Patience With John Deere Wearing Thin

I’m trying to figure out what to do about my lawnmower.

I am really tired of fighting with my John Deere 430. It’s supposedly a very tough machine. It cost about $9000 new, 34 years ago. That makes it, roughly, a $20,000 item today. Okay, let’s assume it’s extremely well-made. It still needs repairs all the time. Was it like this in 1995, or is it just age? No idea. Doesn’t matter, because I can’t snap my fingers and make it new.

I could send it to the local dealer and spend maybe $1500 on it to get it fixed. Towing both ways. New fuel lines. Fluids. Fix a small hydraulic leak.

That would probably take a month, during which my grass would grow to thigh height, leave me with an old tractor that could get me through 5 more years. The parts supply is drying up, so I can’t keep fixing it forever at the dealership.

I got frustrated and started thinking about buying a new commercial-grade zero-radius-turn mower, or “zero-turn.” But a good one with a reasonably wide deck would cost over ten grand. Is it worth it, or am I letting fatigue and extreme annoyance cloud my judgment?

The web says a gas mower goes 500-700 hours before dying. I assume this means an amateur-grade mower, because I can’t imagine a lawn service replacing mowers, what, every 125 workdays at 4 hours per day? That’s maybe $17,000-$26,000 per year.

If people are saying they run 500-700 hours, that means they run 500 hours. For me, that ought to be about 8.5 years, assuming the yard doesn’t expand too much. It does expand as trees fall over or have to be cut.

Various people discussing commercial gas mowers on the web cite figures of 1500-2000 hours before problems pop up, and the 1500-hour problem I see mentioned is burning oil, which is not fatal right away. If these figures are based in reality, a commercial mower’s engine should be good for 2000 hours. I see people guessing at much higher figures for the other parts. It ought to be possible to get 3500 hours with one repower job. I may be raptured or reduced to bone by 1000.

So if this information is correct, a commercial mower will go about three times as long as a Lowe’s mower, for roughly twice the price, with, presumably, less aggravation. Surely there have to be perks other than longevity.

I don’t like the idea of buying a cheaper mower and putting up with a flimsy chassis. This yard is crazy, and I also mow weeds in my pasture. Even now, I occasionally hit a rock or a piece of wood.

What about buying a used commercial mower? I think that’s what I already did. The John Deere 430 is not a homeowner machine. When my tractor was new, a homeowner model cost a lot less. Zero-turns were just getting popular when my mower was made, so I suppose tractors with belly mowers, like the 430, were still mainstream at that time.

This means I bought a used commercial mower, and it has been an instrument of torture. If Kafka had worked on one, he would have written several more short stories. I lose several months a year because it comes up with new ways to break down. I could send it to the dealership and spend a grand a year, but based on my experiences with dealerships, they would keep it for at least a month at a time, so it wouldn’t help much.

I think buying used is stupid. The choices are: fix the 430 again myself and hope for the best, pay the dealer to fix it and hope for the best, and blow a huge wad on a new commercial mower. And be substantially less delusional when hoping for the best.

I don’t want to give up the tractor features, but what do I do with them? Let’s see. I pull a cheap harrow. I think I used it two years ago.

I have a real tractor. It runs a bush hog. It will hold over half a ton on its fork. It has a big bucket. It will rip stumps up and dig trenches with a subsoiler. The Deere will not do any of that. It’s a little tractor for pixies. The Kubota has 37 horsepower, and the Deere has 20. You would think the Deere would still be a pretty respectable machine, but it’s in a different universe.

I think they’re good for plowing snow in small driveways. I recall seeing them rigged up for snow on the web.

It would be good to have the 430 if the Kubota refused to start and had to be moved. That’s about it. I could do that with the car, though.

The Deere’s muffler fell off. The alternator died. The alternator belt broke, and replacing it was a horror job. Removing the belly mower to fix the blades is a ticket to back surgery. The PTO switch died. The rear hydraulic cylinder had to be replaced. The grill fell off, and I ran over it because I couldn’t see it.

I could probably get $2000 for it, because people with no common sense love the John Deere 430.

If I get a new commercial mower, I’ll be paying, realistically, about $950 per year to use it during the 5-year warranty, all-inclusive. Afterward, ignoring inflation because I can’t predict it, that figure could be maybe $1100 per year. Call it $90 per month over 15 years. I’m assuming I’ll still be able to mow when I’m that old. What does a landscaper charge here? More than $90, but how much more?

That may not be much more than keeping the John Deere going, now that I think about it. Or maybe I could get several years out of it with no big repairs. It’s a crapshoot.

I could go for a cheaper commercial zero-turn and reduce my monthly figure to maybe $60 per month.

I am sick of this tractor. I would love to sit down, turn a key, back out of the shop, mow the yard, pull back in, and go have a beer. Every time. These days, I sit down, turn a key, back out, mow for an hour, have a problem, limp to the shop, sit down at the PC, and order parts while my yard grows.

The Kubota has only had two problems I didn’t cause. The shutoff solenoid needed a zip tie to line things up so it worked, and a safety switch on the forward/reverse pedal needs to be fixed, which is a small job once you find out what the problem is. The Kubota is great. It’s everything the John Deere is not.

The dealer here is very slow to fix Kubotas, but I’m not sure there is such a thing as a dealer who will fix a homeowner machine in under three weeks. And when your machine rarely needs help, slow dealership shops cause limited pain.

I’ll pray about it and decide what to do. One thing is certain: I am about to have a mower I can rely on, whether it’s a repaired John Deere or something else.