John Deere 250 skid steer questions/opinions/experiences???

[murphy777]

Hey there everyone...happy holidays
Im trying to get some opinions , thoughts and answers on the JD 250 skid steer. My New holland has a career ending injury and I am looking to purchase a another machine. The 250 I am looking at is somewhere around a 2003-2005 year model with about 650 hours. things seem clean and tight and fluids have been gone through very recently, and for that year range machine the hours are really low , still has with what appears to be the original tires with at least 80-85% tread left, and the price seems very fair

Im trying to find out the exact year, and if it is a series II machine....I have heard the first year or two JD started making their own skid steers they had some quirks...and things got better with the series II.
The PIN # is KV0250A252582....is there a way to determine manufacture date from that number, and to find out if it is a series II ?

This machine currently operates with all hand controls, not quite the pilot style but the style where your right and left hands still control steering and the left does your bucket, and the right does the boom, it also has foot pedals....I was told that there is a switch/pattern changer to set it to hand and foot controls...(hands for steering/feet for bucket-boom)
Any info and help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks!

 

[mg2361]

KV0250A252582

Built in August of 2000. Series 1 machine. Series 2 would be serial numbers over 450000 IIRC.

.I was told that there is a switch/pattern changer

No there is not. It is all linkage and would be expensive to change it over.

 

[KSSS]

The 200 series Deere machines were not their finest moment. Gen II advertised "hundreds of improvements" from the original 200 series. I would pass. I think the 300 series Deere machines were much better if you go with Deere.

 

[murphy777]

Thanks mg2361
I chatted with my local jd service manager and he said the same ....the machines had the hand controls, or hand and foot controls as separate options...he also gave me a little of the service history on the machine. I also chatted with mechanic and he had some good info about the motor and his thoughts on it...So far things are looking good and I am going to check out the machine next week....

 

[murphy777]

Thanks KSSS
I've heard similar thoughts on the Gen I machines having electrical issues, my mechanic said he had seen a few with that also over the years, he did really like the motor that was in the 200 series as it operated at in a higher torque curve at lower rpms than the 300 series that you have to run at a higher rate to get into the power range. This could be different with a turbo vs non turbo machine. I figure taking a look at the machine would be a good idea.