madpogue
Silver Member
We got the new 790 LAST weekend, and I'm FINALLY getting 'round to posting. Overall, we're VERY happy with it. Immediate uses: mow our 21-acre prairie reconstruction, spot herbicide spraying, disc and landscape rake areas we may need to re-seed. Here it is: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/photos/81125d1184304485-our-new-jd-790-tractor800.jpg .
Zero down, zero percent, monthly payments. Add-ons:
* Five suitcase weights (full compliment) - we won't be getting an FEL for a while, so we figured we'd need the front weight for now
* Old semi-beat 5' King Kutter rotary they had sittin' on the lot. They were asking $450 for it, but I looked in the gearbox and turned the shaft and looked at the blades, and got 'em to throw it in for $350, attached and delivered with the tractor.
* Insurance thru JD - Cheaper than our own agent, and requred for the financing
Cool thing was, they rolled everything, delivery and all, into the financing.
Dealer gave us a good once-over with it, made us feel very comfortable with the controls. Our neighbor who's storing it familiarized us further, and showed us the ropes with using it on our field. One disappointment - the dealer didn't say boo about the wheel spacing. They were set narrow, and I did the first 6 acres or so that way. It was our neighbor/tutor who admonished us to swap 'em around to the wider position. We did it down at his shed, and WOW, it made quite a difference in the handling, esp. on our slopes. We talked at length with the dealer about what we were gonna be doing with the machine, so it was dismaying that they didn't even bring this up.
This is the first time I've handled a machine like this, and I still felt quite at ease with it, making only the occasional gaffe (like forgetting to set the mower height). I found the manual controls to be totally straight-forward, and for the life of me, can't figure out what the appeal of an HST tractor would be. I didn't mind the "spartan" steel pedals and foot plates at all. Everything is easy to reach, including all the critical places under the hood. Shoot, the power steering is lighter effort than my dang Saturn! Roy, your signature sums it up. Shoot, it even LOOKS more 1950-ish, with that squared-off hood. Esp. noticeable from the seat.
The 21-acre mowing took about 15 hours. I still haven't gotten the hang of the best way to turn around at the ends of the rows, and the odd shape / topography of the field just makes that trickier. But it'll come with experience, I'm sure. Here's a part of the field: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...6d1184305121-our-new-jd-790-mowedfield800.jpg . Roy, you asked about the slope in that photo thread. Well, a lot of the field is kinda terraced, and actually, those windrows pretty closely follow the rows of beans/corn our tenant ran the last three years. It woulda been very bumpy going up and down those terraces. That line in the background is the north fence, and it's smoother over there, so I ran about eight rows parallel to the fence. But even on those terraced rows, it felt kinda "natural" running it. I would just lean onto the high side, and let the front end point up the hill a little bit.
I've removed the joystick for the FEL hydraulics for now, just to give me a little more room around the controls. A couple of minor irritants: the left-side foot plate vibrates and "hums", even though there are rubber washers on the pins (a little bike innertube rubber will fix that). And the left-side flasher light did the same thing, even though it was bolted down TIGHT (a little WD-40 quieted it down). Next project is to deal with a three-acre patch we discovered that's just overrun with crown vetch. We're either gonna disc it and throw some seed oats and cheap prairie grasses down, or hit it with Stinger (the one herbicide that apparently works on vetch), so our next purchase will be either a landscape rake (we can borrow the disc from Danny) or a trailer sprayer we can tow with the belly drawbar.
Overall impression: it's a solid, simple machine, that acts predictably, even to a COMPLETE novice, and so far, leaves nothing to be desired. The whole idea of a tractor with 1950s simplicity, and 21st Century safety and reliability, suits our needs and interests perfectly.
Zero down, zero percent, monthly payments. Add-ons:
* Five suitcase weights (full compliment) - we won't be getting an FEL for a while, so we figured we'd need the front weight for now
* Old semi-beat 5' King Kutter rotary they had sittin' on the lot. They were asking $450 for it, but I looked in the gearbox and turned the shaft and looked at the blades, and got 'em to throw it in for $350, attached and delivered with the tractor.
* Insurance thru JD - Cheaper than our own agent, and requred for the financing
Cool thing was, they rolled everything, delivery and all, into the financing.
Dealer gave us a good once-over with it, made us feel very comfortable with the controls. Our neighbor who's storing it familiarized us further, and showed us the ropes with using it on our field. One disappointment - the dealer didn't say boo about the wheel spacing. They were set narrow, and I did the first 6 acres or so that way. It was our neighbor/tutor who admonished us to swap 'em around to the wider position. We did it down at his shed, and WOW, it made quite a difference in the handling, esp. on our slopes. We talked at length with the dealer about what we were gonna be doing with the machine, so it was dismaying that they didn't even bring this up.
This is the first time I've handled a machine like this, and I still felt quite at ease with it, making only the occasional gaffe (like forgetting to set the mower height). I found the manual controls to be totally straight-forward, and for the life of me, can't figure out what the appeal of an HST tractor would be. I didn't mind the "spartan" steel pedals and foot plates at all. Everything is easy to reach, including all the critical places under the hood. Shoot, the power steering is lighter effort than my dang Saturn! Roy, your signature sums it up. Shoot, it even LOOKS more 1950-ish, with that squared-off hood. Esp. noticeable from the seat.
The 21-acre mowing took about 15 hours. I still haven't gotten the hang of the best way to turn around at the ends of the rows, and the odd shape / topography of the field just makes that trickier. But it'll come with experience, I'm sure. Here's a part of the field: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...6d1184305121-our-new-jd-790-mowedfield800.jpg . Roy, you asked about the slope in that photo thread. Well, a lot of the field is kinda terraced, and actually, those windrows pretty closely follow the rows of beans/corn our tenant ran the last three years. It woulda been very bumpy going up and down those terraces. That line in the background is the north fence, and it's smoother over there, so I ran about eight rows parallel to the fence. But even on those terraced rows, it felt kinda "natural" running it. I would just lean onto the high side, and let the front end point up the hill a little bit.
I've removed the joystick for the FEL hydraulics for now, just to give me a little more room around the controls. A couple of minor irritants: the left-side foot plate vibrates and "hums", even though there are rubber washers on the pins (a little bike innertube rubber will fix that). And the left-side flasher light did the same thing, even though it was bolted down TIGHT (a little WD-40 quieted it down). Next project is to deal with a three-acre patch we discovered that's just overrun with crown vetch. We're either gonna disc it and throw some seed oats and cheap prairie grasses down, or hit it with Stinger (the one herbicide that apparently works on vetch), so our next purchase will be either a landscape rake (we can borrow the disc from Danny) or a trailer sprayer we can tow with the belly drawbar.
Overall impression: it's a solid, simple machine, that acts predictably, even to a COMPLETE novice, and so far, leaves nothing to be desired. The whole idea of a tractor with 1950s simplicity, and 21st Century safety and reliability, suits our needs and interests perfectly.
