John Deere sold at Lowes & HD

[jenkinsph]

I use an L130 to mow the lawn in town which is about two acres total and find it does a good job. I would consider moving up to a 300 series next time and recently looked at the 300R rear bagger with rear discharge deck. It has smooth sides on the deck so you can trim from either side and a built in blower to pack the clippings in the hopper. I particularly liked the short path with large throat between the deck and bagger and find this to be a better design than the bagger on my present L130.

I think it is best to get a lawn in good shape with a larger tractor and implements to get it smooth and flat ( do the prep work needed) then mow with a lighter weight riding mower. I have used my tractors and backhoe to reclaim some rough properties, eliminating some old ditches, burying stumps and hauling off debris, plane the ground, till and plant the lawn. Now it is smooth enough to use the light weight rider.

Just my opinion but I think it saves alot of time to get the yard/lawn in good shape initially where it is easy to mow with just about any mowing machine. Having a rough lawn to work with every week takes alot of fun out of it and this extra time could be better spent each week.

All of this said a 100 series mower will hold up a lot better if you are not constantly beating the crap out of it. It won't pull steep grades as well as the more expensive X300 and up models will and won't last as long either. But overall it does a satisfactory job, mine is 5 years old this year with 260 hours on it, hopefully it will hold up a few more years until I upgrade to something better.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

jinman as a side note on your JD LA145 sticking carb needle valve have you tried Sea Foam?

I had an issue with our old back up generator at the house but since I started adding Sea Foam at the gas station when filling our "stored" gas containers. I try to add 1+ oz. per gallon of gas I am going to put in the container so I never have any stored gas that is not Sea Foam treated.


This last week TSC went from $40 to $50 a gallon but it had been $60 a gallon in the chain part stores for a long time. 16 oz. cans run $8-$10 per can. Sta-Bil is good for storing gas but it will not clean the fuel system, spark plug and cylinder heads. As noted in another post it smoothed out the idling speed on the 1983 JD 310B with the 60 HP four cylinder diesel after a couple hours of use but I had it mixed at about 6 oz per gallon of diesel.

On the subject of name brand lines being sold in the big box stores being of poor quality I expect will always be muddy waters. I have heard dealers make unkind remarks but the fact remains the stores and equipment companies most likely are cutting new deals each season so what was true 12 months ago may not be today. Lower end equipment and tools tend to hold up just fine for personal use by the owner but might not last long at a rental company. MTD gets slammed all of the time but if on can get 7-8 years out of one with not big repair bill then it would out fine I think most will agree. If JD, CC and the others can do another 1/2 of a billion dollars in sales in the cut rate markets they are going to try to find a way to make it happen. Dealers like larger $$$ sales I expect anyway and not have to deal with homeowners.

 

[jinman]

Ithought I had the same carb issues as you mention but found that the electric terminal on the fuel solenoid was not tight enough. So sometimes it appeared to be fuel starved, other times it worked.

The fuel solenoid on my Briggs engine is working fine. I've disconnected it while the engine is running and the engine stops immediately. I can turn the key on/off and the solenoid clicks as it energizes everytime. The strange process with my mower is that it starts normally and runs normally, then shuts off like it is slowly becoming fuel starved. I find I can fill the hose going to the carb with gas and the level doesn't change. Gas is visible in the end of the hose and not going into the carb. I have a carb rebuild kit to put in and decided to use my air hose to "convince" the float valve to open. With 30 psi air pressure, I blew into the end of the hose and suddenly fuel goes in normally. The mower has worked beautifully the last 2 times I've cut the grass and at least on 4 separate days when I tested it by just starting it and letting it run for several minutes. If it wasn't the float valve, I'm sure I blew out some trash or something. The engine is running fine, but I have my rebuild kit ready if I need it.

Gale Hawkins: Thanks for the tip about Sea Foam. I'll look for it and try it out. It sure can't hurt anything whether it solves my problem or not. I have and use a product called Berryman B-12 Chemtool also. I suspect Sea Foam is something similar, but I will find and buy some just to give it a try. Next weekend my wife and I are going to Oklahoma to visit our son and I'll take my gas cans with me to get some non-ethanol premium fuel also. I appreciate all help and suggestions.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Our local HD sells
"JD" tractors but Deere is just licencing the name and colors to Scotts which is the real manufacturer. So they are not real Deere and moist likely built in china.

I don't believe that is true.

 

[abeal]

The Depot and Lowes wanted the JD name on a machine to sell and the market was just too big to pass up, so John rolled over in his grave and MBA's in Moline put his name on a little rider with a plastic hood. So that's my story.

He may have twitched here recently but I think he rolled over when they started installing japanese engines.

 

[mjncad]

He may have twitched here recently but I think he rolled over when they started installing japanese engines.

If he rolled over Yanmar engines being used in his products; just think at what John's doing in his grave over Chinese and Indian made stuff bearing his name.

 

[foggy1111]

I bought an L130 for use up at our cabin. We only put about 20 hours a year on the clock. It does a good job mowing and I like the way I can blow leaves off the yard in the fall. I also need to pull trailers up and down a steep hill with a light load (boat gas)...so this simplifies that task.

I've owned an old style 110,and a 212, 316, 317, (2) 318'2 and a 425 around my biz and home in the past along with a goodly number of attachments. This machine wont hold a candle to those others...but it gets a small yard looking good quickly....and costs far less.

Now I went and bought a snow blower for it too (this past fall).....so I'm in this for the long run now. :laughing: I cant say I'm enamored with the way these operate or the way they are put together...but if you are somewhat gentle with them I believe they will last a good long time. Any level of abuse on these units will quickly shorten the life.

 

[Chuck_Lind]

MTD makes Cub Cadet riding mowers. There are thousands of MTDs that have been bought cheaply and had the heck beat out of them for many years with good performance. I bought a sub-$1000 MTD on halves with my dad so he could use it for mowing around his mobile home park. It lasted 8 years in the park before my dad passed away and I inherited it because of my1/2 share. I did have to disassemble the engine and replace the oil pan gasket plus replace multi-speed pulley, belts, blades, and two spindles. That mower lasted me until three years ago when I gave it away, still running but needing some repair. That's 15 years on that little cheap mower. The point I want to make is there is a lot of value in many of these mowers. Many may fail, but with proper care, I think most will do quite well.

I like my JD LA145, but the dang carb float needle valve needs replaced because it keeps sticking shut. Sometimes the mower starts and runs until the float bowl is empty and dies. I have to blow into the carb's intake hose and choke it manually to get it going. The sticking float valve may be due to the rubber seal's deteriorating with ethanol in the fuel. I may drive to Oklahoma and buy 10 gallons of "mower" fuel because they sell non-ethanol added fuel just across the state line.:thumbsup:

Buy high-octane 93 fuel;they don't add ethanol to that.

 

[XterraJohn]

This is how pretty much all the outdoor power equipment is at the box stores. Top to bottom, all these guys care about is selling at a low price and they will kill the quality of anything they sell to do it. I've heard some increadible speeches from the guys at Stihl about the meetings they have had with them and why they will never sell there. Did you know that most anything with a Honda engine on it in a box store is actually a Chineese engines with a Honda sticker...?

I bought a Toro Commercial 21" mower from a local independent dealer. It has the Honda Commercial engine on it and cost about $1200. The engine says Made in China.