Sound like a good price but tiller's are one implement that can see alot of abuse. check with your local JD dealer to find out what parts you need to adapt it to your X500 series tractor. There are just minor difference in the attachment of the tiller.

That's a fair price. It's a pretty simple machine which can take a ton of abuse. The one I bought was about as beat up, dented, rusted, abused and neglected as I could ever imagine. I ground the rust off, gave it a fresh coat of paint, greased it up, and I've used the heck out of it with no problems (it really needs a belt, however). I bought mine for $60 (like I said, it was trashed), but they usually seem to sell for $150-250 in fair condition online. You will need to buy the proper linkage for your tractor (unless it came off the same model). For my GT225 that was something like $120 new from the dealer.
If you have a 240-285, GT, GX or X500 series garden tractor, you NEED this tiller. You owe it to yourself and your neighbors.

"The unit is said to be in good shape with no repairs needed. serial # is present. Seller is asking only $175. I know a new one is priced somewhere around $1400."

This is a trick question, right? (LOL!) If the tines are in decent shape, snap it up in a hurry at that price. With all the recent posts of people wanting to till their plots with a garden tractor, there is apparently a lot of demand for these. Parts are available and it's worth taking the slight risk, IMHO.

Bill

Thanks for the responses! All agree I need to make this purchase.

Well, I do know the $175 is a great price of course. I was just wondering from any owners out there what I should be looking for or asking about when I go to pick up my tiller this Saturday!

...that's if it's still there on Saturday.
Ask him what tractor it came off and get the linkage (he won't need it). If it's not the right one, sell it on eBay for $40, then go buy the right one. The only other thing to ask him is if he'll help you lift it into your truck. It's big and heavy. You do have a truck, right? I suppose it could fit in a minivan if you took the seats out.

Where do you guys find these JD attchments for sale? E-bay doesn't has nothing and I'd rather recycle an old attachment then fill my dealer pockets with cash.

The seller is willing to hold it for me till Saturday.

The tiller was said to be used on a JD 312. Seller is including the linkage and original manual. The JD dealer is looking into exact linkage needed for the X500 Series tractor. I do have a pick up to bring home this tiller. I found the tiller in our local Want Ad Digest. I think the timing was just right! I have been looking on the Web on WWW.Machine Finder.com and typical cost for the mechanical tiller have been far higher than $175.

Wheely boy,
This stuff is always on there. There's a JD 30" mech tiller on right now for $400 (no bids--too high).
Here's a wheelhorse tiller, needs a little TLC, but it's "mechanically sound." See link.
There's also a hydraulic JD tiller, at $400, reserve not met. I saw an old CC tiller on there right now; there's even an old Sears tiller for $5.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rear-Mount-tiller-for-Sears-Garden-Tractor_W0QQitemZ260153842690QQihZ016QQcategoryZ29519QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

If you're patient, the right one will come along at some point over the course of a few months.

Here is a link that might be useful: wheelhorse tiller

I do not belive the tiller for the 312 will work with any linkage for your X500 series but I will ask my brother tommorow. Because it used a diffrent set up than the 240 thru X500 series.

I heard the same today. My JD dealer is looking into this as well. Too good to be true, a mechanical tiller for $175. Oh well.

Thanks for the feed back.

How bad could it be? Make the linkage. Have a picture?

I'm not sold. If you go to the "build your own" portion of the JD website, and check under miscellaneous attachments for the X500, that tiller looks identical to the 30" tiller used on my GT225, which I'm sure is the same one you're looking at. The only difference is that the X500 linkage connects above the pivot, whereas the others connect below the pivot. This is accomplished by a yellow bracket which is obviously a retrofit to the design. In the picture, you can plainly see what I'm talking about, where the linkage engages the housing. I'm sure you can buy that bracket, either with the linkage or without it. I don't think the older version has the bolt holes, so you'll probably have to drill, but I think you can make it work. I'd buy it while you think about it. If it doesn't work (doubtful), you can certainly sell it later.

Even if the lift linkage doesn't work, you can still use this tiller. The pin on the side allows you to stow it in the transport position (independant of the lift linkage). You wouldn't have any depth control, but you could drop the tiller at your worksite and just till away. Even my 15hp GT225 can start the tiller with the tines on the ground. But I'm sure it would not be difficult to rig up a lift system using the X500 linkage and welding/bolting it to the housing.

And if none of that works, you could probably buy the sheetmetal housing (which has the linkage attachment point)for a new tiller to use with the guts from this one. That would be a lot cheaper than buying an entire new unit. I find it hard to believe that John Deere completely redesigned their mechanical tiller and all the associated tooling in their factory, when it looks identical to the old one.

the tiller is identical to the on for your GT225 with some diffrent linlage parts but the tillers made for the 300 series tractors prior to 1992 will not work on a 240 thru X500 series diffrent set up

Sergeant,

I am actually going Sunday to potentially pick up this tiller. So, if this tiller was made post 1992, with the proper linkage, it would fit my X500 series?

If this tiller appears to be in good condition, I just may pick up the tiller and hope for the best! I suppose I could resell if I am truly unable to use it on my tractor.

Thanks!

Well guys, I took the trip to see this tiller and it in no way will fit on a X500 series. Tiller was definately in good shape but seller extimated he bought it in 1990. CAll is miscommunication or whatever, but I thought he first told me last week it was 8 years old?????

This tiller is made to directly attach to his JD 312 on the rear of the tractor.

Oh well. I am thinking unless I can find a used one at a good price, I may just buy new. I am finding these tillers are being used 15+ years later. In theory, they should work forever w/maintenance.

All - I'm in the same boat...Bought one of these old tillers a while back and can't mate it to my X500 (2007 model). It looks like I can get the front mounts if I drill a hole in the frame and put in some pins, and at that point I would just manually raise and lower it. Any feedback on the drawbacks of that or has anyone successfully made this work and have some tips? I'm on the cusp of shelling out for the proper tiller.

Thx!