John Deere Lawn mowers?

[Joe Hillmann]

At work we had an x304 with 4 wheel steering that was used to mow about 6 acres of rough cemetery every week.  It was 9 years old the tractor had 980 some hours on it.  The tractor was still in pretty good shape (the engines are designed to run 2000 hours) but the deck fell apart over the last few years it was patched until it couldn't be patched any more.  A new deck was around $1400 and a brand new x354 with 4 wheel steering was $3200.  We ended up replacing it yesterday with a new x354. 

We went with John Deere because they had the 4 wheel steer.  We also priced out an "equivalent" cub cadet that was only $1500.  If it weren't for needing the tight steering of 4 wheel steer around the headstones we would have gone with the cub cadet.

[DelawhereJoe]

My mother-in-law has a jd 105, she beats the snot out of it. I end up welding the rear deck mounts back on every 2 or 3 years, not sure what she does to it but I don't think it leaves 5th gear while she mows anything in her path, stumps gravel, black top, mud or grass. Every month I resharpen her blades that are complete rounded off, I have to replace the blades every spring. I kinda feel sorry for the poor little green and yellow thing.