My Little John Deere Tractor

I actually enjoyed mowing my grass yesterday for the first time in a long time and maybe ever. My old Murray mower (I’m talking 30yr old mower) had a worn out steering shaft and the same part on the even older parts mower that I have was in the same shape. Nothing wrong with keeping old things going, but I decided for me it had been going on long enough. One week ago today I pledged to myself to find a replacement lawn mower and I succeeded.

When it comes to making a major purchase, I like to find used stuff that was really good when it was new and well taken care of or restored. I don’t like big box store stuff that was engineered to sell at a certain price point. That goes for lawn tractors especially.

Well, this week I ended up finding one of each (a restored and a cream puff original condition mower). The first was a one-owner Kubota and the other was a John Deere LX176. Both were late nineties vintage and apparently were direct competitors in the marketplace because they both have the same Kawasaki engine. As you might guess from the title, I went with the John Deere. One of the reasons why I decided to write this post was to share the reason for my decision.

I found the John Deere through an ad placed on a local radio station’s trading post section. Turns out the guy who placed the ad specializes in finding and restoring these LX series Lawn tractors which were originally sold only through John Deere dealers and not big box stores. They are heavier duty and better engineered than the newer ones. He is located in Minor Hill, TN which is a bit closer to home than Madison AL, where the Kubota was. His price was also $350 less plus he gives a 30-day money back guarantee plus a year of free labor warranty on anything that goes wrong. I guess you’d say he believes in his product. It was a no brainier at that point for me. I highly recommend his services and that’s part of the reason for this post.

I don’t have permission to publish the contact information, but if you are in the market for a used John Deere lawn mower for sale in middle TN contact me and I will send you his info privately.

The mower is a 1997 model LX176 with the basic 38″ deck and 14hp Kawasaki air cooled engine.

I would say that this is part of my photo-per-day project, but I think it’s safe to say I let that die.