John Deere 550 gator

[Agent Blue]

All the problems in 32 hours of service ? I would be looking at selling or trading soon. That is not normal.

 

[Buppies]

Picked up gator today from dealer will see if their fix works

 

[Buppies]

Fix is working so far guess time will tell

 

[Whaleya]

The parking brake is poorly engineered. If you don't apply it hard the Gator will roll even if on the slightest of a hill. If you apply to the next "click" the cable, over time till break at the cable/eyelet. We have 150 hours on ours and have had to have the parking brake cable replaced once so far. I expect the only reason it only broke once is that the unit is in the shop so much we don't get a chance to use the parking cable

In addition our shift cable is currently broken (just happened) and we have had to have both head gaskets replaced. Ours has been in the shop 3+ weeks during our 12 months of ownership. I would run away from John Deere - ANY competitor will have a better engineered product compared to the 550!

-W

 

[Buppies]

Have 45 hours now no further issues comes in very handy for us

 

[Whaleya]

Hello,

I also have a Gator 550 and my parking brake keeps failing. On my Gator, the cable has snapped twice right at the pedal, due to metal fatigue. In order to try to get JD to fix this problem, which I feel is a safety defect, I submitted it as a safety defect to the Consumer Products Safety Commission. (CPSC Home | CPSC.gov) There is a button the right side to submit a report of an unsafe product. The form isn't too long to fill out.

I also mailed a short letter to John Deere stating that I believe there is a safety defect with my Gator, stated the details that the parking brake failed and my concern it could cause an accident. I also mentioned that I submitted a report to the government.

John Deere call me a few days after I mailed the letter and said that they are looking into it (by law they have to respond to a formal complaint lodged with the CPSC). I am hoping that if other owners report the problems that they are having with the brake ,it might spur John Deere into redesigning the parking brake and performing a recall. So if your parking brake has failed, please take a few minutes and submit a formal report!

My Gator now has about 185 hours but it is used for short trips so the parking brake gets applied many times per hour of use.

-W

 

[Buppies]

Our 550 is now over one year old no further issues with parking brake. Starts easily in cold weather and does all that we ask