Great Dane or John Deere

[GLC]

I have gotten 2 really good prices on both of these mowers. my question, which is the better mower and why? I like the dane cuz of its construction.....but the Deere is pretty well made too. The dealers are both the same so what can I go on next? The Deere has a 54 inch deck and the Great Dane has a 52inch deck. Deere with 25hp Kohler....Dane with a 23hp Kaw. I am a bit confused, someone help me out

[watatrp]

Which Dane are you talking about? They have several models.

[strickdad]

read thru here and listen to all these people having trouble with the 25 kohler that should help you make up your mind

[1stclasslawns]

A friend is a mechanic for JD he told me stay away from jd Zs he has several pages of service bullitens.

I run a Great Dane and couldn't be happier.

Great Dane is now owned by Deere and Co. I guess they couldnt build a better one so they bought the company.

Jim

[GLC]

my fault......it is a Great Dane Chariot Jr and a John Deere M655

[gorrell]

Definitely go with the chariot, Deere's M665 is built by Kees and has encountered many problems to this point. I believe this is the reason that they acquired Great Dane so they could "save face" and not suffer any more damage to their suffering midmount z' market. Great Dane(in my opinion)prostituted themselves by selling out to Deere, but it wasn't my money that made the decision. Use your own judgement, but look around and see how many M665's you see in use now and next year make the same observation and I think you'll see just what I mean...................Lynn

[KirbysLawn]

Great Dane.

[Shane Nelson]

GLC,
Dont let these men Talk you against jd,none of them have probably never owned one.jd usually cost more and there is a reason why.My wife and I own $30,000 of jd equip,and Thats the only brand we will buy.EXEPTIONAL QUALITY IN DEERE EQUIP> experience it yourself.

[dhicks]

I.M.H.O. go with the Dane.

[danlawnser]

Great Dane

[Eric ELM]

Shane Nelson, I have owned 5 JD's. I thought the same way you do until I got so fed up with taking them in for repair all the time. I would have to beg for a loaner and they finally told me I had better buy my own back up machine even when mine was still under warranty. Maybe I just got all lemons which cost me a lot of money. I finally figured out why they are yellow and green.

We have several JD dealers around here, but I have not seen a JD of any kind mowing commercially around here in the past 2 years and Chicago isn't a small place.

BTW, I do know how to take care of my equipment since I grew up on a farm and I have been taking care of machinery for more than 50 years. My oldest mower has over 3,500 hours on it and it hasn't needed to go to the dealer for any repairs in over a year. The only thing I've done to it in this period is put on new belts and spark plugs.

I really do hope you have much better luck than me with your equipment, but I would not recommend their products at this time. When the new Dane sold by JD comes out, I will check it out though.

You mentioned you have $30,000 in JD equipment. Do you have more JD equipment than what you have listed?

[lee b]

I've put 150 hours on my JD M665, it's been great so far. It's the only mower I've seen that will cut old Bahia grass clean on the first pass, everybody using Scags and Lazers around here are having to double cut. The 25hp. Kohler has performed perfectly, so has the rest of the machine. I'm well satisfied so far and can't understand why all these people who haven't owned or even demoed the Deere z have the gall to condemn it. I think there are several really good makes of ztr's, so why not demo the ones you might be interested in and see for yourself. Goodluck:blob3:

[lawrence stone]

Originally posted by GLC
I am a bit confused, someone help me out

There is only one way to go:

Toro 23hp/62"

Buy a deck with a proven design that will work well under ALL conditons.

There have been more groundsmasters, walkbehinds, and ztrs with 62" Toro decks vs. any other mowing deck by 2X.

[Mowingman]

GLC,
I owned a JD M665 ZTR for a year and a half,and I can tell you from experience that you do not want to waste your money on this machine. The current series of JD ZTR's have so many design flaws that it would take me all night to type a list. I have owned and/or operated most of the well-known makes of ZTR's, and these JD's are the worst I have ever seen. It got to where I had a major mechanical failure weekly and I only had 309 hrs on the machine. One of the major design problems is the blade spindle shaft. If you scalp a rock, or hit anything sticking out of the ground,the shaft is ruined, and you don't have to hit it hard. Even a slight whack on something is enough to wreck the spindle shaft. My dealer bought mine back and I replaced it with a Toro.:angry:

[Lawn DOG]

GLC,
I have purchased two of the Great Danes in the past two years. I also own a JD955 tractor. Since, I do not own a ztr by JD my experience is limited. But I have found that all of JD prices to be out of this world. I paid almost 20k for this tractor and will never buy anything else from them if I can help it. If you ever need any JD repairs be sure to bring the Gold card. Although they bought Great Dane, I hope this does not affect the product. Which I find to be very innovative and top quality. The Great Dane Chariot that I purchased last week with the 25 Kawasaki is very fast. It was so fast that I put it up against the Dixie Chopper Flatlander I just bought. I put them side by side and had a race across 300 yds. Would you believe the Great Dane was just as fast. The Dixie Chopper calls itself the "Worlds Fastest Mower".
In short, go with the Great Dane you will be pleased with you purchase.

[EJK2352]

Husquvarna bought Yazoo/Kees a couple of years ago. John Deere had a contract with Yazoo/Kees building all of the JD mid-mount Z unit except the DECK, which is the only part of the mower that JD makes. With Husky buying Kees it forced Deere to either build their very own mid-mount or buy up another manufacturers line. Deere chose the latter, buying Great-Dane. ED

[derekarbeiter]

John Deere, No question

[GravelyNut]

A friend is a mechanic for JD he told me stay away from jd Zs he has several pages of service bullitens.

I run a Great Dane and couldn't be happier.

Great Dane is now owned by Deere and Co. I guess they couldnt build a better one so they bought the company.

Jim

7 years later and JD is still buying from GD and GD is not owned by JD. Ariens owns them due to them buying Auburn Consolidated Industries.

[IN2MOWN]

Where do these threads come from?????

[GravelyNut]

Where do these threads come from?????

The "Graveyard". ;)

[tallimeca]

who brought the cool guy?

[Sammy]

This thread should be locked ?

[lawnprosteveo]

I have the Deere Quik Trak 647...looks just like a Great Dane Super Surfer in green. It is a great mower. Cuts well and its very well built. I think you'd be happy with a Deere.