Fall 2017 Update - John Deere 318 Project and Future Plans

Finally found some time to make an update video on the garden tractor fleet. I've been really busy since school started and I am commuting to school this year rather than living 4 hours away, so I am able to come home each night. That gives me some time to work on garden tractors and to keep the lawn care business going, but school does take up a lot of my time.

A lot of things have changed around here and I have a lot of plans for the future, so here is a recap of what has happened around here:

- Sold the John Deere LT155 back in July to a local buyer who wanted to give it to his parents since their mower broke down. My initial plan was to sell it to family friends who were going to use it as a backup mower, but they ended up moving to West Virginia and didn't need it, so plans changed.
- Fixed up and sold the Cub Cadet 129 rather quickly, in an effort to pay off some debt and free up some space around the house.
-Got a good deal on a used working electric PTO clutch for the JD 210, so I installed that and have been using it to mow the lawn here and there. It's nice to be able to put that tractor to work every once in a while.
-Been working on the 1985 JD 318 I picked up a couple months ago. I forgot to mention a couple things in the video about the 318, but I will touch on them in another video once I get the 318 all fixed up and back together. So far, the plan is to sell it to my uncle who plans to use it alongside his '86 318. It's getting to be too much of a hassle for him to switch back and forth between two mower decks, EZVac cart system, and rear 3-point tiller every week, so he wanted another 318 to mow with.

Once the 318 is out of here, I plan to pick up a John Deere closed-frame 300 series (300, 314, or 316K) to use for a couple years. It just wouldn't be practical to buy a three-point-hitch and all the necessary attachments for my 318 right now, when I already have a sleeve hitch and sleeve hitch plow I can swap over from the 210. The sleeve hitch and weight brackets I have will work on both the 200 series and closed-frame 300 series tractors. I also want another shaft-driven Deere especially for PA Plow Day. Don't want to have to worry about drive belt problems again like I did at PA Plow Day this year. I plan to keep the future 300 series tractor through college, then sell it and buy another 318 to keep.

[crazyjdkid]

That's where I struggle the most when away from school, trying to find something enjoyable to do. That 318 definitely looks like it has a lot of life left!

[harrisonfowler]

That 210 looks so good with that mower deck on it.

[shiftinggears]

Great update Michael. Theres a part of me that wants to let my 214 go for a nice 309 series since thevery drive has given me issues in that tractor and the 208. I'v been eying a 300 for a bit as well as a 318. Can't wait to see the 210 in action.

[JohnDeereGuy]

Great update Mike, nice to see what's going on with your herd. As you know, I still can't get over that cheesy paint job that new owner did on the 129. Can't wait to see the 210 mow the lane.

[jimm]

I've had the bare bones JD 312 for about a year now, with it's original Kohler 301 and I am impressed with it's performance and power at least with mowing . The acid test will come this winter when I try the single stage snow blower in Sault Ste. Marie. Typically we get 13 feet of snow over the course of a winter. We'll see.

[lwoodt]

Great video as usual.Maybe you should start a John Deere restoration business after your schooling is done .

[rangerxlt]

Cool, my old tiller makes a cameo appearance at 15:23.  Hope it's working well.

[HockeyMitsch]

Nice video! You've been keeping busy, 318 sounds like a strong runner(previous video). Outta take the 210 out mowing more! 👍

[PhatboyHD]

Where can i get some of those aluminum foot pads for my 317 like you have on your 210 ? I really like those..

[tylordY]

Nice video! I really like your plan for PA plow day! I'm still debating weather I'm going or not. I would really like to.

[mick]

I have a 316 and it surges. Cleaned Carb, checked fuel line. Everything but remove intake. Any ideas before doing this?

[tylerbraaksma]

hey nice project did you do engine work

[andrewmullin]

I noticed that you seid the governor on your old rebuilt b43e was broken. Do you think mine is broken because it bogs down a little when I push the hand hydro all the way forward and it bogs down even worse when mowing up hill and keep in mind that I still have the throttle adjusted wrong because it will rev past 4000 rpm at WOT but I don't mow that high I mow at 3450 (I used a small engine tachometer) but when I mow up hill I will increase the throttle to 4000 rom and it still bogs down. I ran seafoam through the carburetor and the gas tank but it didn't help. I've been trying to figure this out for the past couple of months searching on the Internet but I can't find any information on it do you have ANY ideas because any help will be VARY appreciated at this point. And buy the way I might upload the video of my 316 pulling those discs this week and it turns out that it is 12 discs not 6

[brystonfranke]

what was that green chainsaw at like 26:00 ish???