Garden Tractor Attachments

Modified John Deere 318 garden tractor - Bird

Jim's Bird - Modified John Deere 318

Jim does a lot of modifications on the garden tractors to get just what he wants out of them. Our shop tractor, ” The Bird ” was one of those many projects done. If you would like to read about all of the modifications to this John Deere 318 garden tractor we have a web site page that explains them all. Jim even put headlights in the front end loader bucket. The “Bird” has been featured in 3 different magazine articles.

Rick writes asking how to accomplish attaching a front end loader to his Cub Cadet 3165:

Q: I have a Cub Cadet Series 3000 (3165), that my dad left me. The 3000 series originally offered a front end loader as an attachment, but only on the 20 HP and above versions. This 16 HP has a rugged enough frame for the job, can be fitted with a 3 point hitch, and has a 48â€ mower deck. I don’t want to buy a bigger tractor, this is just the right size.

Is there any loader that will adapt to this machine? Would I have to repower up to a 23 HP Vanguard?

A: If your engine is in average condition you will not have to worry about your 16 horsepower being too small to run a front end loader, that engine will easily handle the load.

Q: OK Jim, You have my attention. The tractor is in very good shape so that’s not an issue. The questions that come to mind are: 1) Have you, or anyone ever attempted this combination before? 2) Will my axles stand the strain of the increased loads?

A: Yes, I have put loaders on the 1250, 1450, 782, and 982 Cub Cadets in the past. You said earlier that the 3000 series had offered a loader for them, therefore I think it sounds strong enough. Although I have broken axles before, and I have broken more than one. I had the big wide balloon 15″ tires on my tractor with 30 gallons of liquid in each tire. 60 gallons X 8 pounds = 480 lbs plus 14 John Deere suitcase weights hanging on the back at 42 pounds each X 14 = 588 pounds. Then I also built a roll bar that takes
2 guys to lift and mounted it on the tractor, guessing the weight on that to be about 200 lbs. Then the loader empty weighs 400 lbs. You should easily be able to haul 600 lbs. in the loader. An average garden tractor will weigh 700 lbs., all adding up to 2968 lbs. And that’s not all, I put in a 23 horsepower Vanguard engine ahead of all this weight and then wonder why I break axles once in a while.

No you do not have to do all of this to make a garden tractor and a front end loader work. I guess I just enjoyed doing the work of what a $30,000 tractor will do. If you are the type that likes to revamp and build things or know of someone like that to help you, when you get it all said and done it will be something to be very proud of and a very useful piece of equipment that will save your back and much more.

http://www.jimsrepairjimstractors.com 1-800-618-8738

If you live in an area that gets snowfall, then snow removal has been on your mind. We are in Minnesota, close to the Twin City area, we are already shipping out the snow throwers, everyone is getting ready because we know it’s coming. We ship these all over the US.

ATV UTV RTV snow blower video

We have quite a few different options for sale so you can get the job done. Our ATV or 4 wheeler snowblower attachment has been very popular and we’ve sold out quite a few times this year. I’ve learned that the snowblowers and blade/plows are a popular item with the ATV – 4 wheeler crowd. They don’t just ride them, they work them! Our 2 stage snow thrower has a big 23 horsepower engine in it and it can really throw the snow.

The garden tractors are what we personally use, I honestly use a front end loader most of the time because we tend to get consistent snow instead of getting dumped on. We sell 2 sizes of new Bercomac push blades and have used John Deere blade – plows.

Out East they get dumped on and many of our 2 stage snowblowers are getting shipped out there. We carry the new Bercomac snowblowers for almost any brand of garden tractor and we have used John Deere snowblowers too.

I have the luxury of having a yard full of tractors so I have one with a snow blower on it ready to use if we get a heavy snowfall. I also have a front end loader on my “Bird” the modified John Deere 318. I move snow with it keeping the bucket on the ground pushing the snow. It has headlights in the bucket so I can see what I’m doing at night. The Bird has an 23 horsepower Vanguard engine in it and with some weights on the rear, wheel weights, and fluid in the tires it can go most anywhere under all conditions. My little 37 year old John Deere 140 has a front end loader on it too. He has a 16 horsepower Vanguard engine and is weighted down, he’s out there working in every snowfall too. You should see the little guy pull cars that are stuck out of the snow drifts.

The Winter wind likes to take the snow you’re moving and blow it right in your face, for that we have the universal garden tractor cabs and compact utility tractor size universal tractor cab. These tractor cabs are made of woven polyethylene and has a tubular galvanize steel frame. The windows are flexible PVC and the cab has Velcro openings that give access to the rear gas tank and under the hood. All of the tractor and snow removal equipment controls remain inside the cab. It is equipped with large air vents to prevent accumulation of carbon monoxide.

I you need weight to get your equipment to do the job it’s meant to do, we have suitcase weights and front and rear suitcase brackets to hang the the weights on your tractor. We have the garden tractor wheel weights too.

So get out there and move the snow!

http://www.jimsrepairjimstractors.com 1-800-618-8738

John Deere 40 Front End Loader

When you have managed to get a nice collection of garden tractor attachments it’s not an uncommon practice to own more than one garden tractor to use them with. We’ve done this often with our neighbors, keeping less used attachments like the belly blades, roto-tillers, de-thatchers, and leaf collection systems on one tractor while having a mower deck or front end loader on another. We use our front end loaders every day so we need our shop tractors with loaders not to be tied up mowing the grass. We get plenty of questions about which attachments work with different models of garden tractors. Here is a recent one:

Q: I have a John Deere 330 diesel garden tractor. I have numerous attachments for it. It has a front loader, 3 point hitch, and more. I also have a power broom that I would like to mount on a different unit as the loader and broom are too inconvenient to continuously switch out. I am curious as to which models will interchange with mine. I understand the 316, 317, 318 models will accommodate my accessories. What other models will? I plan to look for a second unit to mount the broom on and perhaps my tiller as well. What are my options? Do you have any insights on the 330? Anything I can do to increase the hydraulic capacities? Any quirks I should be aware of?

A: The garden tractors you can mount the broom are John Deere 120, 140, 300, 312, 314, 316, 317, 318, 322, 330, and 332.

The loader and your 3 point hitch can only be mounted on John Deere 316, 318, 322,330, and 332.

The hydraulics on the John Deere 330 garden tractors work fine, if you are running the loader off of the tractor, I would switch the loader over to it’s own pump. The front end loader works much faster and better if you get a big enough pump.

Q: I am intrigued by the idea of using a separate pump for the loader. Would this be
powered from the front PTO? Where would one mount such an animal? What should I be looking for in a pump? How big is big enough and what kind of performance could I expect? Currently my unit struggles with about 300 lbs, but the bucket capacity is slightly larger, when I switch to the 2′ forks (my own design) I would like the ability to occasionally lift more than that. Increased speed would be a much welcome side effect if possible.

A: The loaders usually come with about a 4 gallon per minute pump. A 9 gallon per
minute pump will make things work pretty good. Myself, I put on a 22 gallon per minute pump on the John Deere 318 – the Bird, but you do not have to go that far. On most front end loaders there is a by pass valve on the 2 lever valve that allow you to adjust the lifting capacity of your loader. Of course in doing so you will have to add even more weight yet to the rear of the garden tractor.

http://www.jimsrepairjimstractors.com 1-800-618-8738

I was surprised to find out Curtis Cabs isn’t making cabs for the garden tractors anymore. The smallest tractor they have a cab for is the John Deere 2210 or the Kubota BX 1800/2200. Where have I been? Someone called asking for a hard sided cab for a John Deere 455 garden tractor so I called Curtis. No luck. We have the Bercomac winter and summer garden tractor cabs but nothing hard sided. The Berco cabs are soft sided and quite light, and of course quite a bit less expensive. The Bercomac cabs are fully enclosed and will keep you warm and dry. We have a page to our web site: http://www.jimsrepairjimstractors.com/curtis-cab.htm showing the hard sided cabs from Curtis. They have a nice selection for the John Deere Gators, both the standard Gators and the HPX type Gators. Curtis has a handy snow plow / push blade for the Gator. A cab and a snow plow on a Gator would make a nice winter machine.

We have a new compact utility size Bercomac cab for the larger tractors: http://www.jimsrepairjimstractors.com/compact_utility_tractor_cab.htm

http://www.jimsrepairjimstractors.com 1-800-618-8738

Garden Tractor Info

Garden Tractor Modifications

Snow Removal

Curtis Cabs

Search

Links

Site Menu

Garden Tractor Info

Garden Tractor Modifications

Snow Removal