John Deere 7H17 Review

[AdamCByrd]

I just finished my 6th week with my new 7H17 48" full-floating hydro walk behind. I paid $5600 for it after taxes. Here's what I think:

This is a great second mower for someone who already has a larger ZTR. It's great on hills and ditch banks. It would also be good for someone who only mows small residential yards. There is no sulky available from JD for this mower, so keep that in mind.

The quality of cut is outstanding with the 7Iron Deck. It stripes well, and does fine in tall grass at a fast walking past if the blades are sharp. It doesn't scalp bad at all as long as the tires are proper PSI.

I have had a few problems. I broke a blade belt before I ever put 100 hours on the machine. THat is WAY to early for that to start happening. RIght after the dealer fixed that, my idler pulley bearings went out. My dealer is great though, he goes the extra mile for me, and will loan me his 757 ZTR if I need it while the wb is in the shop. I also have a 2yr parts/service warranty.

Anyone else use this mower? Let me know.

Adam

[imograss]

I did a review when I demoed one last year, you can do a search under my name or 7H19 and there shoud be pics and comparisons.

[SproulsMowingService]

Sorry to hear that you have problems with your JD. They are usually a real good piece of equipment. I have only had good experiences with JD equipment so far. It would be my guess from past experience with other belt operated equipment, that it was likely that the bearings going out that caused the belt to break. Then they probably got bad enough to actually show the problem. Like anything else, sometimes bad parts are missed in the quality inspection. Especially if only a percentage are checked for problems. I wouldn't let it influence me on the over-all quality of the machine.

On another note: I would like to hear more responses on these WB's. I want to get one in the future and would like to hear more reports on them too!

[QuikKutLawn]

I understand JD offers an adapter plate for their walks now to attach a ProSlide... Anyone else heard that?

[scout_pete]

I understand JD offers an adapter plate for their walks now to attach a ProSlide... Anyone else heard that?

Yup. Got a 7H19 on order with a Proslide XP to be installed by the dealer. It should be here next week. I will report :drinkup: ...