Do you take it to the dealer for maintenance or do it yourself.

[Reddogs]

My 790 has the model 300 deere loader. Bought the Deere shop manual not long after the 790.

I have had to replace the hydraulic implement pump twice, my own fault, replaced the bevel and drive gear on both sides of the mfwd and two water pumps.
Original water pump missed the three year warranty by one day, second one not sure what happened. Started leaking just like the first at only 175 ish hours, Deere water pump to boot with a flushed system also. Third pump install I used a whole bottle of coolant treatment with new coolant after another flush. So far so good.

The 790 was max what i could afford new and after 13 years of being my only tractor, year 'round use sometimes hard, it got me were I am now and would do it again...

Deere dealer was real good to me, wish it was still here. Between my work back then and the tree farm, I was in there often for parts, supplies and knowledge. It changed hands and most of the original employees left after the 'buy out'. The new management of the dealer is not the same and a lot of farmers, loggers and long time customers like me took there business to different dealers.... Like the LS tractor I own now.

Wow, I travel all over Florida as I like to see what the dealers have and see how they take care of customers. As we have people moving into the area that are buying tractors, and with the shortages, its good to know where to send them if they need a certain model or who to recommend nearby, as we have a good dozen down here. My JD 790 came with a JD7 backhoe which was great for the farm work and fencing, so I always tell people to get it with the tractor if they can. My FEL is the JD10, and I broke the edge of the bucket so had it rebuilt by my welder guy and it came out bigger. So I overdid it picking up and the piece in the arms locking them in place couldn't hold, so looking to see if can find a good 300 or figure out a way to weld the old one so it holds. But the tractor has all the original engine parts, I need to weld the radiator though as the bottom bolts have rusted away, but other wise cranks up like when I got it.

I looked at the LS tractors, one question, do they all come with Mitsubishi engines?

 

[Bill Guenthner]

I never took my John Deere 790 to the dealer for anything, did it myself no matter what it was, but now its pretty beat up. So for my L3301 I am thinking its best to have the dealer do everything, but got to pay pickup and delivery back, to say nothing of the sky high charges, but want to keep this one in immaculate shape. Is it worth it?

Good luck finding a competent repair facility.

 

[Reddogs]

Good luck finding a competent repair facility.

You telling me, not happy with the K dealers so far, checking out the ones on the east coast, we will see...

 

[spruce Deere]

My LS has an LS engine... I'm not by the tractor to read the engine tag. I do not remember reading Mitsubishi anywhere on anything.

The 300 model loader on my 790 has been 100% good. Zero breaks, cracks or anything of the sorts, and I USED the thing. I had the relief set so I could lift 1000lb bags of fertilizer, just a little bit more than it suppose to.

The 300 could use some new pins in the bucket, after 15 years of some good use that's expected

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

I looked at the LS tractors, one question, do they all come with Mitsubishi engines?

Just a quick online and LS uses Yanmar, Mitsubishi and LS engines depending on model.

 

[ljgordon]

Since I really despise the dealer I bought from, I found out there are mechanics that will come to your house and fix what I can't.

 

[Reddogs]

Since I really despise the dealer I bought from, I found out there are mechanics that will come to your house and fix what I can't.

The hydraulics are the one thing that gives me fits, the hoses explode, the pipes bend and get pulled out, the cylinders start to leak, and the steering starts to drift telling you cant put it off no longer. Hard to find good hydraulic people that come out who dont ask for half your house and your money..

 

[rScotty]

The hydraulics are the one thing that gives me fits, the hoses explode, the pipes bend and get pulled out, the cylinders start to leak, and the steering starts to drift telling you cant put it off no longer. Hard to find good hydraulic people that come out who dont ask for half your house and your money..

Yes, I agree. About ten years ago I realized a couple of things... one was that my understanding of hydraulics wasn't nearly up to my mechanical knowledge, and the second was that the whole science hydraulics looked like it ought to be simpler than mechanical things. So why was I so dumb about the subject?

So I worked at it. Sure enough, hydraulics is simpler. I've pretty much got it now. The last big hurdle was learning the rudiments of hydraulic schematic diagrams. I'm still working through that.

Looking back, hydaulics seemed hard mainly because it was hard to get started. There are literally hundreds of mechanical things, mechanics, books, and people around to share mechanical knowledge. Clocksmiths, gunsmiths, mechanics, machinists, welders....on and on. But I have yet to come across a single good free resource for learning hydraulics. It's all run by aliens.
For awhile I thought about buying a textbook from that Australian, Brendan Casey - what he writes makes sense to me. In fact, I might yet do that just to fill in some of the holes in my understanding.

rScotty

 

[DKCDKC]

I have a pretty good dealer, but hauling the tractor there and back was just too much work or too expensive. I've done all the maintenance myself. I've had no repair issues with the tractor I bought in 2012, but did have a few with the older and bigger won I had previously - a 1978 65 HP JD. But I found a local large farmer who had a big tractor repair shed and paid him to do the repairs - for a fraction of what the dealer would have charged.