John Deere LA140 Tractor

[jhonb]

When I purchased my LA120 back in 2007 I darn well expected it to last for at least 10 years. Sure I may have to change a belt or a spindle bearing along the way, but so far, I have not done a darn thing except scheduled maintenance. I take care of my stuff and I did not expect my tractor to fall apart in a couple of years.
I have started my 6th mowing season. I mowed my lawns on Sunday in 90 degree plus weather and it still runs like the day I got it. (I wish I was still in the same shape I was 6 years ago)

 

[MHanscom]

I totally agree with the need for better quality control. Mine has paint issues. I keep it clean by blowing it off with my air compressor after each mowing. I used to do body work and paint for a Chevy dealership in my younger days and there is no excuse for the paint to be peeling off in sheets from a $2000 plus mower. Apparantly they didn't do any priming or metal corrosion treatment before painting. So what happens is around every opening in the sheetmetal and along the edges the paint splits and moisture penetrates between the untreated metal and paint. If you look close it starts as a very subtle bubbling or blistering of the paint. If you sand the blisters down to bare metal you will find the paint has broken loose at least an inch to two inches beyond the visible damage. I had a spot on the edge of the foot rest that once I started all the paint peeled off of the foot rest and up onto the rear wheel fender revealing early stages of rust damage. I am now in the process of sanding down to sheet metal around every opening and edge to fix the problem. I'm a fiscal analyst by profession now and know the cost of using primer would make very little if any impact on John Deer's bottom line. These companies like Toyota and John Deere need to return to what made them who they are, great products backed by great service. I tell you if anyone wants to clean up in our current economy just provide a quality product with good service and all these imported products will lose market share. Each dollar is too hard to earn these days to be flushing it down the drain in our landfills by buying the same product every three years. Vote with your purchases. Tell these companies we aren't taking it anymore. Give us a good product with good service or watch us walk. I refuse to give them the satisfaction of selling me new sheetmetal. I will repaint mine the way it should have been from the start and not buy another one from them until they change their quality and service.

 

[artfull dodger]

The OP, made the mother off all mistakes, assuming that a $2000 tractor was the equil to a older 200 or 300 class John Deere. Unfortunatly we that are "in the know" know otherwise. And I agree, I am sure in thier(JD) research, there was a failure vs cost workup on what corners to cut to meet price requirements. The neighbor to me has a little L110, does nothing with it but mow his grass, and it has been totaly trouble free. He leaves the snow removal, bush pulling, yard rolling ect to me with my heavier duty Garden Tractor. In the past this was a 110 from the early 70's or my friends 318. Now its my 214. He could, if it wanted to go used, pick up a decent 318 or even a really cherry condition 200 series for what that LA140 cost him and have a real garden tractor, the ones that built that reputation he assumed carried over to that lawn tractor. Alot of customer satisfaction of these is directionaly related to how well the individual dealerships/stores handle the customers complaint. JD has poorly handled the transmission issue on these tractors, A FREE under warrenty/extended warrenty upgrade to the better transmission would have done wonders for customer satisfaction and restore faith in JD's quality in the home owner line up. The fact that the average joe is behind the 8-ball and can no longer drop 5-10K for a garden tractor or ZTR. Probably explains the strong market prices, atleast localy, for 318's and 200 series in good shape. All plastic hoods that are easily broken, get brittle with age, and are high $$ to replace do not help JD either. Atleast a thin sheet metal hood,side panels can get be resonably straightened after a mishap. I hope he doesnt total turn his back on what is still the best line up of lawn and garden tractors on the market, and chalks this up to a learning experience, to research the living dog sh-t out of the next model he chooses. I personaly would write up a nice letter directly to John Deere Corperate voicing my displeasure, demanding a free upgrade transmission, all in nice wording while being direct to the point. I would also file a claim with your state's attorney general, there needs to be a class action lawsuit over this transmission issue and John Deere's failure to provide a satisfactory replacement or remedy to the consumer IMHO. Mike

 

[MHanscom]

My neighbor has riding mowers backed up waiting for repairs. The irony in all this is the new younger management teams at John Deere and Toyota don't have a long term focus. Their focus is on short term profits at the expense of long term customers. You can't tell me that they had to cut corners to market these mowers. Do you have any idea what the markup is on one of these and the parts? Take Toyota for example. They charge $10 for parts that cost them 3 cents to produce. If you don't believe me shop for plastic clips, metal clips, and other items that should be ten or fifteen to a bag for $5 that they charge $10 each. How much do you think it would cost per mower to put on a coat of primer before painting? With their production volume they could buy the primer in 55 gallon drums with a cost per mower of maybe $7. So to do it right would cost them $7 more dollars. Take these transaxles with a cost difference of maybe $200. So to save $7 in primer and instead of splitting the difference on the $200 by eating $100 and charging an extra $100 they took a shortcut. Yet they will tell you how "green" they are and how environmentally conscious they are knowing all these mowers are junk in less than 5 years. I do home improvement on the side and I was always taught that it takes less time and resources to do it right the first time than to fix it and make it right later. My 1994 Toyota pickup has a dash that looks as good as the day I bought it. My 2004 Toyota Sienna has a dash with hairline cracks spreading around the instrument cluster. I've already replaced the driver's side door where their engineers didn't use thick enough metal for the door strap mounting plate. If they would just do it right the first time they wouldn't have to spend so much in advertising to win people back. If I were John Deere I wouldn't have my name on anything that wasn't done right. That is how I am on my side jobs. I don't allow my name to be associated with poor sloppy work. People want consistency. They don't like buying a product that has a 50/50 shot of being a lemon. My LA140 is only used for mowing grass and mulching leaves. I don't even use a bagger. I don't think I am expecting too much for my mower with normal preventative maintenance to be able to hold a paint job and tackle a yard. If they can't take moisture in the air then they need to tell Home Depot and Lowes to quit parking them outside.

 

[Markcuda]

My two cents is, you get what you pay for.

 

[artfull dodger]

Agreed Mark, If the good new stuff is out of reach, a buyer is better off seeking out a good low hour or refurbished 300 or 200 series tractor such as a 212, 214, 216, 316 and the mighty 318. All can be found, fairly easily considering how many were made and in very good shape. Replacement mower decks can be purchased from JD, as that is usualy the mower worn out item that is many times beyond repair due to rust and corrosion from the acids in the grass. If the deck is good, usualy all that is needed is new bearings, again easily available from JD or any bearing wholesaler. The last year I worked in a dealership, I saw many more 200 and 300 class machines getting refurbished over traded in on a new one that was mostly plastic and tinfoil when compared to those older tractors. Mike

 

[swines]

So I did some investigating and found out that the LA140 tractor may not have been made at John Deere. It may have been made at MTD for John Deere. Sill trying to find out if that痴 true. If so, that痴 not what I paid over $2000 for. I paid for a product that was supposed to be made by John Deere.

Then your investigating needs to be a little better and more thorough. While your tractor was not made in the Horicon, Wisconsin plant, it was made in the John Deere Power Product Plant located in Greenville, TN.

Here's a link to an article, complete with photos, about the Greenville factory. If you look at the photos you will see stacks of boxes containing John Deere 100 series tractors.

The "produced for John Deere by MTD" story is an Internet meme that seems to have a life of its own. No one manufactures lawn or garden tractors for John Deere - they design and build all of them.

 

[swines]

How much do you think it would cost per mower to put on a coat of primer before painting? With their production volume they could buy the primer in 55 gallon drums with a cost per mower of maybe $7.

And do you have any idea what the markup has to be to pay for materials, salaries, overhead, marketing, taxes, research & development, new tooling, etc, make a profit and pay the stock dividend?

I find it interesting that you so willingly pontificate on only one side of the equation. I do know people that work at the auto companies, and those companies "get cost out of the product" - sometimes a nickel at a time. If they can lower costs by $2.00 a vehicle - that's considered significant. Now you want to pretend that you know all about John
Deere's manufacturing and that $7.00 a unit is insignificant on a relatively low volume, low cost item?

Please - give the pontificating a rest, the Internet is loaded with "experts" with an opinion - and not much else.

They are probably using direct-to-metal (DTM) paint. Valspar is the paint manufacturer for John Deere and they make an industrial DTM paint. I have used DTM paints for at least 10 years on a variety of metal equipment that sits outdoors 24 hours per day / 365. If the metal is prepared correctly for DMT paint it works as well as a two coat system.

 

[MHanscom]

Swines, my neighbor bought a Snapper and I bought a John Deere at the same time, mow identical yards, store them the same way and in the time we have owned our riding mowers I have had to scrape and repaint my deck and body sheet metal. Now both companies have to make a profit yet he paid less for his new than I did. Now my neighbor Billy who works on them informs me I can expect my transaxle to go out because it isn't designed to last. That will be an additional $1000. So my mower will be a $3000 plus mower when it is all said and done. Please note that this axle issue applies to "real" John Deere mowers sold at their dealerships. Whose mower is doing the better job of holding up and doing the designed task of mowing grass? Do I need to have a scientist of your choosing analyze the metal and paint to be relavent to others considering buying a John Deere riding mower? Do I need to have a mechanic who works on these mowers six days a week come on here to substantiate the transaxle issues? You can defend John Deere all you want and the "shortcuts" they make but the fact remains my mower wasn't "prepped" right. And worse John Deere knows it and won't do anything about it.

Funny how some of you guys think paying more guarantees a better product. Just isn't so. In comparing the Snapper to the John Deere the John Deere wasn't a better product it was "perceived" to be a better product because of the price tag and the brand name (Marketing 101). My neighbor Billy has a yard full of riding mowers including Murray. They sit out year round in the weather and none of them has the peeling paint and rust issues my John Deere has had. Now the Murray paint does fade but it doesn't peel and rust around every bolt hole and opening.

If the rest of you want to bleed green no matter what that is your choice. I buy equipment to hold up and do the job year after year not so I can wear their hat and spout the company line. By the way don't forget to purchase a John Deere tire pressure gauge to go with that hat Swine. Having the right accessories is important when John Deere does that closeup interview for their advertising campaign. If you have an LA laying around just throw a John Deere tarp over it. They'll never notice.

By the way, the riding mower I had before the John Deere was an old 1977 Murray. I had to rebuild the deck (had some holes over time) when it wore out but the old 11 hp Briggs chugged right along and the paint faded but never peeled. Swine, I'm glad DTM works for you. After sanding on my mower for a week after disassembling it I'm not that fond of the stuff or Valspar. I prepped a kitchen for a client and they bought Valspar. I usually use Behr. That is the last time I let the client pickup the paint. I like Lowe's and I'm using their Rustoleum John Deere green and yellow on my LA but they can keep their Valspar.

 

[Markcuda]

Lets face it, you went the cheep route, you got burned, and now John Deere is junk.
Please, get a clue, you get what you pay for but you don't want to admit that to your self.