I bought a JD D140 from Lowe's couple months ago. I was using a 1997 Kubota T1560 that is still the ideal mower in my mind, it was just too small to keep mulching my 1 acre of bermuda. It had PERFECT ergonomics as far as I'm concerned. Just needed a bigger deck and more power. Maybe some of you will have some tips for the cons. Right now, I'm about 60% satisfied with it. Wishing I would have looked at the X series but I'm not sure it would have been a lot better.
Pros of the JD:
- Lots of power. Mulching even tall grass with the 48" deck is no problem.
- Ergonomics are very close to being on par with the Kubota
- Electric PTO (still not convinced if this is actually a Pro or Con with regards to long term durability, but it is nice to have as long as it works)
- For a mower, this v-twin sounds amazing at idle. And it's pretty quiet at full throttle.
- Easy and quick to convert from mulching to side discharge.
Cons:
- Can't raise deck higher than 4". This is my biggest gripe. The Kubota had a fixed height adjustment and another lever that lowered or raised the deck much higher to get more clearance. You probably had 6" of clearance in the raised position. It made it easy to get over obstacles or just clear the crown of my ditch embankment. I can't go over it anymore on the Deere. There are also parts of my yard I used to mow higher but I can't now.
- Blade lever numbers are about 1.5 inches off (4" is actually about 2.5"). I just learned I can adjust the deck, but I'm not sure if it will be enough. We'll see.
- I can feel the entire frame and body flex when going across even a mild ditch. :tango_face_plain:
- Rear tires are too wide in my opinion and lack any grip. I'm always spinning.
- Front wheels feel sloppy driving over bumps like the step up into my garage or just from driving over a water hose.
- Seat sensor is too sensitive. You can't shift your weight in any direction while mowing. Makes it dangerous to mow on grades. Luckily it's easy to bypass by just unhooking the switch. Hopefully I never roll it though. I could have all my weight on the edge of the Kubota and the seat switch was always engaged.
- I don't like the pedal for reverse at all. It's a weird angle to push it down enough to engage reverse. I can't tell you how many times I've felt like I was pushing it enough but I wasn't moving.
Pros of the JD:
- Lots of power. Mulching even tall grass with the 48" deck is no problem.
- Ergonomics are very close to being on par with the Kubota
- Electric PTO (still not convinced if this is actually a Pro or Con with regards to long term durability, but it is nice to have as long as it works)
- For a mower, this v-twin sounds amazing at idle. And it's pretty quiet at full throttle.
- Easy and quick to convert from mulching to side discharge.
Cons:
- Can't raise deck higher than 4". This is my biggest gripe. The Kubota had a fixed height adjustment and another lever that lowered or raised the deck much higher to get more clearance. You probably had 6" of clearance in the raised position. It made it easy to get over obstacles or just clear the crown of my ditch embankment. I can't go over it anymore on the Deere. There are also parts of my yard I used to mow higher but I can't now.
- Blade lever numbers are about 1.5 inches off (4" is actually about 2.5"). I just learned I can adjust the deck, but I'm not sure if it will be enough. We'll see.
- I can feel the entire frame and body flex when going across even a mild ditch. :tango_face_plain:
- Rear tires are too wide in my opinion and lack any grip. I'm always spinning.
- Front wheels feel sloppy driving over bumps like the step up into my garage or just from driving over a water hose.
- Seat sensor is too sensitive. You can't shift your weight in any direction while mowing. Makes it dangerous to mow on grades. Luckily it's easy to bypass by just unhooking the switch. Hopefully I never roll it though. I could have all my weight on the edge of the Kubota and the seat switch was always engaged.
- I don't like the pedal for reverse at all. It's a weird angle to push it down enough to engage reverse. I can't tell you how many times I've felt like I was pushing it enough but I wasn't moving.
