How reliable are JD lawn tractors?
- Thread starter canlis
- Start date
jenkinsph
Super Star Member
Nice puppy, hope you have many good years.
jhonb
Bronze Member
These are largely the ramblings of a grey-haired ol' man, but several things come to mind. The Snapper RER the OP is discussing is a single blade fixed height mower with an open engine compartment and a seat-forward operating deck to add weight to the front wheels for good traction and turning. I'm not sure what kind of transmission it has: variable speed or hi-low 2-speed. Those mowers were manufactured for homeowners who didn't have the amount of lawn to justify a large lawn tractor. The RER models are excellent performers on smooth ground and small lawns with lots of tight spots and turns. The Snapper is a great little mower with very limited mechanical functions that change or are adjustable. Somewhere on my junk pile of stuff I intend to carry to the metal recycler, I have a 28" Lawn Boy with 5 hp engine. It was one of my favorite mowers of all time for my city house lawn. It was also nearly bulletproof except for the Briggs & Stratton engine that finally failed.
To try and find something similar today is like running a classified ad in the newspaper for $5/hr laborers. 28 years ago, you may have found somebody worthwhile with that ad, but today you won't have any takers. If you do find someone, they'll be worth less than $5 per hour and probably more of a liability than an asset. It's a bit of a stretch, but I see the JD LA-series and D-series mowers about the same as that low wage laborer. If you want anything out of them, you are gonna have to give them unlimited attention and coaching. With the JD low-end mowers, you can get them to perform, but you'll have to limit what you want them to do and you'll have to spend a lot of time on maintenance. I own one of those mowers and my opinions have been posted in this forum before. Having it to do all over again, I would have spent more money. However, if all I have is $1500 to $2000 to spend today, I'd recommend doing a refurb of that great Snapper or looking in the used market for some value at a bargain price. At today's prices and the added features we want in our lawn tractors, you just can't buy 28-year trouble-free operation like you could in the past. It's a different time and the standards have changed.
Are you bragging that you still have hair, or complaining that it is grey?:laughing: forgot what color mine was, and I mean was...
I am not sure if I have posted in this thread before, but My LA120 is on it's 6 mowing season and has not given me any problems at all. Not even a new belt. I change the oil and filters, grease her up once a year. I also giver her a bath a few times during the season. So some of us can get great service out of a new1600 machine, and know the first two years at least, will be fixed free. For me, I need to get three more seasons out of it, and I will throw it in with the house when I sell it.
jinman
Rest in Peace
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2001
- Messages
- 21,008
- Location
- Texas - Wise County - Sunset
- Tractor
- NHTC45D, NH LB75B, Ford Jubilee
If you live close to the dealer you can get it serviced "almost" free for the warranty period, but you still have to transport it two ways and that is even worse for those of us who live 35 miles from the dealer. I think you are lucky to have the LA120 without the electric clutch and also with a 42" deck. Both of those things help reduce stress on the deck pulleys, idlers, and belts. It seems lots of folks have more luck with similar models. I have discovered that taking the advice of the folks on TBN and not washing out the deck with water and being careful to not get water on top of the idlers (and into the bearings) has extended my deck's life. For the first time this year, I have had no failures of idlers or spindles. I have greased the spindles every 4th time I mow since it takes about 2 hours to mow my lawn and I think 8 hr is good between spindle greasings. I think I now have 175 hours on the mower, so with cost and repairs, if it fails today, I've paid $16/hr for the mowing time. I'd sure like to get that down to below $10/hr before sending my LA145 to mower heaven. The problem with inexpensive mowers is that some will be like yours and completely trouble free and others will have continual problems; both with the same use and maintenance. It's a roll of the dice.
jinman
Rest in Peace
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2001
- Messages
- 21,008
- Location
- Texas - Wise County - Sunset
- Tractor
- NHTC45D, NH LB75B, Ford Jubilee
If you live close to the dealer you can get it serviced "almost" free for the warranty period, but you still have to transport it two ways and that is even worse for those of us who live 35 miles from the dealer. I think you are lucky to have the LA120 without the electric clutch and also with a 42" deck. Both of those things help reduce stress on the deck pulleys, idlers, and belts. It seems lots of folks have more luck with similar models. I have discovered that taking the advice of the folks on TBN and not washing out the deck with water and being careful to not get water on top of the idlers (and into the bearings) has extended my deck's life. For the first time this year, I have had no failures of idlers or spindles. I have greased the spindles every 4th time I mow since it takes about 2 hours to mow my lawn and I think 8 hr is good between spindle greasings. I think I now have 175 hours on the mower, so with cost and repairs, if it fails today, I've paid $16/hr for the mowing time. I'd sure like to get that down to below $10/hr before sending my LA145 to mower heaven. The problem with inexpensive mowers is that some will be like yours and completely trouble free and others will have continual problems; both with the same use and maintenance. It's a roll of the dice.
buickanddeere
Super Member
K72 is an even beefier unit. K66 and up are considered "ground engaging" anything less is a toy.
bigtiller
Super Member
I sure would like to know what you are talking about. A little help please.
John Puican
New member
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2011
- Messages
- 7
- Tractor
- John Deere x340
Thanks for feedback. I was aware of the K72 but I noticed on blogs that sometimes you have to change other parts or brackets. Would the K66 or K72 be installable on the JD x340 without other modifications. I would really like to install a transmission that is going to be able to handle the functions I purchased the X340 for and at a cost of $5000 I would like it to last as long as possible. I thoroughly maintain this mower for that reason, and purposely did not buy the box store version. Had I known about the K58 weakness in the X340 I probably would have gone to the X500 version 6 years ago when I could afford it. I'm retired now and can't do that so I need to repair this tractor with a transmission that will last.
jhonb
Bronze Member
He is saying that he has a big tractor, and if you don't have one you are beneath him.
buickanddeere
Super Member
Sigh..................................................Quote"K72 is an even beefier unit. K66 and up are considered "ground engaging" anything less is a toy" Unquote.
When shopping for a replacement hydrostat trans axle for your 100,300 or other series that uses the lightweight "toy" K46,K57 or K58. The K66 is a HD ground engaging unit designed to haul the weight of the tractor and pull a load. The K72 is an even heavier duty version of the K66 with more pump capacity. The K66 is usually an almost bolt in while the K72 may require some tweaking.