John Deere 318
The John Deere 318 is a garden tractor and lawn mower which is not currently produced by John Deere (It ran from 1983-1992). It is an immensely popular tractor and comes with a 18 horsepower 2 cylinder engine built by Onan.
Here are some of the stats on the 318 tractor:
The factory built model comes with a 4.5 gal (17 l) fuel capacity for long running time.
You have a choice between a 38′, 46′ or 50′ mower deck on the John Deere 318 to give you options depending on how much grass you are cutting.
The wheel base is 46′ and it’s is 68.5′ long while it weighs in at 836 lbs or 379 kg if you’re in Europe.
There is also a range of attachments associated with the 318 from snow blowers to front end loaders to blades.
Without modification the 318 tops out at just under 8 mph going forward while in reverse it gets up to 3.7 mph.
All in all, most people find this John Deere a fantastic piece of equipment when it comes to looking after medium to large gardens. It is especially useful if you are living in a place that get regular snowfall as clearing the snow is pretty simple. All you need to do is attach either a snow plow or blower and you can very quickly get down to getting rid of the snow.
Currently many people seek out 318’s for both garden use and to modify them for other jobs. One of the main reasons the 318 was so popular was because of John Deere’s trusted name. People are happy to pay a premium for a John Deere tractor as they know they are getting quality, durability and reliability.
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Have Your Say! Leave A Review Do you love or hate this tractor? You can have your say below by leaving review.
The 318 is a nice machine. I bought mine as a $400 basket case. 1 head was off and had broken rod. I had an engine for it. I decarboned the engine, restored the tractor, ran it for a year then overhauled the motor. Onanparts.com helped with the parts price. Parts for an industrial engine are expensive. Ive only changed the oil in it since the overhaul. Once a year which is 10 hours.
The 318 has many improvements over the 317. This is due to Deere had lots of problems with the 317. The 317 had a Kohler Series 1 in them at first. The Kohler series 2 was better but Deere couldn’t get them fast enough so the Onan was offered as a replacement. The 317 didn’t have power steering, Although it could be bought aftermarket and added.
Just a great mowing tractor plenty of power just need to find front blade for it
LOVE IT!
Wouldn’t have anything else!
General experience has just been happiness.
It has never let me down and has always performed perfectly !
Question: I’m paying $2,500.00 for a 1993 model 318 with 20 original miles and a new tiller and a new 45″ blade. In excellent condition. Am I getting jipped?
I traded a brand new D130 with 11 hrs. on it for this old 318 with a 1000 hrs. on it and have no regrets, the 318 will outlive that D130 by about 100 years.
The construction of the tractor is basically a small farm implement.
30″ Hydraulic Tiller
does okay, but I hate some of the over priced and overated dealings with Onan
any 120 140 160 300 312 314 317 318 basicsame thing, just features are upgraded, so sad to see the new garbage with the deere name attaches, I was a JD mechanic in Mass years ago, to bad kohlers original twin had problems, there was a big kiss to the public from JD to make up for that situation, however I wonder how close performence wise was that GEN2 kohler toward the owner.
the 318 was the begining of the end for John Deere Lawn and Garden tractors ! with the K series Kohler it was indeed a “Heirloom quality peice” now what are they ? Home Depot ? I’ll stick with my ole 314, its american and has “Patriot” blessings !
All i have used it for is plowing dirt, can’t wait for winter
I’d recommend this model to anyone.
48″ Tiller
38T sweeper
54″ blade
Weights and chains
So far, this has been a work hosre that never gets tired.
Frame is solid and implements are strongly built.
This thing cuts anything, blows snow, pulls cars out of ditches and can drag a bigger farm tractor for a pull start.
Power steering is a nice touch.
Hydraulics, PS, and Hydrostatic pump/valves are a little noisy
Steel deck where seat mounts has many growing cracks.
Repairs and maintenance are expensive.
Seat is too close to the steering wheel for 6 ft tall or larger man.
Hydrostatic drive creeps faster (probably needs adjustment)
50″ mower
rear tiller
wheel weights
Changed out Onan to Honda Motor after 1600 hours – Someone let oil get low.
One of the best small tractors ever built. Bar none.
Mowing Deck
York Rake
3 Point Hitch
Dump Trailer
I HAVE PUSHED HEAVY SNOW WITH NO PROBLEM AND MOWED HEAVY WET GRASS WITH EASE.IALSO MOVE DIRT WITH THE THE BLADE WITH NO PROBLEM.
I bought my 318 17 years ago and used it full time until 6 or 7 years ago when I bought a 345. I kept the 318 as a backup and to do really tough jobs. The 345 was supposed to be the replacement for the 318 but it is lighter with a deck than the 318 is without one. The 318 is much heavier duty and has individual rear brakes which is important on very steep lawns like mine. The 318 is old but I have no plans of getting rid of it because the newer tractors of a similar size aren’t built nearly as well.
The only thing I don’t like about it is that it will not plow up steep hills because the weight of the blade takes weight off of the rear wheels.
I love this Deere!! I bet you would too.
Best lawn tractor I have ever owned
I spent $2,000 for it three years ago. It is in better shape now than any brand new $2,000 lawn tractor I could have bought back then would be after 3 years.
Go, find a used 318 and if it is in good shape – buy it.
Single stage Snow Blower
Trailer
Grass Sweeper
I really feel that this is a reasonable tractor. I cut a huge amount of lawns with my landscaping business, and this tractor performs well, but not as well as some of my other lawn mowers
My JD 318 is a fantastic piece of machinery. I just destroys lawns with ease, whether the grass is wet or dry, long or short (obviously dry and short is easy!).
I have owned a 318, for app. 6 years. It has a 46″ deck with teh blower and 2 bagger attachment. Is this model not very good at picking up leaves? I seem to have many chopped up leaf pieces all over the yard. I really like the frame, and how well built the 318 is, but this leaf issue is leaving me a mess. Any advise? Thank you in advance.
Terry Hayes
Love it, bestest lawn/garden trac I have ever owned. I suggest useing the medium lift gator blades.
Loyal
WorkHorse