying to go down a little deeper and the tractor is struggling. I don't want to kill it.

Last week I finally finished my harrow project and thats working pretty good, much faster yet less effective then tilling though.

 

[jenkinsph]

I'm tilling an area roughly 2000' x60'(not sure what that equates to in acreas). Mostly field blown topsoil. It does too ball up when its now dried out enough. Sometimes I get slowed down to a snails pace. It doesn't ride up, just bogs the rpms down. I bought the larger tiller mainly for keeping the tree lines black. I figured tilling the sod up last year was going to be tough and slow going, it wasn't bad at all. But this year I'm trying to go down a little deeper and the tractor is struggling. I don't want to kill it.

Last week I finally finished my harrow project and thats working pretty good, much faster yet less effective then tilling though.

FWIW, that is about 2 3/4 acres at a speed of about 1/2 mph or slightly faster it would take about 8 to 10hrs to till this with your 60" tiller and tractor.

 

[yelbike]

Yup, thats about right for the time it took to till the sod the first time around. Shoulndn't it go faster after that?

 

[jenkinsph]

That is a large tiller for the size tractor you have, if you were going for a greater depth on the next pass it is likely you would not move any faster. I have a similar size tiller and the same engine IIRC so I am familiar with what you should be able to achieve. I use mine for much smaller jobs than what you are attempting. For larger jobs I use the 4520 and 673 tiller which will till about 8 inches in two passes. Ground conditions can certainly vary for different locales but where I am tilling making two passes in different directions 2.75 acres would take about 5 hours total time. That is a first pass at 1.5 mph and a second pass in the opposite direction at 1.8 mph with tiller at pto speed. Depending on conditions (optimum) I can sometimes run 2.0 mph. I mention all of this to give you some idea of what the tillers are capable of if you have the power to keep them turning up to speed.


I should add that if this is a one time thing you might just tough it out. If you are going to do this repeatedly then I would move up in pto hp.

 

[yelbike]

I realize the tiller is on the larger side for the tractor. I guess my problem stems from my assumption that once the ground was nicely tilled, subsequent passes would easily therefor faster. Did I assume wrong?

The only part of this project thats one time is the initial ground breaking. Hopefully the tree lines will be there longer then I will.

 

[Tenn_Blue]

We have a 2320 as well - no tiller yet, but I plan to get a 4" one if I ever have to buy one. My neighbor has one I can borrow for the few times I need it now.....

As to a bigger tractor, lots of factors to consider.....

There will always be a "need" for a bigger tractor!!!! But if yours does 95% of what you honestly need it to do, I'd think long and hard about the decision....

I would think that after the first few passes, the ground will get conditioned and progress would be faster. May be easier to just go to a smaller tiller that your horsepower would support...

Not sure how much of a premium your time is worth.... I'm retired, so a few extra hours of seat time is no big deal and I enjoy using the tractor. But if I were billing my time (making money) that would be a different matter.....

If you go to a bigger tractor, how much will you lose ($$$) trading/selling your existing one? Factor in replacing implements (mowers, blades, etc) that will have to fit a wider/bigger platform.

I dream about a new machine all the time, but mine does what I need it to and is paid for! Thinking about writing those checks each month usually brings my practical side back out!

But in the long run - your money and hapiness! IF you go new, we want pictures!!!

 

[vsteel]

I run a 655 tiller behind my 2320 and it does pretty well but you can tell it is working the motor some. I think your tiller is to big for the soil conditions. I bet if you had sandy soil it would handle it.

 

[yelbike]

I run a 655 tiller behind my 2320 and it does pretty well but you can tell it is working the motor some. I think your tiller is to big for the soil conditions. I bet if you had sandy soil it would handle it.

Your probably 100% correct.

I think I figured out what I was doing wrong. Last year when I was tilling the grass up I wasn't really tilling all that deep, then I adjusted the guide skids on the tiller to max depth. Long story short; on the long runs(bulk of my tilling) I just set it to approximately inch or two deep, then the speed can stay some where near half speed in low gear without killing the RPMs. When I till where the new garden is going, I go full depth and extremely slow.

 

[firefighterjrm]

It seems to me your tiller as mentioned is a little to big for the 2320 and as other said the there are many options you can trade your machine on something bigger but then there's the cost and new impliments if needed or sell your current tiller for 4ft. Either way it will cost you, I personally if the 2320 does what you need it do would down size the tiller to a 4ft the reasoning is that with your current tiller is a little to big and requires more rear PTO being careful is one way to use your current tiller but on the flip side if your deere is still under warranty and you have a major problem with your rear PTO deere may turn down your claim and if its not under warranty and you crack your case or do major interanal damage to your rear PTO it is going to cost big$$$$$$$$ I have seen a couple threads on here where people have done just what you are doing and have not had such good results due to damage. Just a thought you may be better selling your current tiller on craigs list and buying something smaller as far as tillers goes unless you upgrade your tractor to a larger model. I would just be worried of causing damage money out of my wallet.....

 

[jenkinsph]

Not suggesting you rush out and buy one but this is a good example of why I would buy a 2720 to fill in the gap between the 749 and the 4520 in my business. The higher pto hp is an advantage for tilling jobs such as yours.

 

[Missouri Lad]

This is my first posting. With interest , been reading all about John Deere 2320 series. I bought a 2011 JD 2320 from a dealer in Nebraska for $12,500.00 with 62 hours on it. I don't know how they used it, as it didn't have any dust, dirt, of nicks, or sratches on it. This is one remarkable working dude. Here is a picture of it.

 

[yelbike]

This is my first posting. With interest , been reading all about John Deere 2320 series. I bought a 2011 JD 2320 from a dealer in Nebraska for $12,500.00 with 62 hours on it. I don't know how they used it, as it didn't have any dust, dirt, of nicks, or sratches on it. This is one remarkable working dude. Here is a picture of it.

Congrats on your purchase!!! You'll enjoy it!!!

 

[Agent Blue]

That " extra hp " has alot of thinking of up grading our sub compacts. I have a 60" mower with six acres to mow. Would i like a 72 " ? of course. Although mowing is a stress reliever the seat time gives way to new ideas and ventures to come. My 4110 is an excellent example of an all around lawn machine that does exactly what I need. I have a 55 hp NH that handles the bigger tasks with ease. If anything I would consider an engine upgrade in my size frame should there be mechanical issues in the future. It gets real expensive when you jump a frame size in the attachment field... ie mower, loader, and any taylor made items designed to fit this application.
For now I am pleased with my current tractor group ( JD, NH, AC, IH, Bolens, )

 

[jenkinsph]

That " extra hp " has alot of thinking of up grading our sub compacts. I have a 60" mower with six acres to mow. Would i like a 72 " ? of course. Although mowing is a stress reliever the seat time gives way to new ideas and ventures to come. My 4110 is an excellent example of an all around lawn machine that does exactly what I need. I have a 55 hp NH that handles the bigger tasks with ease. If anything I would consider an engine upgrade in my size frame should there be mechanical issues in the future. It gets real expensive when you jump a frame size in the attachment field... ie mower, loader, and any taylor made items designed to fit this application.
For now I am pleased with my current tractor group ( JD, NH, AC, IH, Bolens, )

Pretty much the way I see it too. adding a few hp to operate pto attachments at a higher ground speed makes sense to me. While adding hp to the same frame size wont increase the draft capability it will allow you to pull the same load at a faster speed.

I do so much close quarters work that I want to make sure I have enough power to manuever around quickly and easily. I like the 31hp 2720 since it is a powerful little tractor. Pto hp is important since I can till a given piece of ground faster if the tractor can keep up.

 

[Dagoof]

Do you think that 3 extra horsepower would make the difference?

I ask because I've got a 2520 (20.5 PTO HP) and I'm hoping to put a 60" tiller behind it.

This thread has been very helpful. I'm thinking that I can get away with the 60", but I'd hate to find out the hard way.