any used John Deere advice?

[wolfe1]

A good price resource is www.lawnpower.com click on used - they treated me right

 

[Hard]

FWIW, I just borrowed my neighbor's 445 to mow my yard (2.5 acres) yesterday because my Cub is back in the repair shop again. I was very impressed. My yard is flat in areas but I do have some steep slopes as well. The 445 has plenty of power to cut long grass going up slopes and provides a very nice cut with the 60" mower. If you can swing it get the 445. I can't imagine that anyone would be dissapointed with this garden tractor. Good luck.

 

[IH3444]

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/tractor/

 

[neverenough]

I am looking to upgrade from a 10-12 year old 18 hp craftsman tractor with a 44" deck that never mowed all that great to begin with. I'd like a larger mower deck just to get done more quickly. I have about 1.5 acres with nothing real major in the way of hills. I would estimate it's about 75% completely open lawn, with the rest having some scattered trees. Mostly I'm looking for a quality machine that will last for a minimum of 10 years or so without major maintenance headaches. The older John Deere tractors seem like a much heavier duty, quality build than anything I could get new for the same price. My local JD dealer has a few used tractors that I'm interested in, but I'm not sure if they are a good deal or not. I haven't have chance to get much more than a cursory look at them yet, but they are:

#1 is a 1996 345 with a 54" deck and about 900-1000 hours, seems to be in basically good shape, he wants $3000.

#2 is a 425 (year and hours unknown right now) with a 54" deck that seems ok, but definitely a bit more beat up than #1. His price is $3500.

#3 is a 1996 445 with a 60" deck (hours unknown) in very good shape. He's asking $5000.

Right now I'm leaning toward #1. Number 3 is probably out my price range at this point, and is probably too large anyway. Does anyone have any advice as to what to check out or look for on these tractors? How about any pricing or negotiating info or hints? Also, how do these older machines compare to a new John Deere in the same price range (like an X320 or X340)? Thanks for your help.

Going from a 44" deck to anything less than 50 inch will be pointless, IMO, if you are looking for shorter cutting times. The 54 should be good enough, IMO, but the 60 covers ground that much faster. Year and hours is key to the value of these tractors. Just like with cars, you lose so much value every year, then instead of miles with a car, hours add, deduct, or don't really effect value. I'm not sure what is considered "normal" hours per year, but I would guess 40-60hrs per year for just mowing. Depending on the length of your local mowing season. Keep and eye on http://www.machinefinder.com/. Look under lawn and garden and what ever brand you choose. Going by your zip code, it will search the closest dealer on out and show their online inventory. Some dealers give more info than others, but it will give you a good feel for what tractors are going for in your area. I had a 425, and liked it. Almost 1600 hours on it and it worked quite well. Pretty sure it was a '97. I traded up for a new X585 for the 4x4 in the winter.