Lawn Tractor Lifts?

I’m looking at lifts to jack up the front end of a JD X350 lawn tractor so I can get under the mid-mount mower deck to clean and remove blades for sharpening. I’m leaning toward one of 2 Mojack models. Home Depot sells the HDL500 model, a hydraulic driven affair, for $200. Also available is the EZ-Max model, same price, but raised/lowered with a crank and screw. The hydraulic model with 2 parallel parallelogram lifting arms looks like it might be more stable than the EZ since it has a wider stance, but I’m leery of it being dependent on a fabricated to fit Chinese bottle jack. If, or inevitably when, that fails, you’re SOL. The EZ model should never fail to broken seals, being purely mechanical. It does look a tad spindly though, with the single riser - think old fashioned bumper jack - and narrower wheelbase. Does anyone here have experience or advice on this subject, i.e. other than the wife, who advises spending less money on tools and more time using the ones we have?

 

Ramps?

 

Good thought about ramps. Tried them but couldn’t get enough height and they limit access from the sides.

 

You know it’s very easy to remove the deck, slide it out, and not be under the Deere at all right?

 

I use a cherry picker, you can get that thing to stand up high enough you can sharpen the blades sitting on a chair

 

Hadn’t thought of removing the deck. Just bought this tractor used, removing the deck on our old one was a chore.

 

It makes things really slick, I’d recommend you do it that way.

You can also get the blades off without doing anything but lifting the deck to ride height but it’s a lot nicer to be able to clean the underside of the deck with it off.

Don’t forget to grease your spindles, depending on your deck size you’ll have 2 or 3.

Plenty of how-to videos on deck removal if you don’t have a manual. Very, very easy to do.

 

An engine hoist works great, or even just a chain noise in the garage attached to a rafter.

 

I have the Harbor Freight Fischer 750lb lift. I use it to lift my 1000lb Cub XT3. The deck alone is 200lbs and I have no intention of dragging it out and flipping it 2-3X/yr. This lift also has an ATV/motorcycle lift platform made on it. I recently used it as a transmission jack to pull the cast iron transaxle out of one of my tractors and lift it high enough to slide it right on to my workbench. This lift is built like a tank and I consider it money well spent.

 

Finally decided to go with the MoJack EZ Max. I don’t have a chain hoist or do any serious wrenching. At Natetroknot’s suggestion I found a YouTube video that shows removing this deck to be a fairly quick and simple process. The YouTube videos I watched on installing the OEM roof rack made that look easy too, then I turned that operation into a real hairball. Went with the screw lift system rather than hydraulic, thinking there won’t be any seals to blow out (other than my own - a Craftsman Chinese floor jack crapped out after 4 uses). It disassembles so you can hang it flat on the wall. $200 seemed like a lot of money for something I’d use 2-3 times a year, but the neighbors are interested in borrowing it, so it came with some good karma too I guess.

 

I do a LOT of ATV/dirt bike/motorcycle service, so I had to get one of these - but I'd be lying if I told you it wasn't a god send with tractors too. This particular model is expensive, but you can usually get the same one on ebay/Amazon for about $1200 shipped if you look for it.

https://scissorliftoutlet.com/sciss...ft-atv-lift-table-with-4-wheeler-center-jack/