[New Englander]

Hello Everyone!

I'm a new member so thank you very much for having me. I recently purchased a new house with a 1 acre + grass lot in the suburbs of Boston. My previous house had a small yard so I only had a push mower which just wasn't going to cut it here. Money is tight because we are moving so I couldn't afford to go out and buy a brand new mower.*

So I ended up finding a used John Deere 170. *I bought it off an old timer who was the original owner. I paid $425 for it and he included a plow which he bought for it but never used. *It also has the grass catcher on it. Everything on the tractor works, it starts right up no issues every time, and appears to be in decent shape overall.*

I know very little to nothing at all about these machines, so I was just looking for a little insight from somebody that knows a bit about them. I changed the oil, oil filter, and air filter as soon I got it. Is there anything else I should be doing? Are these machines reliable? Any problems with this machine that I should watch out for? I have a snowblower and most likely will not even use the plow because I don't want to beat the machine to bad. Has anyone ever used the this to plow light snow and if so how does it do and do you recommend doing it?*Anyone have the snowblower attachment for it? If so how is that?


Thanks again for having me and thanks in advance for any help/suggestions!*

 

[bwdbrn1]

Hi New Englander, and welcome to MLMF. Glad you joined us. Congratulations on your new home and John Deere. Sounds like you got yourself a very good deal, especially if the blade has not been used. John Deere has a very good reputation, and a strong dealer network in place for service and parts, should you ever need them.

You've already taken giant steps toward learning about your 170 by changing the oil and filters. I'd just recommend reading over the owner's manual and looking over the tractor with the manual in hand to familiarize yourself with all the features.

I can not speak about the John Deere 170, but I have both a blade and snow blower attachments for my old Sears Suburban, and have used them both. What you choose to use may depend on the material your driveway is made of. Concrete is less apt to be damaged by a blade than black top, and certainly less apt to be disturbed than gravel, but I wouldn't recommend using a snow blower on gravel. I do prefer the snow blower attachment myself, mainly because the blade makes a lot of racket scraping on the concrete. Also, unless the snow is very wet and heavy, I can generally move the snow further away from the area I'm clearing with the snow blower.

Enjoy your John Deere, and keep us posted on your experiences with it. Don't hesitate to ask questions if you have any.

 

[Mark / Ohio]

Welcome to the forum New Englander!

That looks to be a gear drive transmission so not too much to worry about there other then to make sure it is full of the proper oil. If it does not appear to be leaking any place, not much else to worry about there. Only other things I can think of when you have some time would be to pull the engine shroud off and make sure the cooling fins and fan are clean. Also pump some grease in any fittings you might find on the steering linkage, front wheel spindles, and the mower deck spindle bearings. Don't get too carried away with the grease gun as you don't want to rupture any grease seals the bearings might have. But you don't want them running dry and getting moisture or dirt in them neither due to lack of grease.