What to do with my falling apart riding lawnmower

[Rubberdown]

So I have an John Deere X304 riding lawn mower. The hood has fallen apart on it and the deck is screwed up. Cuts super crooked, had some pieces of the deck fall off so there is definitely a little bit of rust there.

New deck is 700.

New hood is 399.

New mower is 3399.00

It seems clear I should buy the parts and fix mine. My yard is taking me hours to do with my push mower and it sucks.

Are there options to get your deck repaired or whatever, or am I just to cheap and need to spend the money and be happy about it?

Ryan

[KDinTX]

Buy a zero turn, some can be had for a good bit less than $3400, i bought a gravely to replace a murry riding mower. The time difference in mowing alone is well worth the money. I can mow our almost 1/2 acre in about 20 mins or so.

[bobbaganoosh]

Used mower perhaps?
Or sometimes you can find used parts like the hood on craigslist.

[Rubberdown]

Every used John Deere similar to mine has all the same problems. What is up with John Deere and their stupid hoods?!

[Texas Tracker]

Craigslist or Rig up push mower behind John Deer.

[CEO]

How old is this mower?

[Rubberdown]

its a 2008.

[ctom87]

There's a guy in my neighborhood who just fixed mine for $30, a log of venison summer sausage, a Google Home device and a pen I turned. He fixed the electrical problem, fixed the carb, cleaned the gas tank, replaced the gas lines, fixed the electrical problem, replaced the solenoid, dropped the deck and un-froze the pulley system that the blades run on, sharpened the blades...I'm sure I am missing something.

Found him on the nextdoor app. Says he does this for "fun".

[Killer]

There was s good looking JD mower listed on here. I do not know if it sold yet.

[Froggy]

Every used John Deere similar to mine has all the same problems. What is up with John Deere and their stupid hoods?!

Hoods are made out of plastic. Seats crack also. I have two X300's. The first, I purchased in 2007. Hood cracked and fell apart after about 5 years. Seat only lasted about 2 years. I rebuilt the deck on my first X300 a few years ago. I replaced spindles, springs, belts and blades. Mows great now.

The second I bought off FB Marketplace last year for $600. The guy hated the way it mowed. Turns out he had the wrong mulching blades on it. Mows great now. It is a 2008 model. He had just replaced the hood, seat and battery. My wife uses this mower.

I mow almost four acres so I finally broke down and bought a Gravely ZT44HD in 2016. Well worth the money.

[Snowflake Killa]

Craigslist or Rig up push mower behind John Deer.

Are you from East Texas, you sir are a redneck [emoji23][emoji23].

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

[DirtyDave]

I run my JD LT150 with no hood. It's broken and sits on a shelf in the shed.

[BTLowry]

My JD hood is crap too

That being said, I bought the mower, yard trailer, weedeater and some more stuff at a garage sale for $100

Mower deck was shot (holes worn in it) so I did some research and found out what decks from what mowers would work on it and hit the local mower shop /wrecking yard

Found a deck for $300, put new blades on it and new belt and educated myself on how to level the deck.

Economical options are out there

[oktx]

Used or fix it. I buy 99% of my parts from amazon. When the engine locks up I’ll buy another.

[Rubberdown]

alrighty... no one has said anything different than fix it. I cant find a used deck anywhere so... maybe ill get a new one. I will recruit a fellow TBH person to help me build a fancy new hood.