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- Apr 14, 2014
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- 3,185
As many of you may already know I've had a John Deere 445 all wheel steer garden tractor for many years. I purchased it in 2000 along with a few accessories to work at the house and family cottage. It replaced a Bolens that was in excellent shape but getting hard to find parts for.
Fast forward 24 years and the 445 is still running and performing like new. The clock shows 626 hours, but it actually only has a little less than 600 hours run time. The additional hours were accumulated on the clock when I was working on it and errantly left the ignition in the on position until the battery died.
The problem isn't with the tractor, but rather the operator. Yesterday I was installing the mower deck as I usually do this time of year. I'm not sure what the problems were, but I struggled an hour and a half before finally giving up and going to lunch. Keep in mind this is usually a 15-minute PITA job. After the lunch break, I came back and for reasons known only to God things went as planned and the installation was completed in 10 minutes.
I was growling to the wife about the troubles I was having, and she suggested I look into one of the newest machines that have the drive over mower attachment. I looked online and found JD makes an almost identical machine the 739X. It has all the features of the current machine, with a little more horsepower, and optional 4-wheel drive.
I like the machine but have a hard time justifying spending over $20,000.00 for a new tractor just because it's difficult to install a mower. To put things in context the mower is removed and installed several times a year. It comes off for aerating, grading dirt, plowing snow, and when using other implements where ground clearance is needed. When in the fully raised position the bottom of the deck is only about 6" off the ground. That's hardly enough clearance when going over rough terrain or areas with brush.
I was also wondering if anyone made an aftermarket drive over attachment kit that could be adapted to the current mower and tractor. The first tractor I had was a 1950's Bolens Ride A Matic. It originally came with a drive over mower deck. It was a little different in that the mower was powered by a driveshaft that still needed to be connected by hand. In this case however the drive shaft was easy to get to and took less than a minute to install.
This is the tractor I'm considering with a 60" mower deck. I looked at the series 1 tractors, but they're a bit large to get between some of the trees on the property. They're also all diesel which is a no go as far as the wife is concerned. It's interesting that this model has a 4 year/700-hour warranty. Obviously, they think it's going to get more use than I've given the 445, but that's another story. While I do believe the new machine will get far more use than the current one, I doubt it will get 700 hours use in 4 years.
www.deere.com
Fast forward 24 years and the 445 is still running and performing like new. The clock shows 626 hours, but it actually only has a little less than 600 hours run time. The additional hours were accumulated on the clock when I was working on it and errantly left the ignition in the on position until the battery died.
The problem isn't with the tractor, but rather the operator. Yesterday I was installing the mower deck as I usually do this time of year. I'm not sure what the problems were, but I struggled an hour and a half before finally giving up and going to lunch. Keep in mind this is usually a 15-minute PITA job. After the lunch break, I came back and for reasons known only to God things went as planned and the installation was completed in 10 minutes.
I was growling to the wife about the troubles I was having, and she suggested I look into one of the newest machines that have the drive over mower attachment. I looked online and found JD makes an almost identical machine the 739X. It has all the features of the current machine, with a little more horsepower, and optional 4-wheel drive.
I like the machine but have a hard time justifying spending over $20,000.00 for a new tractor just because it's difficult to install a mower. To put things in context the mower is removed and installed several times a year. It comes off for aerating, grading dirt, plowing snow, and when using other implements where ground clearance is needed. When in the fully raised position the bottom of the deck is only about 6" off the ground. That's hardly enough clearance when going over rough terrain or areas with brush.
I was also wondering if anyone made an aftermarket drive over attachment kit that could be adapted to the current mower and tractor. The first tractor I had was a 1950's Bolens Ride A Matic. It originally came with a drive over mower deck. It was a little different in that the mower was powered by a driveshaft that still needed to be connected by hand. In this case however the drive shaft was easy to get to and took less than a minute to install.
This is the tractor I'm considering with a 60" mower deck. I looked at the series 1 tractors, but they're a bit large to get between some of the trees on the property. They're also all diesel which is a no go as far as the wife is concerned. It's interesting that this model has a 4 year/700-hour warranty. Obviously, they think it's going to get more use than I've given the 445, but that's another story. While I do believe the new machine will get far more use than the current one, I doubt it will get 700 hours use in 4 years.
X739 4-Wheel Steering | Riding Lawn Tractors | John Deere US
The X739 signature series 4-wheel steering lawn tractor lets you trim close to fence corners, around trees and more. See the full list of specs.
My Kubota gets used every day of the year and still has less than 500 hrs . I swear by it , not at it . 5 gallons of diesel will last thru the summer . I picked it up for a measly price of $7800 years ago with 50 hrs. on the clock . The deals are out there if you're ready to jump on them .