Buying Advice Need help with a decision, Long

[Crow Hunter]

Hi guys. I have been lurking around trying to glean information to make a decision. I still am on the fence so I thought I would ask the question directly to the very knowledgeable people on this board.

Situation:

I have a very steep 1.5 acre property with a small lake at the bottom that I mow. See pics below. I killed my last mower, a Husqvarna 2554 in right at 100 hours. So I am in the market for a new lawn mower that can handle these slopes without killing the transmission.

I have decided that I want to get a John Deere X500 with rear Ag tires. I have this priced at my local dealer for right at $6,000 out the door.

That is quite a bit of money and I don't have an issue with it, but it got me to thinking that if I am willing to pay that much for a mower, should I just go with a compact tractor instead?

Will a compact tractor that can fit inside of my normal 2 car garage along with the trailer and 2 ATVs be a good enough mower to not be a hassle to mow with?

Will it be a good enough tractor to let me use it to bush hog down around the lake instead of having to push mow? (My neighbor uses a L serious Kubota for this but he has an outbuilding to store it in, my lot doesn't have a flat enough spot to build an outbuilding)

I was thinking that I could use the FEL for cutting down some high spots in the yard and filling in low spots and covering with sod along with hauling mulch once a year)

Will the small tractor be capable of this or is the FEL on it more of a mulch transporter?

I genuinely thank you for the time it took to read all my ramblings.





Additional details:

-I also own a small farm of 69 acres and another plot of land at 200 acres both of which are 1.5 hours from where I live now.

-Eventually when I either retire (20 years) or find a job closer (anytime), I will be moving out to the 70 acre farm and building a house.

-Right now the 70 acre farm has about 30 acres in hay fields that a family friend cuts for me and he tries to keep my ATV trails clear, but his tractor is fairly large and some of the trails are fairly steep. I think a smaller tractor would be better able to get through the ATV trails. The 200 acre plot of land is hilly cut over timber that needs to have the ATV trails bush hogged.

 

[kneedeep]

Welcome to TractorByNet! Lots of free advice- I personally like the Mahindra tractors. The small 4WD Utility tractors are very versatile machines and with the right attachments will handle any job you have. With more than a yard (farm and cutover land) a all purpose tractor will be a tough decision as to size.
My suggestions would be:
FEL and/or Backhoe
At least 30-40 HP
Maybe Hydrostatic for all that mowing
Either a big belly mower or a finish mower AND a heavy duty 5-6' mower for the trails and fields.

You may be thinking even bigger tractor!

BTW-Nice looking yard and lake-

 

[Grandad4]

First, welcome. Nice place, but you indeed have a pretty good hillside to take care of. You'll probably get a range of opinions about this. Here's mine. The Deere X series are great mowers according to their owners, so they'd probably do the mowing part of your work very well. A subcompact like the Kubota BX or Deere 1 Series would mow well and would be better for your other dirt moving work. A box blade on the rear and the loader in front would work for your levelling projects, for example, and you could add a 4 ft. cutter for your pond perimeter. Also, I kind of like having a heavier-duty, multi-range transmission such as on those SCUT's for those hills, but that's just me. The SCUT would probably be handy at your other properties, but you'd certainly need something larger as well. Either way you go, you'll be a big step ahead of your previous equipment.

 

[coobie]

If you want a mower and FEL move up to the JD X700 series.coobie

 

[Crow Hunter]

Thank you for your replies and the comments on my yard.

I have a limited selection in my area. There is a John Deere dealer and a Kubota dealer in town with a Case dealer and a New Holland dealer about 45 min away in opposite directions.

The John Deere dealership controls all the JD stores in this area and has an "outlet" close to where my farm is.

The John Deere dealer actually recommended that I go with the X500 or equivalent with Ag tires for my yard and wait to get a larger tractor once I moved out to the farm in the future, even though I figure he gets a bigger margin on the SCUTs/UTs. The Kubota dealer recommended a BX2370 over a garden tractor/mower. I have a friend whose father just bought a Kubota tractor (not sure which model) with a FEL that he has decided he doesn't want that only has 10 hrs on it, I am going to see what type of a deal I can get with that before I make any decision.

I absolutely love the idea of having the tractor but I am afraid that it won't fit into the garage, be a pain in the rear to haul back and forth to the farm, and wind up being overkill for what I need here at the house but "but underkill" for what I will need it for in the future.

My wife really liked the X500 and she is leaning heavily towards the garden tractor and just waiting to get a bigger tractor later. She thinks that it would be cheaper (and less clutter) to get a pull behind rotary cutter for the ATVs and just hire out any dirt work than it would to pay the extra $10k+ for the SCUT and have to deal with trying to mow with a tractor since mowing will be what it will be used for the most.

I am still on the fence.

 

[stevem5215]

That hill is a transmission killer. You will need something heavy duty enough to tackle that and as you know the K46 in light duty models isn't enough. I don't know what the X500 has for a tranny but always remember to buy the biggest one your budget can afford so it will last. Especially for those hills.
I have a Steiner 420 here as one of the tools for my 4 acres. They are great on hills.

Steve

 

[KYDan]

Nothing works better on a hill than a hydrostatic transmission either a tractor mower or a good zero turn. Not the cheap box store variety of either one. Deere and Kubota are both good choices. For compact/subcompact tractors I prefer Kubotas. But, I am brand biased. I have an older JD 757 60" zero turn that has been a great mower and fast. Dedicated mowers will be faster and give a better cut in most uses over a general purpose tractor mower.

 

[Crow Hunter]

That hill is a transmission killer. You will need something heavy duty enough to tackle that and as you know the K46 in light duty models isn't enough. I don't know what the X500 has for a tranny but always remember to buy the biggest one your budget can afford so it will last. Especially for those hills.
I have a Steiner 420 here as one of the tools for my 4 acres. They are great on hills.

Steve

From my research it has a K72 and it is serviceable. You can change the oil.

I actually bought one today. They are putting Bar tires on it and I will go pick it up on Friday. I am actually looking forward to mowing :shocked:. I am excited to find out whether or not the locking rear differential and Ag tires will let me mow without spinning at the bottom of turns. It will also be interesting to actually mow without feeling like I need to get off and push like I have to with my current mower. :laughing:

As for getting a SCUT, the key decision maker for me was that for $10,000 or so more that a SCUT would cost above the X500, I could get quite a bit of hired out help to do work around here. The advantage of having something that I could take back to work on the other 2 farms was outweighed, in my mind, with having to get a new, much longer and more expensive trailer to haul it back and forth and trying to find somewhere to store it. While thinking that whole time that I would be wanting to upgrade later to something bigger. I figure even if we do move out to the farm earlier than my projected 20 year time frame, I would still get quite a bit of use out of a good riding mower around the new house and I could get a much bigger tractor for all the other yard duties.

But when I went in to make the purchase today, I sure did linger admiringly around that 1026R they had parked out front.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Wagtail]

Welcome & congratulations on the purchase.

We'll, of course, need pictures of your new rig!

 

[jenkinsph]

From my research it has a K72 and it is serviceable. You can change the oil.

I actually bought one today. They are putting Bar tires on it and I will go pick it up on Friday. I am actually looking forward to mowing :shocked:. I am excited to find out whether or not the locking rear differential and Ag tires will let me mow without spinning at the bottom of turns. It will also be interesting to actually mow without feeling like I need to get off and push like I have to with my current mower. :laughing:

As for getting a SCUT, the key decision maker for me was that for $10,000 or so more that a SCUT would cost above the X500, I could get quite a bit of hired out help to do work around here. The advantage of having something that I could take back to work on the other 2 farms was outweighed, in my mind, with having to get a new, much longer and more expensive trailer to haul it back and forth and trying to find somewhere to store it. While thinking that whole time that I would be wanting to upgrade later to something bigger. I figure even if we do move out to the farm earlier than my projected 20 year time frame, I would still get quite a bit of use out of a good riding mower around the new house and I could get a much bigger tractor for all the other yard duties.

But when I went in to make the purchase today, I sure did linger admiringly around that 1026R they had parked out front.

Thanks for your help!

I think that was a wise decision, the x500 is good for mowing and a larger tractor later on would be my choice for the farm. I use an x749 for mowing, a 4520 cab for tractor work and a 110tlb for backhoe and loader work. The mower would be needed later on the farm as you mentioned and your wife is correct, hire out the dirt work.

 

[GolfAddict]

...I am excited to find out whether or not the locking rear differential and Ag tires will let me mow without spinning at the bottom of turns....

I'm sure you'll have much better traction now. However, you won't want to have the rear diff locked when trying to turn - you will find it will tend to push you pretty much straight forward even though you have your front tires turned.

The locking diff will be great where you may tend to break traction with one rear wheel, or anywhere you may get stuck, etc.

 

[Crow Hunter]

I'm sure you'll have much better traction now. However, you won't want to have the rear diff locked when trying to turn - you will find it will tend to push you pretty much straight forward even though you have your front tires turned.

The locking diff will be great where you may tend to break traction with one rear wheel, or anywhere you may get stuck, etc.

With my current mower, I always lose traction at the bottom of the hill right after completing a turn. As I would turn to go uphill the inside tire would usually break loose and start to spin just as I was starting to point back up hill. I would have to shift my weight or "bounce" on the seat to try and get it to catch. Often I would just give up and back down the hill and try to go up at a different angle or get some momentum to go on over it. Sometimes multiple times for a single turn. Now watching my 105 lb wife try to do it was really rather entertaining.

I had actually worked out a "system" for making really wide shallow turns that seemed to work most of the time if the grass was really dry, at least until it started to cool off and the dew started forming.

I am hoping that the Ag tires will keep this from happening at all but if it does, rather than having to back down the hill or bounce, we can just hold down the diff lock and go on up the hill, since more often than not, it breaks loose while it is pointed in the right direction.

 

[GolfAddict]

The diff locked at that point will be a huge difference. Although, as you say, you may not even need it very often with these tires and heavier tractor. I think you are going to be really happy. Have fun!

 

[jenkinsph]

With my current mower, I always lose traction at the bottom of the hill right after completing a turn. As I would turn to go uphill the inside tire would usually break loose and start to spin just as I was starting to point back up hill. I would have to shift my weight or "bounce" on the seat to try and get it to catch. Often I would just give up and back down the hill and try to go up at a different angle or get some momentum to go on over it. Sometimes multiple times for a single turn. Now watching my 105 lb wife try to do it was really rather entertaining.

I had actually worked out a "system" for making really wide shallow turns that seemed to work most of the time if the grass was really dry, at least until it started to cool off and the dew started forming.

I am hoping that the Ag tires will keep this from happening at all but if it does, rather than having to back down the hill or bounce, we can just hold down the diff lock and go on up the hill, since more often than not, it breaks loose while it is pointed in the right direction.

Two things that help with turning uphill, four wheel steer and the hdap tires. I can vouch for both of these being an improvement. With the 4ws turning up hill it actually swings the rear end around downhill to get lined up with the next pass uphill. 4X4 makes a huge difference coming down the hill as long as the front wheels don't free wheel in the forward direction.

Try it and see how well it does on your lawn, you have 30 days to change to something like an x534 with 4ws if necessary.

 

[Crow Hunter]

Update:

I got it and then took it back.

I went by the dealership and picked it up on Aug 2nd after they got the back tires replaced. I brought it home and after I got done chasing down and putting an errant horse in a neighbors fence, I started to take it off the trailer. That is when I noticed 3 rather large skint up places on the deck where the paint had been knocked off and it was rusting along with numerous rust spots on brake and the deck lift pedals. So I commenced to cleaning them off and I went back inside and got on the computer to check to see if there was a way to just order some John Deere touch up paint for the deck. Not for looks, just to keep it from rusting.

While I was on my local dealer's web page, I noticed they started doing $500 off starting on Aug 1st....:irked:

I didn't even get my mower until after the 1st because they didn't have the tires they thought they did and had to wait for them to be ordered. Had I purchased it on July 1st and they changed their incentives, I wouldn't have had a problem with it, but the fact that I bought it on July 31st and they didn't even give me the tractor until Aug 2nd after they increased their incentives by $200 and didn't even bother to tell me about it kind of ticked me off. On top of the fact that my "brand new" $6,000 high quality John Deere mower had significantly more rust on it than my 3 year old piece of crap $2,000 Lowe's Husqvarna tractor with 100 hours on it.

So I didn't even take it off the trailer, I was in the parking lot of my dealer when they opened on Aug 3. I told them the situation and that I was not satisfied at all and they I hadn't even taken the mower off the trailer and I wanted to return it.

First he started in about how he had given me a great deal on that tractor being that I was a local buyer and had discounted it from MSRP. I responded that I intentionally bought it local versus buying online from Mutton Power and paying significantly less than MSRP with free shipping and no sales tax because I wanted to keep the business local and develop a good relationship with them as the local dealer. However, if they weren't interested in that, I would very happily order from an online dealer and save myself even more money.

My salesman said that he would take it back under the John Deere Promise and there was one that had been delivered to another store on 7/23 and he would have them make sure that it had no rust on it and if it had rust on it I could have the X500 that he had ordered to replace the one I had bought that was going to be delivered on 8/19 right out of the crate. I also asked him about the $200 refund and he said that he wasn't aware that they were going to increase the incentive on August 1st and that he was dealing with me in good faith. I said that if I had purchased the tractor even 2 weeks before, I wouldn't have a problem but the fact that I had purchased it and hadn't even gotten to use it and they changed the incentive, I didn't think was fair. I stated I could also just give him this tractor back and buy it from somewhere else or even his same store and get the $500 incentive if that was a problem.

He said he would give me a $200 refund.

So hopefully, I will be actually getting a X500 in the next couple of weeks.

Do you guys think I was being too anally retentive?

 

[Crow Hunter]

Got the new mower.

Dealer brought one in from a local store. No rust and only a small skint place on the deck, which I fixed.

Got to mow with it yesterday. Even though it has rained every day for the last week and it rained yesterday morning. Not a bit of slipping on turns and no bogging down even though the grass was really tall. The only time it slipped was when I tried mowing backwards up hill to get a spot I had missed. One tire slipped a little but I pushed the locking differential and it went right on up the hill.:thumbsup:

I wouldn't have even tried to mow with my old mower until it had be rain free for at least 2 days.

There are a few things about it that I don't like:

1. I hate the RIO. The Husqvarna method of just turning the ignition switch is vastly superior. I have to back up alot on my hill so having to lift up that switch every time I go backwards is a pain in the rear.

2. I don't really like the pedals or their configuration. The pedals have to be held down to go foward/backward doing this on a rough hill for 2 hours is really tiring on the foot. I tried using the cruise control but setting it at a comfortable speed going up hill means it is going WAY too fast going down hill and the only way to disengage it is to go faster:shocked: which is rather exciting. I also don't like the way the pedals are positioned. I would rather have the backwards be on the left and the forward on the right more like an automobile. I kept hitting the reverse when I meant to go forward, the aggravation of which was compounded by the RIO, which would shut off the blades.

3. I don't like the placement of the brake. The brake should be on the left side. Trying to back down a hill with a full load of grass clippings in the dump cart and then hold it while it is dumped is a problem. You have to take your foot off the foward pedal to engage the brake which means you start to roll backwards. I would rather it be on the left so you could engage the brake as you let off the drive pedals. I resorted to sitting side saddle to engage the brake while easing back on the rear drive pedal and easing off while I engaged the front drive pedal.

Other than that it climbed the semi-wet hills like a goat and it felt much more stable on the hills than my LGT2554. I will likely keep it and just get used to the idosyncracies. I just have to rewire 30 some odd years of mower controls. Snapper rear engine to Yamaha 3600 to Craftsman to Husqvarna. All with brakes on the left and forward speed controls on the right.

Obligatory pictures:

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

I've never driven the model you have, but the RIO, HST pedals and brake configurations on my GT235 are the same as yours. You will get used to all of those quickly. Don't sweat it.

 

[Larro Darro]

Congrats on the new mower. But if the 'Bota is still for sell at a good price, I would snap it up while you can. You can always level off a place for a shed. Good deals on tractors with hours that low don't come along very often. The twenty years will pass before you know it. You will go through several mowers in that time, but the orange tractor will still be going strong.

 

[RKJeepXJ]

I have some hilly terrian like yours and mow around a 800ft creek bank on a weekly basis. I've had my x500 for 5 years now and just rolled 400hrs, its been totally reliable. I run turf tires and I'm impressed with where I can take mine so I'm sure with bar tires its like a billy goat.

You'll get used to the HST pedal configuration, its completely natural to me now. I even just bought a LS4047 hydro tractor with the HST pedals in the cofiguration as the x500 just because I've become so used to it the kubota HST tractor pedal setup seemed horrible to me.

 

[Coyote machine]

Nice place! Here that water would be a pond, but I can't see it all so maybe a lake after all.
Where did you get the fountain and about how much do they run?
Can you modify your cutting pattern to do somewhat more crosswise and eliminate uphill turns and spinning tires completely?
Get the 10 hr cut if the price is right. Use it to level a spot and build a storage shed. You won't regret getting it- but you might regret missing a sweet deal.