Yesterday, I drove over two hours to a used farm equipment shop to inspect and possibly buy the 2009 JD X360 with 62 hours.
Back story
A shop worker that had brought the mower to the shop from the owner, told me it was owned by a wealthy local. The owner had a lawn service mow his estate, but owned several high end mowers including the JD and a high end Kubota mower. I saw the Kubota and it looked brand new. The owner was moving and sold all his lawn equipment to the shop. Supposedly, the owner liked to play with these mowers. He was supposedly the same way with cars.
Inspection
First, I checked the hour meter component. Underneath, everything was very dusty and had mega spiderwebs. The hour meter and plug in cable seemed just as dusty as everything eles. That was good. At least the owner nor the shop had changed it nor unplugged it recently. Then I inspected the entire mower. It looked brand new underneath with very little wear. There were spiderwebs everywhere and very dusty. Every thing looked new including the plastic hood and frame paint. The seat is known to crack after about a year or two of regular use. It was not cracked. The engine oil looked new and I could tell the oil filter had been changed. The gas in tank did not smell bad.
Only concerns, include the tire "hairs"
were mostly gone (10 year old tires?) and the anti scalp wheels had a rough surface like he drove it over a hard surface. Although all the surfaces looked new, the steering wheel center cap looked faded.
Startup
It started right up but would not stay running and gas was leaking from carb. A shop worker said it had sat for at least a year. We all concluded the gas was old and "varnished" the carburetor. The shop drained the gas tank and removed the carb. and cleaned it and soaked it in varnish remover for about an hour. I request only 100% gas (no ethanol) be put back in tank.
Test Drive
It started up and continued to run. I had never operated a mower like this. I operated it from 62.4 hours to 62.8 hours in their lot. It ran smooth and very quiet. Everything worked well. I got a kick out of the hydraulic deck lift and the pedals. It was like a slow go cart with a mower. LOL! Infact, if I knew a mower could be so fun, I would have had a version of this type of mower, years ago.
Did I buy it?
I bought it. Tax included, I paid $2400. Over double my original $1,000 budget. But, it was the lowest hour mower of this type with these features at that low of a price, I could find within driving distance (actually it was the best deal I could find in the U.S., using craigslist.com, searchtempest.com, tractorhouse.com, fastline.com, equipmentfinder.com, machinerypete.com, ebay.com and checking JD dealership inventories). Tractordata.com is our reference friend.
Besides the low hours, and the tilt wheel, power steering, push button hydraulic deck lift, brake/forward/reverse pedals, cruise control, and push button blade engagement, I really like the fact that the K58H transmission is designed to change the fluid and filter (a regular K58 trans. is not designed to change fluid and filter). The fact that the X360 is built on the same heavy duty frame as the X500 series is an added bonus.
We found the deck pulley covers in the shop. It also came with a mulching blade kit, but no manual. No brush guard (too close to house guard). Going to download the manual and buy a brush guard.
We have one or two more mowings for the season. Got to prep it. Now for the first time on a riding mower, I get to change the air filter, fuel filter, engine oil and engine oil filter AND the transmission fluid AND transmission filter! Love it!
