Just got x749 - Thoughts and Questions!

[kevin-kc]

Purchased: x749 62C Powerflow Bagger
Had: 316
Evaluated: x749, 2305, 2320 for 5 acres

Decision: 2320 felt too big when i was just going to use for 90+% mowing. 2305 would probably have been a decent choice for me, but i went with x749 because i thought it would be more stable on hills, and more of a mowing machine. I never used attachments before, and was thinking about adding things like loaders, tillers, etc, but decided i'll continue to do without, and hire someone for the odd times i'd need them.

Bagger: Powerflow bagger didn't work well on the tall grass - was basically unusable. First time i mowed, the grass was very tall, so i mowed it without the bagger, then decided to immediately go over the lawn a second time with the power flow on - but it kept on getting jammed in seconds. I ended up mowing the lawn again, then raking the whole lawn clean. I'll try the powerflow on the short grass this time and expect it works. I don't know what i was thinking selecting this option. That same $1500 bucks could have instead went to some pretty serious machinery that i could use, like log splitters, branch shredders, etc.

4-wheel steer: At first turning felt really strange, like i was driving a zambonie, but after a few hours i got used to it, and am so glad i went with it. Not only doesn't it slip where my old 316 did, it feels more stable on side hills, and it i'm never needing to "backup" anymore.

Oil/Maintenance:

Any opinions on synthetic vs. non-synthetic oil? Besides following service intervals, any other recommendations?

Cutting:

Sometimes when the wind blows, the grass coming out of the deck is blown all in my face. Old one never did that. I also noticed with the powerflow that grass did come out the corner, as other posts mentioned, and this is indeed annoying as the whole reason you spend a fortune on the bagging is to suck up all grass. Also, when cutting without the bags, there has been occasional little trail of grass left between blades.

The cooling grates that suck in outside air constantly pull grass onto them and fully block the grates in seconds. Anyone have any tips to avoid this?

Jerking:

Had some weird jerking so far. It's the same kind of jerk you experience in a 4WD vehicle when you turn the wheels tight. When jerking is occuring, every half second or so the wheel grabs and jerks. It happened when i first tried to see the maximum speed, and happened one or two other times. Not sure what this could be, and neither is my dealer. I wonder if fluid somewhere is low. I'm going to watch and see.

Any last tips from owners on usage, maintenance, things to expect, watch out for, etc?

 

[ChuckinNH]

Thanks for the review, and input. I have been considering the purchase of something to replace my aging Simplicity. I used a powerflow a few times about ten years ago, and can't remember for sure if it had more problems clogging than the "turbo" collector on my Simplicity or not. I do remember that it had more "blowby" out the front corner. JD now has a "leaf collection kit" that costs about $100, or a bit less that is supposed to reduce that greatly.

 

[mfreund]

Congratulation!!!

I had a x495 AWS and the jerking is the transaxle that is used for the all-steer. There is nothing wrong just different. It is different. It was when you were turning right??

As for the grass in the face, I had that happen and after that mowed with the wind.

I always blow the tractor off with compressed air and blow out the screens every time I use mine.

 

[AndreX748]

Hi kevin-kc,

Congrats on a great machine!

Some feed-back on the use of our X748:

We have a 9 acre lot and we have the X748 with FEL, 3PH and rear Pto and we are very pleased with it.

Grass blowing in your face when mowing against the wind does happen indeed and it seems to be worse when the set mowing height is higher (more free space under the deflector). Like mfreund said; try to mow with the wind as much as possible.

The cooling grates do indeed suck up a lot of grass (the drier the more) buth in our case the outside screens catch the most. We just wipe the most of during mowing and blow the cooling section out when we're done mowing. What did help is when we put the rpm to 2300 for most of the mowing. This induces less suction so glugging is reduced. Of course you get less quality in the cut, but try and find out what works for you...

We never considered a bagger since the lawn we have is fairly small. I'm mostly mowing horse meadows, orchyards and rough stuff along our ditches where a bagger would be of no use anyway. We just rake the small lawns when necessary. For the money that would have gone in a bagging system we bought a FEL which was the best attachement we ever bought .

As for synthetic oil; we never did use it and we're not planning to. We just stick by the manual for all service and that has been fine for the 300 hours it has on the meter so far (since summer 2007).

One thing to keep an eye on is the usage of cooling fluid. Ours did use some in the beginning, but the problem cured itself and I know others had the same problem. Keeping an eye on your fluid levels is always good, same as tyre pressure.

Every time we used the mower deck we pull it and clean the thing with compressed air, since we don't like having it on when we do other jobs with the tractor, and every month I clean the underside and we also clean the underside when we have been mowing wet grass (we also clean and conserve the under side of the deck for winter storage)

Maintenance wise the 748 has been straight by the manual and performes really well. If I would have to make the choice again though I would go with a 2520/2720, but that's because of usage, not because of the 748 itself .

Take care,
André

 

[kevin-kc]

Thanks for the great posts so far. Interesting comment about the cooling fluid. They delivered it right at the low line, and then when i got ready to mow for my second week (last week), i noticed it was down significantly. Where in the temperature range does your gauge sit?

When you cleaned the underside of the deck, was there much stuck up under there? I wonder if it is really necessary?

 

[sunnyside360]

I had a very similar model X485 a few years ago (predacessor to 700 series). The radiator screen seemed to be a magnet for debris, and yes lots of grass on the operator especially in windy conditions. Mine did lose coolant at first but I attributed it to running a little hot when the the radiator was clogged. After I started to clean the radiator and screens with compressed air often, the coolant level did not go down. John Deere issued a bulletin to all owners about the importance of cleaning the radiator and screen to prevent overheating.

 

[AndreX748]

kevin,

The loss of cooling fluid could have been down to several reasons, for example; the manual states that you check the clamps on the radiator hoses on regular bases (which I did/do) so it might just have been some leakage at a hose clamp. All I know is that it used to use some fluid but nowadays it's fine.

The cooling gauge is always between 1/4 to 1/3 of the very beginning (i.e. very much in the green area).

Grass build up under the deck is normalwise not much (that's why we only clean once a month and even that interval could be to two months because normally there's not much there ).
We only get serious build up when the grass is damp or wet. I don't like to mow when it's damp or wet but sometimes there's no way around that so I mow and clean afterwards.

You stated having some problems using the bagging system in long grass....have you tried mowing wet (or damp) grass with it? I suspect that won't work to well either.

Cheers,
André