John Deere X540 Multi Terrain Review

“This John Deere X540 with 54 inch mulching deck is an...”

Written on: 04/08/2009

This John Deere X540 with 54 inch mulching deck is an upgrade from "garden centre" ride-ons for me. To answer the questions nobody could answer before I bought - yes it can cut rough pasture (in my case a few brambles and tough (really tough) couch grass)but probably not saplings. And yes - with the 54 inch deck it can cut my grass in an acceptable time. About 50 minutes for a 3/4 acre orchard with 80 mature trees, all neatly mowed round, and a long hour for a 1.5 acre paddock - rough pasture as described. It mows the lawn well too.

The power steering makes for great maneuvarability and it will cut rough with the mulcher deck. Only criticism is that the cutter deck is REALLY heavy to re-install, and I am no 7 stone weakling.



Good points: quiet, powerful, fast, comfortable, power steering and hydraulic deck lift, together with cutter deck wider than wheels, make for really good cutting round obstacles.



Less good points : Needed to widen shed doors to get it in, and whilst the cutter deck is simple in concept to refit, it is seriously heavy to hold whilst aligning the holes, and the springs on the clips are for real men only.



Overall - superb machine for large lawns and pasture up to 5 or 6 acres. Seriously better than previous ride-ons with up to 38" cut.