Need some advice from the experts. I need to purchase a garden tractor and looking at buying a solid used one to last. I have 2 acres of lawn to mow and a driveway about 20?x100? to clear snow from in the winter. Live in Central PA so we get a decent amount, but nothing like Buffalo. No other needs currently, but garden could be in the future 2-5 yrs. My budget is 3k. I've been looking at different models and hearing some things said on this board. Sounds like a 318 w/54 in. plow would be a good choice, but concerned with purchasing one with 1000+ hrs and wondering how much life would be left in it. Maybe I'm in for a wake up call trying to find one to last a long time with my budget.

Any thoughts or ideas appreciated. What would you buy with those needs and budget?

Thanks in advance, Brad

hi brad, i would go for a 332 or a 430 diesel. i have a 430 and i love it. great on fuel and plenty of power. u can usually find them for around 3k.


andrew

If you want to stay gas a 325 is a good choice. I have one and it is also a great tractor.

Jerry

I have a 314. The 300 and 400 series are tough and in my opinion better than the "garden" tractors they sell today.

Johh F

Thanks for all the responses. Appreciated.

It's always fun to have a rig a bit bigger than one needs, but I have a JD 277 AWS and know it would be plenty big enough for 2 acres anf the amount of snow blowing you have. If you have a lot of objects to trim around when nowing, the All-Wheel-Steering feature is really nice. Besides, I find AWS really helps in snow blowing too. Very maneuverable and having the rear wheels with the chains do some steering too helps. The 277's are getting to be several years old now and I'ds think you could bring in a relatively low hour one within your budget. As I recall, 70,000 is a good serial number break to get above. What ever you get, be sure it's green, has at least two cylinders and a foot pedal hydrostatic transmission.