Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

So, my dad's JD Sabre died after 12 years.

The skinny, he lives in north central wisconsin, ONLY uses it to blow snow, no mowing at all, driveway is 5-6 grade about 100+ feet, he uses it supplimentally to the plow. He gets outside because he is 78 and retired and gets bored. BUT he also has dimensia...  will another brand confuse him...

He has always wanted a Deere and I feel bad that his money was not as well spent on the Sabre all these years. he bought two different blower units over the time.

I read another string that the dif on the 300 is suspect? But that was in mowing only, but pushing the blower up the drive may be harder... the X320 had a sturdier unit, but will the overall expense on the 300 series be enought or should he invest into a 500?

Cost is 25% of an issue, quality and longevity is more the concern, because mom will likely take over if she stays there when he passes. but having a tractor that will be around for us to use...

Cheers

Doug

The 300-series has the same weak tranny that all of the smaller Deere tractors have.  You really need to go with a 320-series to get a stronger transmission, which is the weakest link in all of the small tractors.  If funds are available, the 500-series should be enough tractor to outlast both of them, as long as it is maintained.

If you are a regular here, you will know that a lot depends on the typical amount of snowfall you get.  The better single-stage machines (Toro 221/421/621) can handle snow depths up to six inches pretty easily, and can tackle larger amounts in phases.  The single-stage machines are also easy to store and relatively easy to operate.  If all you are doing is removing snow, it just makes more sense to spend $600 on a good blower rather than $4k on a tractor.

If you're willing to spend the $$ for a Deere 500 series, take a look at a Kubota or Yanmar with a cab. If Yanmar doesn't sound familiar, they used to make most of the Deere-branded small diesel tractors, and Deere still uses Yanmar diesels. http://kubota.com/product/BX1860/BX1860.aspx No factory cab on the BX but other companies make them to fit. http://www.yanmartractor.com/ Sc2400 or 2450 should be more than enough. After using a tractor I never want to go back to a walk behind. With either of those he probably won't even bother with the plow.