I kinda hate to be the first to weigh in on this, but ... Despite the low hours on the machine, this could be a case of drive belt slippage OR contaminated/low oil in the transaxle. I believe the x300 has a Tuff Torq K46 hydro, which is normally provided as a "never-needs-any-service" unit. However, it can be serviced. You can find several work-arounds on YouTube and lawn tractor forums. I prefer the method where you removed the transaxle from the tractor and turn it upside down over a plastic tub to drain it. Draining and refilling is done by removing the fan and prying out the black cap under it. The K46 holds 1.9 liters of 10W30 motor oil. ALL THAT SAID, the most likely reason I can think of for a tractor with only 180 hours to have contaminated transaxle oil would be pressure washing the underside of the tractor and hitting the axle unit.

No, the steering stays intact with the exception of removing one end of each of the rod ends. I've learned that when I do Deere's. I remove the easiest one which is normally the front. Belt over the front, up through the chassis in the middle and then over the rear driven pulley. Then make the rest fit watching for the guides I referenced before. The idler pulleys themselves need to be unbolted- not the bracket. I seem to recall one of them you have to maneuver the bolt up so you can get the pulley to clear. Positioning the bracket helps. As far as maintenance goes beyond the placing of parts catch all the grease fittings. The deck spindles, the clutch pivot underside, front axle on each side and maybe one in the center. Blow through the cooling system w/compressed air through the heads, shroud, rear hydro etc. If the engine is really packet, remove the top cover to do a better job. BTW, I think the owners manual is downloadable for free at Deere.com and a service manual may be a good investment seeing as though it is used commercially.

Have grass getting longer, John Deere X 300 Removed mowing deck deck to clean , lube and sharpen blades . I have done this at least twice before with out problems ( actually read manual) when attemtiing to reinstall mower deck I Found : The deck raise footpedal locked in the forward position and the deck lock pad is iin the down position and won’t budge.. Both appear to be jamned tight so the draft arms wont come down far enough to be locked onto the mowing deck. Someone mentioned 12 inch screwdriver to unlock mechanism from underneath? probably will try this before resorting to sledgehammer! i will report back with results. Thanks

Don't forget to figure the price of attachments. The X495 will do some snow with a blade but the smaller machine will probably need a snowblower attachment ($1400?) The X-series will take a 3pt hitch package that accepts Cat 1 attachments (cultivator, 5ft. back blade, cranes, plows, scoops). That really opens a world of things to do with the tractor. I've yet to get the pto package installed but that is also an option on that size tractor. The x-series is a pretty big machine for a small yard. Mine takes up most of a car space in my garage. My cat thinks the seat is the most perfect bed ever made.