BATTY54
Silver Member
I had to remove mine again to check the oil level. But at over 2 quarts you should have put in enough.
I thought I would just mention how I got my Scotts 2554 working again. I believe it is the K66 transmission. Three years ago the tranny went out. I changed the belt and fluid (turns out the fluid needs changing on a periodic basis - not that the owner manual ever said this) with no change. A new transmission from JD $1700 w/o installation. In my efforts to come up with an alternative, I came across a guy who rebuilds these for $400. But instead of a new cylinder/piston?, he has the original milled down. New oil and filter and whatever he else he needed, the tractor ran better than when it was new. I was impressed with the fix.
Here is a question for lotsofgreengrass........Do you know if the replacement parts are upgraded or redesigned from the original parts or are they the same? Has Tuff Torq indicated that they believe the failure is mainly due to the oil or was it a combination of issues? I am actually wondering, after my rebuild this past weekend what I have. Do I have a somewhat improved unit or do I have the exact original unit (except a different filter and added magnets) with different oil? I am wondering how long to expect this to last. Is it now a tranny, with occasional oil changes, that will last 10 years? The truth is my L130 is decent lawn tractor outside of the tranny issues. It is well built and is otherwise holding up great. I like that if I need something for it the local dealer has the parts in stock. I owned a Yardman for 13 years and it did fine until it died. the exception was when I needed a part like a spindle and I had to wait a week or so for the part to come in and the truth is the parts were...well...cheaper. Also the Yardman was a rust bucket. I paid entry level money for it (much less than entry level JD) so I was satisfied with the overall outcome and no knock on Yardman is intended.
The thing that gets me is when the JD dealer or others on here say "if you want a real JD you need to buy a x3... or some other upgraded model". My tractor was sold as a JD by JD with the JD colors and labels. It is a real JD. If JD wanted to enter the market at a lower price point they should have done 1 of 2 things. Release a tractor under a different brand or stand behind the lower priced JD's like they would with the other models. They are hoping that people see the JD colors and make a purchase in trust that this amazing company has developed a product in a range that they can afford which ton's of people did. They should be willing to stand behind their product like it was a "real" JD.......
I hate being made to feel like I am lessor of a person or tractor owner because I simply can not afford $2500 or more to cut 1 acre of grass on a moderate slope.
lotsofgreengrass....you are terrific for helping us out with the rebuild tips and support!!!
Rant over