Just thought I would share my find. Over the weekend I picked up a 90/91(I keep forgetting to google the serial number) John Deere 285 with the Kawasaki 590V liquid cooled two cylinder.
I nabbed the thing for 300 bucks, needing a little bit of work on the deck hardware, and a PTO switch, but that's about it. It's in great shape, no rust anywhere, no cracks in the seat, and the paint still shines. 700 hours.
I literally knew NOTHING about these things before I got this, I just wanted a functional riding mower. When I went looking to get a second one for parts in case I needed it, I found out that the mower was worth a good deal more than what I paid. Most in similar condition, with more hours were selling for 1k plus.
Turns out, you can still get all of the parts for this thing at the local John Deere dealership, so no parts tractor is needed.
So it looks like while I bought this as a temporary mower to get me through a summer or two, I might as well just keep it. I can maintain this one for much less than it would cost me to buy a new one, and there are lots of folks with well over 1500 hours on theirs. Pretty neat..
Anyway, thought I'd share.
I nabbed the thing for 300 bucks, needing a little bit of work on the deck hardware, and a PTO switch, but that's about it. It's in great shape, no rust anywhere, no cracks in the seat, and the paint still shines. 700 hours.
I literally knew NOTHING about these things before I got this, I just wanted a functional riding mower. When I went looking to get a second one for parts in case I needed it, I found out that the mower was worth a good deal more than what I paid. Most in similar condition, with more hours were selling for 1k plus.
Turns out, you can still get all of the parts for this thing at the local John Deere dealership, so no parts tractor is needed.
So it looks like while I bought this as a temporary mower to get me through a summer or two, I might as well just keep it. I can maintain this one for much less than it would cost me to buy a new one, and there are lots of folks with well over 1500 hours on theirs. Pretty neat..
Anyway, thought I'd share.