I am newly single. I stayed on my farm and I have a big tractor (with bush hog) and a zero turn mower. Both are John Deere.
I need to get them serviced before the spring. How much do you pay to get your tractors/mowers serviced (assuming there is nothing wrong)? I’m not sure what all they need but probably oil, coolant, blades sharpened, tires checked, etc.
Thanks!
Location matters. The annual service for our 2320 was maybe a grand in the midwest and about two here in CT, at a dealer.
I’m in the southeast (Aiken, SC area).
Also add the trip to come get it and bring it back, unless they can service it in place, ask about that also.
JD here had a fall/winter basic maintenance servicing extra low fee this year.
Ask about that, it may still be in effect where you are.
We just had our 35hp tractor taken in for routine service and it was $500 including hauling. (Iowa)
Don’t wait too long–planting season is fast approaching, which is a very busy time for most ag dealers / repair shops. Lead times for tractor service can get very long.
Let me point you to a Deere Tractor web site and its forums. It is one of the best forums for tractor advice I have seen, the people are courteous, and they love giving helpful advice. I know because I am one of them. If you post a general question like yours, you may get a few dozen responses within an hour.
Like you, I also live in Aiken, with a Deere tractor. You will be probably be dealing with Blanchard. They do good work, but like most tractor dealerships, they are pricey. I can’t help you with price because, being retired and having time, I do all my tractor service and almost all repairs myself.
Blanchard service tends to be slow. Part of it is pandemic related. Another is because good tractor mechanics are hard to hire and retain. I heard this from their service manager when he was at my place repairing a new arena groomer I purchased from them. Also, they sell and maintain a lot of big Deere agricultural equipment. Rightly so, a farmer with a hay baler problem at cutting time gets service priority over a zero turn mower needing blade sharpening.
And lastly, the parts pipeline has been significantly affected by Covid. On my Deere tractor, transmission and its parts are manufactured in India, the loader in Mexico, and the diesel engine in Japan. A friend has been without his tractor since November, waiting on transmission parts to arrive.
I get that not everyone wants to do all their own work, but you can make it cheaper for yourself, lots of basic service is not difficult at all. Replacing an air filter, checking tire pressure, changing engine oil, grease points, checking/adding coolant & hydraulic fluid – literally a monkey could do these things & they don’t take very long. I found a manual for my JD tractor free on the JD website if you don’t have a copy of yours & need a guide; the TractorByNet forums are also excellent.
Then your service bill is smaller as they pick up the rest, like sharpening blades, checking brakes, & other more complex things or those that require special tools. Just a suggestion if you don’t have unlimited funds.
If you service your own tractor, find out about where your used oil and filers need to go.
Since those have been considered an environmental hazard, they have to be disposed off according to certain regulations, that is why we quit doing our own servicing and let them do it.
Shops have special bins for their used oil, some use it to heat their shop in the winter, etc.
Here there are special such recycling bins by fire stations.
Ask where to go with that where you are.
Also the shop sends out oil and coolant samples to their labs and we get a report that tells us how those are doing, if something else needs to be taken care of.
They found some bacteria growing in our diesel, had to flush the tank out and treat it for it.
Now we have a product we can add to it if we start having that problem again.
I have a Kubota L3400. It cost me less than $300 to get it serviced, with the dealer coming to me. That was for the tractor alone, no attachments.
eta, I’m in MA
The OP’s home county has numerous user free, county funded, drive through, staffed recycling stations available to dispose of the tractor fluids, should she choose to do any tractor service herself.
Thank you LCDR! I’ll check out the forum. My ex usually used Blanchard Equipment in Aiken, but he also used the John Deere place in Ridge Spring a couple of times. I think Blanchard always came out to do the service (this is the first time I am arranging it myself). I called them last summer when I had a bush hog disaster that needed a welding repair. Blanchard couldn’t fix it, but they referred me to someone who could.
Thank you everyone for all the information and advice! 
Here outside of Chicago it is $199 for service. $80 for round trip pick up and drop off. It is another $100 or so to do a seasonal swap - snow thrower for mowing deck. Parts are extra if they find anything - for instance, I needed a new transmission belt and that was about another fifty bucks tacked on. This is for a smallish John Deere - I wouldn’t even call it a compact utlitily. I expect those might run even a bit more.
If you have a larger trailer with a ramp, you might measure inside the back door frame to see if tractor will fit inside. Take down the roll bar FIRST, so you do not hit the roof.
I was pretty surprised to find that our Fords, 8N and 9N tractors both fit inside the stock trailer. Then when we got the L2600DT Kubota with the loader, it fit inside too! Sure makes it easy to and cheaper to move them for servicing! I took the Kubota to the Fairgrounds to move stall dirt, drag the ring smooth, which let other folks work on other fix-ups when DD was in 4H. So much faster not doing things by hand!
Husband does our servicing, no idea on prices. Do write hours and dates work was done in the manual or a record book you keep on each vehicle. So much easier to flip open the page for information instead of guessing, especially if you service things yourself, at home.
Central Ohio - oil change and general service $269. We took it to them. That was a JD dealer. We’ve had it in for several things and it’s pricey at the dealer. Also had a front axle leaking and took to local repair shop that works on tractors = $474
Good tip that I’ll add to. I figured when I got my new trailer with a ramp that I could take the tractor for service myself. Then I tried to get it in and the mower couldn’t make it in–my ramp is behind a full swing door so there’s a bump of a couple inches. My smart farrier said to try backing the tractor in. With that advice and my own thought to put a couple scraps of wood (maybe 2 ft long x 1/2-3/4") down to lessen the bump, I got the tractor in. Just barely have enough room to get myself out of the trailer which is 6’4" wide. (Tractor is a small Simplicity 27 hp with loader.)
A nod to the Off Topic grammar thread that I thought of another instance to use “myself!”
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