# Thinking about buying a big ass John Deere garden tractor. Talk me down! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 10, 2015, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666 "2015-05-10T01:19:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/21 "2015-05-10T15:42:13Z")
You should definitely get one. My dad has one and I swear he thinks he’s riding a Harley when he’s out there. Plus if there are any elderly widows around you can be their hero and mow their lawn, too. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/22 "2015-05-10T16:13:49Z")
Oh God do it! Do it so we can live vicariously through you. You’d got to post pics after you get it so we can be perched up there with you, rumbling around, King of the Lawn! ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/23 "2015-05-10T16:30:32Z")
Don’t do it!!! Another vote for Kubota. Buy this and not that. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveroptic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiveroptic/32/8257_2.png) [@Fiveroptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveroptic)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/24 "2015-05-10T16:40:57Z")
We bought a John Deere 2320 a few years back for basically the same type and amount of land. Between the bucket, tiller, lawn deck, and brush hog we get a lot of use from it all year long. We store it next door in my mother-in-law’s pole barn (she has 38 acres so it gets used a LOT on her property.) ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/25 "2015-05-10T16:51:58Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > The ‘getaway’ would be straight out of a Woody Allen movie. Heh! Heh! Very true! Very funny, too! ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/26 "2015-05-10T16:53:28Z")
My honest opinon is that it would be very difficult for you to avoid losing a whole lot of money doing this. Don’t you think? ---
**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/27 "2015-05-10T17:08:04Z")
When I win the Lottery,a JD is on the list! Gotta take care of the ranch I’ll be buying 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/28 "2015-05-10T18:00:11Z")
You sure came to the wrong place to discourage you from buying it (but you didn’t really want that, anyway). 😃 Enjoy your new toy! Post pics! ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/29 "2015-05-10T19:13:45Z")
Nah, get a [Simplicity w/ 952 cc diesel engine and 4WD](http://www.simplicitymfg.com/us/en/tractors/legacy-xl). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/30 "2015-05-10T19:15:35Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > My honest opinon is that it would be very difficult for you to avoid losing a whole lot of money doing this. Don’t you think? I’m hardly “rich” but I can swing this comfortably. Yes, If times get hard and I had to sell it, I’d probably lose money. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/31 "2015-05-10T19:22:40Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > My honest opinon is that it would be very difficult for you to avoid losing a whole lot of money doing this. Don’t you think? A quick search for used ones like I’m looking at shows they hold value pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/32 "2015-05-10T19:46:50Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > You sure came to the wrong place to discourage you from buying it (but you didn’t really want that, anyway). 😃 Enjoy your new toy! Post pics! A very wise lady. I’d guess you have a few boy children? But whether you do or not, you show a surprising amount of understanding about boys and their toys. In addition, you are right on the money. I’m a boy and I love my toys. It don’t matter whether they work or not or whether I’m a fool for buying them. Just as an aside, has anyone here ever heard of Hipstreet devices? They are a company that make MP3 type audio and video players. Their products are all garbage. They never work. But they are real inexpensive. You can buy a video mp3 player that is supposed to do the same kind of stuff as an APPLE phone. They never work. But they only cost about $30 and men (including me) are such stupid suckers that we buy this crap as soon as it is available. I have three of them and none of them ever worked. Today, I use them all as paper weights. They are not useful for anything else. But I love them because they are my toys! Yippee! Isn’t that stupid? ---
**Author:** ![bubba001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f17d59/32.png) [@bubba001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubba001)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/33 "2015-05-11T01:05:00Z")
I have a Kubota L3400, I wish I’d bought it 30 years ago, not 5. It’s 36 hp, wish I’d bought bigger…🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/34 "2015-05-11T18:47:38Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Anyone else ever “overbuy” on a tractor and then be glad you did? Why, yes, yes I did! My first house sat on only one acre of land, but was way up on a hill - about a 20’ incline from my road to the house. The hand me down Murray that I had just couldn’t handle it. I bought a [Honda 5013](http://www.tractordata.com/lawn-tractors/000/6/6/667-honda-h5013.html) compact tractor with on demand 4 wheel drive, 4 wheel steering (sucker will turn around in its own footprint!), front and rear PTO’s, 8 forward speeds and 4 reverse. I also got the mower deck, front quick hitch and 48’ dozer blade. I have never regretted it, even at the (then) steep price of $6,500. That tractor has given me 24 years of flawless service, which breaks down to about $240 per year. Parts do wear out and have to be replaced, like blades, starters, etc., but they are easily found online and are pretty reasonable, even though the tractor has been out of production for 15+ years. One would have to spend north of $15,000 to get something like that today. So yeah, do it! ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/35 "2015-05-11T21:57:22Z")
I did it! There were some model changes that the sales guy wasn’t aware of when I talked to them Saturday. I had planned to get the water cooled X540 but it is no longer available so I downgraded to the X530 which still has the locking differential and more aggressive tires and is air cooled. If I upgraded the next step up is now the 590 which has fuel injection but is not water cooled. So, I have an air cooled carburetored Kawasaki motor with power steering and deck lift. Might have it by this weekend. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/36 "2015-05-11T23:12:07Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > I did it! There were some model changes that the sales guy wasn’t aware of when I talked to them Saturday. I had planned to get the water cooled X540 but it is no longer available so I downgraded to the X530 which still has the locking differential and more aggressive tires and is air cooled. If I upgraded the next step up is now the 590 which has fuel injection but is not water cooled. > So, I have an air cooled carburetored Kawasaki motor with power steering and deck lift. > > Might have it by this weekend. Congrats. My Kubota has power steering too. My Allis Chalmers did not. Very nice. Got 14" of snow Saturday night. And of course my plow truck would not start. ☹ . The Kubota saved my bacon. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/37 "2015-05-12T01:18:28Z")
Have fun with your new toy, I mean tool! ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666/38 "2015-05-12T01:27:28Z")
Now your snow blower won’t be so lonely out there in the shed. In fact, they might get together and make some cute little weed-whackers! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thinking-about-buying-a-big-ass-john-deere-garden-tractor-talk-me-down/719666.md?page=1)