Bought a gx335

[yoder]

I have a GX 335 that I bought new in 2002. I still love mowing with it. beware of the hood cracking down the middle when you lift it one day no warning. I put gorrolia tape on the back of the new hood in hopes to reinforce. CARB surges sometimes but seafoam has kept the rebuild at bay. I am on my second set of belts now and electric PTO. Enjoy

 

[tk tom]

I have a new drive belt for it, the original needs replacing desperately. Many chunks missing and lots of dry cracking going on there. I also have the parts necessary for a low fuel indicator light on order. I find it quite ridiculous a machine of this nature not having any sort of fuel level gauge or low fuel light on the dash. Dad's old 265 had one..... Even the parts lookup for these machines show it being there, just wasn't factory installed I suppose. The cheapy Husqvarna rider I previously had at least had a reserve valve on the tank so when I ran out of fuel I could make it back to the barn and refuel. I don't necessarily always want to top off the tank every time I mow, nor do I always have more fuel on hand so it would be nice to know when I'm running low. End of season duties I like to run it out if possible - but preferably in the barn where it's going to be stored, not way out back in the yard!

I was also thinking about making some sort of hood support strap on the underside to help support it but it does need to flex to pop open. These plastic hoods are not exactly desirable features. Rust? No. Dent? No. Shatter and be rendered useless while costing $500+ to replace? YEP.

 

[Richard001]

I was also thinking about making some sort of hood support strap on the underside to help support it but it does need to flex to pop open. These plastic hoods are not exactly desirable features. Rust? No. Dent? No. Shatter and be rendered useless while costing $500+ to replace? YEP.

You may want to look at the latches that hold the hood in place when closed. I recently worked on a friends tractor that already had cracks in the hood.

The problem is that the latches a very aggressive and you really have to pull up hard to open. I just removed the latches for him. Hood opens very nice now without a struggle and will prevent any further cracking of the hood. The hood doesn't really need these latches. The thing isn't going to go fast enough for the wind to pop open the hood.

 

[tk tom]

That's not a bad idea, it really doesn't need such a hard latch. My last mower didn't have any latch, but the hood was metal (most of it, anyway). I do transport the tractor a handful of times each year on a trailer - facing forward so the wind isn't an issue - and I'd be worried about the bumps causing the hood to bounce around. I do have a pretty rough yard, the plan is to smooth it out as much as possible over the next few years, and every once in a while I forget a bump and get bounced pretty good. If I come up with a decent idea I'll post it up.

I picked up the parts yesterday for the low fuel indicator install. Not sure if I'm going to tackle that here at home in the cold this winter or bring the machine to the shop where it's warm once the winter business slows down a bit. I'll try and get some pics of the process, it's not a very expensive add on IMO and should be a handy feature to have.

 

[javjacob]

I also removed the hood latches on my 345. I agree there is no need for them. I recommend plastex for repairing plastic... Plastex Plastic Repair Kits
I have used it and believe its the best for plastic repairs.

 

[tk tom]

At the beginning of this winter a friend said he'd let me use his snowblower this year on my tractor. We hauled his over and removed the front implement lift kit parts and transferred them to mine, then installed the blower.



I liked it, but really wanted a 2 stage blower. I stumbled across this deal on Craigslist, a fella bought it for his tractor but it didn't fit. It was for my tractor, not his 1 series. I picked it up on a great price (especially when compared with a new one) and it mounted right up.



I have been around Bercomac products for a while now, and I'm not sure there's a better blower unit out there for these size and smaller tractors. They give commercial quality build and performance for the consumer. The Agri-Fab units are just useless, and I haven't been a fan of the JD units. They just aren't built for performance like the Bercomac.



I'd like to get a video of this in action but I don't have the required equipment to do so.

 

[TR595]

Nice find on the tractor and blower.The Berco's are nice but a hard find.I have the 42" single stage on my 345 and with the flapper mod on the auger makes a big difference in the performance.

 

[tk tom]

This tractor has been awesome. It does a great job mowing and snowblowing - but does anyone have any advice for dandelion mowing? I have a husqvarna automower demo unit and its area is dandelion free. My gx335 and a pz60 zeroturn can't seem to touch them. Any suggestions other than weed killer products? How do you get your mower to cut them?

 

[Richard001]

Lower the deck. Not the best for the grass, but it will get those nice yellow flowers.

 

[tk tom]

I had been cutting at 2 which is about as low as I cared to go. Dropped it to1.75 last night and that seemed to do the trick!