What kind of Lawn Tractor

[Anonymous Poster]

Thanks for all the comments, suggestions, and leads to other sites for information. I've done a lot of reading, kicking tires, looking at frames, etc. the past week. I liked the Simplicity overall, Kubota was built like a tank but pricey for what I wanted, kicked some tires at Sears, Lowes, and HD. Everything was $2200 to $3299. You know what was on the upper end. Then yesterday I called the local JD dealer and asked if he had anything used. He said he had a near new Scotts that came from HD. In case someone doesn't know, JD made the Scotts for HD and painted it orange. He said he hadn't cleaned it up yet but to come take a look. It had less than 10 hrs on the meter. I pulled the air filter and it was dusty but still very white. Seems a guy bought it last year, took it home and decided he wanted a meaner, bigger, green machine so he traded it in. This is the same machine as the JD L130, except it's orange. I looked at them side by side. I've got a near new machine for $1300. Best part is that the original owner never sent in the warranty card. Dealer said he would send it in so I will have a two year warranty to go with my purchase. In my book, that is hard to beat. If you're not familiar with this model, it had everything I was looking for (except maybe a different engine..but the B & S isn't too bad). Hydro with foot control, 48" 10 ga. deck, back-up lockout override, 18" turning radius, cruise. Thanks again for the input.
Rod

 

[kyoders]

Rod,

Just curious, but what model is the Scotts? I had one for a week once, but discovered it couldn't do some of the things I was told it would, so it went back.

Kevin

 

[chrisjbell]

Hey, that's a great deal on a good tractor! Sounds like it is very similar to my LX255, except you spent about half of what I did /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif. Congratulations on a great buy.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Kyoders,
I think Scotts calls it the 2048 which just stands for 20 HP and 48" cut. I was wrong on my previous post. It is the JD L120. I was able to do a test drive on it. Seemed to work just fine. Curious on what it wouldn't do. My guess on this one is that the previous owner wanted to use it as a bush hog and it just wouldn't perform. Me, I'm going to just mow my grass.
Rod

 

[kyoders]

Rod,

I tried to haul a small cart load of mulch up the back drive, which is pretty steep and just gravel. It went up a similar concrete drive OK, but on the gravel the rear tires started to spin and the front-end started to come up. It was about 6 inches off the ground before I recovered. The guy at HD said I would have no problem at all, and he was even somewhat familiar with the area (he did the lousy landscaping on some of the houses here). I had my doubts, but when he said I could return it in 30 days, no questions asked, I decided to give it a try. BTW, it was a model 2554, the biggest they offered at the time. Other than that, it seemed like a pretty good machine.

Kevin

 

[s1120]

Kevin, looks like you ran into the problem with a lot of lawn/garden tractors. Just not enough weight. Plus eaven on a small tractor, turf tires are not the best all around tire for these things. Most of the time a lug, or bar tire would be the best tire, and save the turfs for the guy that wants the putting green. Give us guys, who use the tractors, the good bar/lugs. [Oh, and weight boxes, and wheel weights help also] /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[chrisjbell]

Hmm. I haul a 17 CF wagon up my drive all the time with my lawn tractor - it is pretty steep, gravel, and I load up the wagon "to the brim" with wood. I've got turfs on it (trying for that golf course look on the lawn - no luck yet /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif).

Mine's a JD LX255 - it'll spin the tires before the front end comes up (this is a Good Thing in my mind). I have a path that is a shorter route to the wood stack that is a lot steeper than the driveway. When I use my Kubota's bucket to get wood I go that way, but the tractor usually spins out on the steep part. Maybe one of the reasons is that it has a really heavy front axle and that keeps the front end from popping up?