From: "JB" 
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house rec.gardens alt.home.repair alt.home.lawn.garden
Subject: Re: Lawn Tractors/Mowers (new question)
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 01:59:05 GMT

Roy (and anyone else),

The tiller for your JD317 was belt driven was it not? I'd heard that there
were problems with belt driven tillers. The local JD salesman where I live
said he rarely sells them. I'm looking at an JD LX 280. Would this model
with tiller do a good job breaking ground and keeping a garden tilled, in
your opinion?

Thanks.


"Roy"  wrote in message
news:4141ec01.23307549@news.east.earthlink.net...
> I would have to dissagree on needing gears if you pull heavy loads. I
> would be hard pressed to believe the gears in most typical L & G
> tractors are all that much stonger than a good hydrostatic drive unit.
> MOst consumer type L & G tractors are offered as baaaseline units with
> minimal everything be it gears or hydrostatic drives. I had a JD317
> with over 4000 hours on it when I finally got rid of it, and it was a
> hydrastatic drive, and it was used hard and put up wet all the time,
> and it was used to pull more than what it should have all the time. I
> used to drag around a trailer full of firewood that weighted about 5
> or 6000 pounds. It was used for ground tillage and breaking in the
> garden I had back then, 1 1/2 acres and it never missed a beat.
>
> I now have a JD GX335 with hydro and its just as good as the 317
> was..You do not  need gears to pull things with and they certainly do
> not make it any more efficient or stronger. The JD  lineup of the L
> series is built for light pulling loads  as are most other similar
> units.
>
> Nnnothing could be easier and more trouble free than the layout JD
> uses with their twin touch pedals. Throttle it up and go.......push
> harder on the pedal you have ore speed and torque. No need to come to
> a complete stop before hitting the reverse pedal either, so cycle time
> and fuction is a lot quicker with a hydrastatic drive with twin pedals
> than anay setup using strictly gears can even think about being. More
> andmore heavy dury industrial equipment is being suypplied with
> hydrostatic drives each year. Its a proven fact they are just as
> strong when it comes to use and pulling with and will last just as
> long.
> Visit my website: http://www.frugalmachinist.com
> Opinions expressed are those of my wife,
> I had no input whatsoever.
> Remove "nospam" from email addy.