# Higher Hour x350 or Lower Hour 100-series



## PdtNEA1889 (11 mo ago)

Hello, all. My wife and I are about to close on an acreage, so I'm looking to buy my first lawn tractor. I currently have the opportunity to get a pretty good deal on either a 2016 X350 with just shy of 1300 hours for $1600 (which seems like a pretty solid deal) or a couple of different late 20-teens 100-series (D130s and a E110) with sub-100 hours for $1200-1400. My lean is to go for the X350 despite the higher hours. It seems to have been very well taken care of, and the Kawasaki engine and just overall better build seems to me like it outweighs the low hours on the 100s. However, I have absolutely no experience in this realm, so advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Edit - For more background, main uses will be mowing ~2-3 acres every week or two (depending on season) and snow blowing a mid-length driveway in the midwest.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

Of the three machines, the X350 is of course the higher end machine. The 100 Series are designed for mowing 1/2 -1 acre lots, but not really that great for plowing snow (transaxles are to light... 3/4" axles). For mowing bigger acreage, all three are really slow machines (5.5MPH). My concern on the X350 would be the 1,300 hours. The average homeowner puts between 50-70 hours per year on a machine. 6 year old machine should have 300-420 hours on it, for sure less than 500. What the hell were they doing with it to put that extra 1,000 hours on it?? FS600 Kawasaki is a good engine, but it's still a 1,500-2,000 hour engine. The Tuff Torq K46 transaxle in that X350 is nothing to brag about for reliability either, especially if it's been plowing snow, same 3/4" axle size. Here's a link to a nice site where you can compare specs on all three machines

John Deere Comparison


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## PdtNEA1889 (11 mo ago)

Bob Driver said:


> Of the three machines, the X350 is of course the higher end machine. The 100 Series are designed for mowing 1/2 -1 acre lots, but not really that great for plowing snow (transaxles are to light... 3/4" axles). For mowing bigger acreage, all three are really slow machines (5.5MPH). My concern on the X350 would be the 1,300 hours. The average homeowner puts between 50-70 hours per year on a machine. 6 year old machine should have 300-420 hours on it, for sure less than 500. What the hell were they doing with it to put that extra 1,000 hours on it?? FS600 Kawasaki is a good engine, but it's still a 1,500-2,000 hour engine. The Tuff Torq K46 transaxle in that X350 is nothing to brag about for reliability either, especially if it's been plowing snow, same 3/4" axle size. Here's a link to a nice site where you can compare specs on all three machines
> 
> John Deere Comparison


I don't think it has been being used for snow, that's just part of what I plan to do with it. It looks to be in too good of condition to have been used that heavily by the current owner. No idea what the use has actually been, though. I don't know if it's kosher to post listings here, but this is the X350 (Log into Facebook). For that number of hours, it looks to be in really good condition (the deck and everything, not just the seat and hood the poster said they just replaced).

I basically figure I'm going to get maybe 5 years of good use out of any of these 3, so I'm mostly just wondering if the X350 is enough better of a machine to be worth it.

Thanks very much for the reply. I appreciate the perspective on the differences.


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## Bob Driver (Nov 1, 2017)

So a 42" deck, on big acreage, mowing at 5.5MPH is part of the 1,300 hours. Machine does look to be in good condition, tires match the hour meter. That FS600 Kawasaki is the stoutest model of "Home owner" engine they build. The next step up is the FX commercial series. Everything I'm about to tell you can be validated by looking in either the Owners Manual, or Service Manual for a Kawasaki FS600 engine.

The thing about Kawasaki engines is they are real sensitive about their valves. The Kawasaki Service Manual says they need the valves adjusted every 300 hours. The thing most people overlook is it also says the valves need to be lapped and the combustion chamber needs cleaned (heads de-carboned) every 300 hours. Both of those operations requires the heads to come off and tells you where Kawasaki thinks the vulnerability of their engines lie, no other OEM recommends that in their service intervals. Kawasaki engines also run valve guide seals on BOTH valves. With them saying "Lap the Valves" every 300 hours, they assume you will change valve guide seals every 300 hours. If you don't do that, the valve guide seals wear, and the engine starts to smoke/use oil.

Speaking of oil..... Kawasaki says straight 40wt above 86 degrees. I live in MS, so that's about 8:00AM starting in June. The other thing about oil/Kawasaki engines is that they are overfilled on oil 90% of the time. It specifically says in the service manual that you *DO NOT* screw the dipstick in when checking the oil. Most people do, and as a result, the engine will be 2-3oz overfilled.... Seals start leaking, starts smoking/burning oil. FS600's don't normally run an oil cooler, but the bigger engines do. However, you can put an oil cooler kit on them that really helps extend the life of the engine. Kawasaki part # 390677008.








If you "baby" that machine, are meticulous about maintenance intervals, and run straight 40 wt in the summer, that FS600 probably has another 500 hours in it. It now comes down to that K46 transaxle, with those spindly 3/4" drive axles, and if the seller changed the oil every 200hrs like Tuff Torq says in their service intervals.

Ask the seller if he followed these maintenance recommendations. Start the machine from cold and see if it "Puffs Smoke". Pull the dipstick and measure the oil as stated in the service manual to see if it's overfilled. Use these factors to see if you can bargain the price down to the range of those 100 series units with their 1,000-1,200 hour engines.


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## unsquidly (Jul 13, 2021)

The X350 is the only true John Deere of the three......The other two are made to be sold at "big box stores" and will not last nearly as long as the x350 will...........If you look at how the x350 is made compared to the other two, you will see what bob and myself are talking about however, I also agree with bob about the hours on the x350....Honestly, I would probable look around some more and not buy any of the three....

Here is a link to the tractor house page for that model so you can compare prices for the x350.......



https://www.tractorhouse.com/listings/search?Category=1188&Model=X350%7CX350R&Manufacturer=JOHN%20DEERE&sort=6&lat=43.047943115234375&long=-76.147445678710938


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