Well used X 500 Impulse buy

[sd455dan]

Well My Trusty MTD Hydrostat is still going Strong....
But the Deck has had it and no parts available to fix it this time.

Wife said that's It -I hate driving that Gilson and we need a Mower Today... I said will all be --a-ned If I will Buy a new Plastic Home Depot or Walmart Mower, So we better hope someone has a used better quality older rider for sale. She says Fine but we will split the cost which i liked.
First place we check a Local Husky dealer says we have a few but only one that is a hydrostat mower. a JD X 500.

First 2 questions who built the Hydrostat, he says I think its a Peerless I said like an Eaton Peerless he says I think so.

Next question what engine, we pop the well cracked hood and see a v twin Kawi. I said that also looks Good.
Quick test run and everything seems to work well, smooth engine no odd noises no oil burning. deck spun up nicely. Turns out a recent widower had consigned it.

I ask what's the bottom dollar because the tag says asking $3000, lady says I think you could get it for $2200 and my wife says that's bad Karma call her and ask if she will take $2400, I am gasping at this point... they get the lady on the phone and of course she will take $200 more than her already admitted bottom dollar.

I ask if maybe her husband had a service manual and she thinks so, I also ask the dealer if they could throw in a set of new blades and they say no problem.

At this point we buy the mower and they sharpened the old blades until the new ones come in. Anyway here she is. Hope this one goes for a good long time Mower has about 840 hours on it. We shall see. Our MTD Hydro has several thousand. Did a bit of trial mowing seems good after raising the deck up a bit, our ground is pretty rough.

I hope we didn't get burned but was not going to buy a Nice pretty "new plastic drive" rider.

Maybe the wife is right about Karma.

first check I just did , look this up on tractordata
Nope not a Peerless Eaton... a Tuff torque K 72 B Mmm

 

[oldnslo]

I think you did OK.

Were you able to obtain any service records from previous owner?

that transaxle has a replaceable filter so if no records might want to consider changing that filter and fluid. Pretty easy task once you get deck removed. Will need small neck funnel to refill the transaxle.

 

[Doughknob]

I love the larger Deere riders. I had a GT235 before this X500. i did have something go wrong with the Tranny on the GT235 but parts were readily available and was able to tear into it myself and fix.

 

[sd455dan]

I think you did OK.

Were you able to obtain any service records from previous owner?

that transaxle has a replaceable filter so if no records might want to consider changing that filter and fluid. Pretty easy task once you get deck removed. Will need small neck funnel to refill the transaxle.

No not yet the lady that consigned it was going to see what her husband had in the garage. I am Hoping we get a paper full service manual. maybe an Operators manual to. I am a devout manual reader any way so here is hoping.
Actually this mower is quite a step up in power and cutting width. The Gilson is a 42 inch manual shift peerless 5 speed with a 16 HP Briggs I/C opposed twin. The Co-Op MTD is a 44 inch cut 18 hp Briggs opposed twin I/C with Peerless Eaton Hydrostat just changed fluid and filter on it recently as well.

Looking at the X 500 I am going to give it a good cleaning and clear out all the old build up on the mower deck.
I do see and like the greasable spindles, also using three overlapped blades so no need for the double sided timing belt or having the blades hit each other on the MTD. Over 50 inch cutting width and 25 HP will be welcome as well.

The only Mod my wife wants is for me to take some diamond plate and make a front grille guard/crash bar. No problem.
So what's the consensus on the K72 Hydros Overall??

 

[oldnslo]

I believe the K72 is a durable transaxle just keep the cooling fins clean and check the plastic fan occasionally to make sure something didn’t get poked up in it and break some blades off. If similar to my X540 you can easily see the fan from the rear on upper right side of transaxle.

 

[sd455dan]

Thanks,
Sounds Good .

I mowed one of the front yards tonight and the X 500 is growing on me .
It is a Nice and quiet deck with really good blade speed. Checked all the spindle bearings No play or noise in them at all.
I am going to disarm the PTO cut out when reversing . We mow with the others in reverse often. Having a clutch engage disengage re engage that often makes no sense to me.

Overall happy with the new to us mower, and now I can take my time with switching over the deck that looks good on a free Cub Cadet that we need to pick up- Not sure if the engine is blown or why it got parked but I think it is a similar width cut to the MTD Hydro.

 

[oldnslo]

For the reverse override on your X500 do you have to pull up on the deck engagement lever. If yes very simple to override you just have to put jumper wire across two contacts on that switch. This way just remove jumper and safety is now active.

 

[sd455dan]

Yep, I haven't tried the pulling up test yet but watched a vid that concurs with your advice. Did JD make an X 500 without the switch pull up feature?

 

[oldnslo]

Yep, I haven't tried the pulling up test yet but watched a vid that concurs with your advice. Did JD make an X 500 without the switch pull up feature?

No clue on if JD made model without the pull switch option. Doubtful but not sure.

My son just wedged a cloths pin under the knob on his to keep override disabled. This works for him since his young son occasionally drives the tractor so makes much easier to have switch active as required.

 

[sd455dan]

No clue on if JD made model without the pull switch option. Doubtful but not sure.

My son just wedged a cloths pin under the knob on his to keep override disabled. This works for him since his young son occasionally drives the tractor so makes much easier to have switch active as required.

Did a little clean up and other than the Hood needing crack repair. And either the suspension seat off the MTD or a new Yellow J D
The X500 actually looks pretty Good Going to check if it can be backed up and keep the blades spinning also checked the HST oil is nice and clean.

 

[oldnslo]

On the cracked hood I wonder if this is from people just trying to lift in the center of the hood right above the console. I always reach across and and gently pull out slightly on both sides of the hood at the bottom of dash. This releases the plastic catch and hood opens very easily then.

Your blade engagement switch looks identical to mine so lift before backing up and deck should stay running. Note: once you start backing you can release the switch and deck will stay running.

 

[grsthegreat]

Not sure how old your old mower is, but you should be able to get a complete new stamped deck for it. Ive replaced the deck on my 12 yo huskvarna mower 2 times now. They cost about $600.
Most decks are made by same company it seams.

 

[beenthere]

John Deere forms their own decks at their factory in Horicon, WI. At least for the higher grade lawn tractors.
And they last longer than 5 years.

 

[grsthegreat]

rocks on my property take their toll on the mower decks. my next unit will have a welded, formed deck, not a stamped deck.

but as long as i can keep mine running, i will keep it. i repaired the last deck to useable state to use when wife insists on mowing the trails and the side of road. this is the hardest area on the deck. then i swap out the newer deck to handle lawns. seems to work good, and only takes about 10 minutes to swap.

some JD branded mowers that you see at lowes and HD are made in mexico and have stamped decks also. higher end units sold at JD lots are better made, and priced that way.

ive been keeping an eye out for a good welded deck mower, but the lots are empty out my way. dealers say orders have been made early last year still have not arrived. everything on lot has stamped decks.

 

[Milo]

Stamping a deck out of heavy gauge steel requires a very large, heavy duty press, which most small mower manufacturers don't invest in so they simply weld them up. A welded together deck certainly doesn't mean it's better.

 

[Superduper]

If I saw that deal locally, I would have bought it on the spot. I just purchased a used mower myself a couple weeks ago with much more hours (2825)! and I can tell it still has a lot of life left, although I did have to do a lot of maintenance and parts replacements to get it to where I felt comfortable. And I paid a bunch more than what you did, so I'd say you did well.

 

[grsthegreat]

Stamping a deck out of heavy gauge steel requires a very large, heavy duty press, which most small mower manufacturers don't invest in so they simply weld them up. A welded together deck certainly doesn't mean it's better.

I disagree. Ive seen welded decks that look like there built like a tank. Way stronger than the thin stamped units. The rocks simply bend my decks up to a point they become useless. I clear rocks every year….but they simply grow rocks here. They hide in the grass and weeds. Its amazing.

was told by a geologist that were on a glacial plane and the granite rocks are continually coming up to the surface. Out in the middle of my lawn ill see a perfectly clear grass surface mowed down to the nub for winter prep….suddenly in spring thaw there are crap load of rocks out there. Drives me nuts.

 

[sd455dan]

If I saw that deal locally, I would have bought it on the spot. I just purchased a used mower myself a couple weeks ago with much more hours (2825)! and I can tell it still has a lot of life left, although I did have to do a lot of maintenance and parts replacements to get it to where I felt comfortable. And I paid a bunch more than what you did, so I'd say you did well.

Yeah I Mowed about 3 acres with it today.

I disarmed both the seat and the reverse blade lock out. Readjusted both reverse and forward pedals for more travel to increase speed.

Was amazed how fast I finished everything,

wife was watching and said you just mowed more ground than we get done with "both" of us mowing and still finished ahead by Quite a Bit.
I was wrong on the hours after cleaning the display it actually has 798 hours.

Convinced at this point we got a "Really Good" machine and Feel Good about paying it forward with the lady that lost her husband.

$2400 was a Great deal.
Happy as can be, we never even looked at New mowers at Home Depot.

I have decided to repair the Hood, Once the wife and our helper finish this weeks mowing of the other property that we take care of. I have enough fiberglass mat and will pick up some more fast dry resin.
Just going to do under hood glass work and it will leave a line or two in the top exterior, but should be mechanically sound.

 

[sd455dan]

Not sure how old your old mower is, but you should be able to get a complete new stamped deck for it. Ive replaced the deck on my 12 yo huskvarna mower 2 times now. They cost about $600.
Most decks are made by same company it seams.

I Wish...
I posted in the 1st thread opener that we have a free cub Cadet i need to pick up , But was completely wrong on that, It is a Coast to Coast MTD with a blown engine. But the deck is Good I am told.

The deck that is flat wore out on our Co-Op MTD Hydrostat (and really isn't the stamped deck itself... )
It is all of the deck drive parts that are shot.

This deck is somewhat unique It utilizes a Timing belt which is cogged on both sides and works much like a cam timing belt on most OHC engines except both sides of the belt are cogged and each side is used to time each of the spindles.
When the blades get out of time they literally hit each other because they overlap and spindles are straight across in the deck. It makes for a great design when working correctly (Blades are counter rotating and timed to be 90 degrees to each other) ejecting clippings to the rear discharge exit. Belt is about a $100, both spindles are bent and have
The blades have stayed on but pulleys shot, Belt gears both shot, and bearings worn out again. splines shot (stripped) on the primary spindle as well as a damaged taper for the v belt drive pulley . Then there is the stripped spindle threads on the drive pully hold down portion.

No spindles have been available for over a decade and also the cogged belt driven gears either. My Hope is the Junk Coast to coast deck is a more common design that does not require timing and close width wise to the CO-OP hydro mower.

It would have to be shown to me where a like type complete New deck can be purchased for the CO-OP Hydro,
I think it is a 1985 model , so 37 years old.

 

[grsthegreat]

Oh..so its a very old machine. Guess you got your money worth from it then.