How reliable are JD lawn tractors?

[OutbackL130]

I've had my John Deere L130 since it was new in 03 or 04. After about 4 years it blew the hydrostatic trans when I was trying to pull a dead tree out of the ground. It was my fault for abusing it. I swapped the hydro unit out for a new 5 speed transaxle from an L110. They come up for sale new on ebay every now and then for $99. If someone is mechanically inclined there is no reason the cheap John Deere mowers won't last 20 or more years. The frames and decks are well built on the John Deeres compared to some of the other cheap ones. You wont really have to worry about metal fatigue in the deck as long as its kept clean on top to prevent rust. The Vtwin engines today all seem to be decently reliable. My Kohler is 10 years old now with 600 hours, it may have had an oil change two years ago. Still runs like new!

The main problem with cheap mowers is when the parts start adding up to more than the cost of a new mower! Steering parts commonly wear out. Sector, pinion gears and wheel bushings. The cheap mowers lack ball bearing in the front wheels. If the wheel bushing wear to far they destroy your spindles. The deck spindles on mine go bad every 3 - 4 years. Deck and drive belts wear out about every 5 years. They are easy to replace but cost plenty of green $$$. Thats pretty much all the common wear items I've had to replace more than once on my mower. If all your doing is using a cheap mower to mow, they are fine.

 

[tonymazz]

I owned a 2004 L120 (remember those) knew nothing about K46's and thought if I took care of it it would last me...I mow approx 2 acres of yard and 1 acre of other stuff on my land. Hilly, rough terrain. L120 lasted 10 years and nearly 500 hours of mow time....blew 2 sets of spindles and other misc stuff... motor was health but K46 died when I hit the hills mid way through cutting...hosed the case down with cool water and it ran the rest of the way.

Got tired of doing that....bought an x500 with a serviceable tranny.... I love it....is tough and makes the hills with no hesitation. I will never go back to a non-serviceable tranny again....people show me their new riders and I walk around back and notice it has a k46, k58...or whatever....sealed...and I say to myself..."you will be sorry eventually...." buy up.... when you shop for a tractor.....go in all the way....in-it to win-it...go big or go home.....no regrets.....JD all the way....

 

[tonymazz]

I owned a 2004 L120 (remember those) knew nothing about K46's and thought if I took care of it it would last me...I mow approx 2 acres of yard and 1 acre of other stuff on my land. Hilly, rough terrain. L120 lasted 10 years and nearly 500 hours of mow time....blew 2 sets of spindles and other misc stuff... motor was health but K46 died when I hit the hills mid way through cutting...hosed the case down with cool water and it ran the rest of the way.

Got tired of doing that....bought an x500 with a serviceable tranny.... I love it....is tough and makes the hills with no hesitation. I will never go back to a non-serviceable tranny again....people show me their new riders and I walk around back and notice it has a k46, k58...or whatever....sealed...and I say to myself..."you will be sorry eventually...." buy up.... when you shop for a tractor.....go in all the way....in-it to win-it...go big or go home.....no regrets.....JD all the way....

 

[KiotiKowboy]

Years ago, I decided to leave the Craftsman mowers behind and moved up to Deere. Bought an LX178 to handle about 2 acres of lawn. It was J U N K !!! The dealer was pointing fingers at me - like it was my fault I bought a lemon. Got nowhere. After enduring far too many months of his sorry attitude, I finally wrote a letter directly to the president of John Deere. Things started popping fast!

The dealer called, mad as a hornet that I had gone over his head. Go figure. A few days later, he took back the LX178 and gave me a new LX188. I've had it for over 15 years without a lick of trouble.

 

[hslogger]

I have an Lx178 I bought from a leeetle ol lady's estate sale about eight years ago. Kawasaki liquid cooled, 38 inch deck. I never knew the joy of a quality first class mower before. I wouldn't trade this mower for anything. Hydrostatic never fails.Deck keeps itself clean pretty much, but I hose it down from underneath OFTEN and keep the spindles greased. I think of all the stuff guys pull around with their mowers and then tear the drive train apart. I rarely do anything but mow with it or pull a little two wheel trailer with some gear in it. Nothing heavy.

 

[g huns]

My 1969 John Deere 112 still runs like a champ. My dad's side of the family bleeds green-n-yellow, grandpa on mom's side always hated John Deeres. Grandpa is gone now, but his mountain of scrapped out Craftsman lawn mowers that date back to the mid 70's lives on out behind his old barn.

 

[jhonb]

My 2007 LA120 still runs like the day I go it. Same belts, same battery, spindles, same everything except for oil, grease, filters, plugs and a variety of blades. I keep waiting for the transmission to fall out, as my model has one that is cheaper that the infamous K46, it's a T40. But so far, so good. If I get the gumption, I just might swap out the oil for preventive reasons, but I am just not up for it right now. Sorry to hear a lot of you had issues with yours. But I am happy to report mine runs just great.

 

[Creekpaddler]

I bought my 1993 JD LX188 17-hp 48"-deck lawn tractor from a homeowner in 2001. It worked great then and still does today, 13 years later. I mow about 1-1/2 acres around the house with it. I really haven't had to put much $$ into it, and it has had no major repairs. For a 21-year-old lawn tractor, that says a lot about its reliability.

 

[coobie]

I've enjoyed reading this thread, I'm a long time reader, first time poster
I have a friend that was given a 5 year old lx176 about 12 ago with a bad transmission, otherwise looked excellent shape. It would go about 15 minutes until the oil got warm and then refuse to go. (original owner had taken it back to a dealer and they said it was junk. Didn't even want it as a trade in) One day he let me tear it apart and I took the hydro parts to an old machine shop and he milled the 4 mating surfaces off for me for about $25. I put it back together and worked like new and its still In use today. I've been looking for someone to give me one to try it on again!

YUP there JUNK.LOL

 

[dieselbob69]

Regretting I didn't buy a used JD instead of the new POS Cub Cadet GTX2000 I bought this spring. Needed a mower after 7 years of owning a Kubota GR2100(bought it new in '07 thinking it would last many,many years-HAHAHAHA)- nothing beats the way an older machine is built. I missed out on a like new JD355(diesel)-I'm thinking of looking for a 455 or an older X740.