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

I finally broke down and bought a new walk behind snow blower. After weeks of checking reviews and looking at many, I ended up going with the John Deere 1338 PE model. Not cheap, but very well constructed and no Mickey Mouse gimmicks. The 1338 PE is new for the 2010/2011 season and is the big brother to the 1332 PE. Man, does this unit blow snow!! The super wide 38" path it leaves behind is wonderful and eats up both fluffy and heavy snow with ease. Heated handle grips, power chute rotation, dual headlights, quick turn drive system, electric start and other features make this a very attractive blower. Anyone else out there buy this model?

Paul

Here's the link on JD's web site:

http://www.deere.com/en_US/ProductCatalog/HO/servlet/com.deere.u90785.cce.productcatalog.view.servlets.ProdCatProduct?pNbr=LP25941&tM=HO



It looks beautiful, but no I do not own one. I do have a JD x540 tractor though! ;)

Interesting that John Deere has the engine pre-filled at the factory with 0W30 Synthetic oil.

Paul7 wrote:

I thought B&S did that?

nice snowblower, hope it serves you well i own a 1130se john deere and it is a great snowblower

Is the 1338PE built on a Simplicity/Snapper platform?

borat wrote:
I'm not sure what the platform is, sorry. Anyone else know?

I went out yesterday and bought a 2011 X300 42" JD lawn tractor, just want it for cutting grass (about 2 acres) and nothing else. I have a 1991 garden tractor I bought new which was a Lawn-Boy. I figured being 20 years old and 700 hours on it anything could let go now so I better pick up something new.  The Lawn-Boy was exactly the same as the 1991 Ford models just painted green and Lawn-Boy decals added. I have been told many times these were built by Gillson and some went to Ford and others to Lawn-Boy. Has a Kohler Magnum horizontal shaft engine with hydro transmission and 2 speed rear end. This has been a real work horse for me over the years, cutting grass, blowing snow, ripping soil and hauling/towing ridiculous amounts of weight when we had the hobby farm. I sold off the rear PTO tiller from it, but I will keep the 2 stage Ber Vac blower. Tractor needs a new electric PTO clutch, still trying to find one of those. Even though we no longer have the hobby farm I'll keep this tractor around for hauling. The X300 Deere I got yesterday is a MUCH lighter built tractor then the Lawn-Boy so I'll just keep the JD for the cutting grass. I hope the Deere lasts for a few years. I have 30 days to take it back or exchange it for another model. Any thoughts out there? Should I move up to a 500 series just to cut grass or am I ok? I'm new on here so if I ramble on too much please let me know.

Thanks,

Paul

You should be fine if all you're going to do is cut grass and don't have a hilly yard. I mention this because the tranny in the 300 series is a light duty unit and is not serviceable. Hills heat up and break down the tranny fluid fairly quickly and this is killer for these light duty transaxels. Being able to change out the fluid periodically can prevent these problems but as I mentioned earlier, these do not have drain plugs and are not serviceable.

Now you have me thinking about moving up to a X500 series......

streetbully wrote:



The x300 is a nice lawn tractor, but like the x500 is is made primarily for cutting grass, and it really very good at it. Even the x500 series is pretty light to be much more than a really nice lawnmower. The x700 series is probably the minimum I'd consider for use as a light-duty tractor, and even then, I don't think it'd hold up to using it for hours day after day.

JD makes some nice light-duty tractors for guys with a couple of acres, but you'll have to move out of their lawn tractor series, and you're probably looking at $15K for something like that. A friend has one, and he has use it to dig a foundation (he admitted, he beat the cr*p out of it while building his house, cleaned it up, traded it in for a new one).

I'm not saying this to put down JD either (I own one); nobody else in the $4-10K region makes anything better, it just may not do everything. But for cutting lawns, my x500 is supreme. [Try the power steering models; it will change your life ;) ]