I was hoping someone can share their experience that they have had with JD when they needed help. Aprox. a year ago my brother purchase a JD tractor from our good friend, it had come from Home Depot. I think it was about a year old when he sold it to him. My brother then purchased the JD snow blower attachment from the local dealer. Well after the last storm we had he was returning to the garage and the connector rod snapped, fortunately it did not blow a hole in the block. He contacted JD and asked for some help since the tractor is only +/- 7 months out of warranty. He was instructed to take it to the local dealer and let them diag, which he did. After the official diag he was pretty much told to pound sand by JD. Our friend also contacted them since he was the original owner, he was told the same thing. I can稚 tell you how ticked off we all are, especially since our friend had sold the tractor to buy a X700 and I just bought a 2305. Has anyone run into this type of situation? Thanks in advance.
Blown Engine on the Box Store Tractor
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MrJimi
Elite Member, Rest in Peace
Welcome to the site
What engine was in it? B/S have a 2 year warranty
Jim
What engine was in it? B/S have a 2 year warranty
Jim
MrJimi
Elite Member, Rest in Peace
Hd got us for almost $1,000 go back to original owner and ask if he will help you, and I think it's a B&S problem not a JD problem. I do wish you lot's of luck, like I mentioned hd got us good and I won't go back. And these engines are very costly, almost cheaper to buy a different brand with same engine and put it in deere or go with other. I bought a nice Troybilt at Lowes with a 18.5 HP B&S with a 42 inch cut for less than $900
Jim
go back to original owner and ask if he will help you, and I think it's a B&S problem not a JD problem. I do wish you lot's of luck, like I mentioned hd got us good and I won't go back. And these engines are very costly, almost cheaper to buy a different brand with same engine and put it in deere or go with other. I bought a nice Troybilt at Lowes with a 18.5 HP B&S with a 42 inch cut for less than $900Jim
ToadHill
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Not a JD but several years ago I bought a mower at a big box store. Within the warranty period the engine blew. I took it back and the store said it was a engine mfg issue. They called sometime later and said the BS rep looked at it and the reason it blew was because a mouse nest was blocking the air circulation. I thought that was interesting since it blew within 2 minutes of starting it up after it sat all winter. I said that it couldn't have overheated in 2 minutes. The long and short was BS would not warranty the engine
I went and picked up the mower and when I examined it it was obvious no one had ever removed a nut on the engine, I had marked them before I took the tractor in. When I examined the engine I found a slight crack in the oil pan. I took a Techumsh engine off an old tractor and replaced the BS and used it that way for several years. All I had to do was shim the pully a bit.
Since then I have never purchased anything with a BS engine and I never will! I also tell this story to anyone I know who even thinks about using BS engines.
I went and picked up the mower and when I examined it it was obvious no one had ever removed a nut on the engine, I had marked them before I took the tractor in. When I examined the engine I found a slight crack in the oil pan. I took a Techumsh engine off an old tractor and replaced the BS and used it that way for several years. All I had to do was shim the pully a bit.
Since then I have never purchased anything with a BS engine and I never will! I also tell this story to anyone I know who even thinks about using BS engines.
I understand that the engine is design/built by another supplier, in this case B&S, the bottom line is it should be a JD problem. They spec'd it and they should stand behind the final product, I'm sure there is another dozen or so componets on the machine that are supplied by others. That's the name of the game these days. I didn't get into great detail in my original post but I guess the coment that went up my a@# sideways is they told my brother it was an oil consumption problem. He asked for the total volume that was drained from the engine when they looked at it. Of course they didn't have any answer, they had no idea, it was a BS response and scripted. Not to mention the oil was changed in the beginning of Nov when the snow blower went on and the machine was only used for one snow storm prior, maybe an hour or two of use. It's starting to sound that they do have an oil consumption problem and since there are no leaks, even after the failure, maybe I should contact the EPA and have them look into it. If the engine is burning oil then I can't imagine it meets the specs of the EPA. I know I sound **** but I am a field rep for an automotive company and I know engines, engine failures, and ramifications of letting something like this to get out of hand, at the moment it's about principal.
Toadhill & MrJimi, thank you for your responses.
Toadhill & MrJimi, thank you for your responses.
Mayor
Silver Member
Did you and your friend get your tractors from the dealer who looked at the HD tractor. If so go see the GM or owner with your friend and see if they can help you out in some way. I find the service managers are a waste of time.
MrJimi
Elite Member, Rest in Peace
Anytime, and when we buy a new car, the battery and tires are warrantied by their manufacture, delco battery/Goodyear tire etc. and rest of car by car maker. Food for thought
Jim
Jim
tomd999
Platinum Member
Hiya,
Power equipment from the big box stores are on sale there for one primary reason, price point. The large retailers negotiate with the manufactures to "customize" the product line so that the price will be more attractive than the other big box store around the corner.
The term "customize" in the large retail world is a misnomer, it doesn't mean a better product, in almost all cases it means a product with a bigger cup holder, fancier decals and one that the engineers were asked "where can we remove costs without effecting reliability during the guarantee period?"
The big box stores do not care about after sales service, they don't honor warranties, they rely on the individual component manufactures to handle claims. The component manufactures have also learned that price is king in the big box world, they have lowered the quality of the components and "gamble" that the equipment won't be used hard as most people that buy PE at Homer D's or Low's are simply "keeping up with the guy next door" and use a rider to cut a 12x35 foot lawn not 3 acres and they aren't looking to spend a lot more $ on equipment that has commercial engines like Kohler, Kawasaki or Robyn that will last 40 years because by then, the paint would be faded.
The "new" B&S engines have been separated into several classes, in order to get something on par with the other commercial duty stuff, you need to go to the very high end of the B&S line, far away from the "value line" offered for big box equipment.
The best example of the quality difference between big box and real commercial equipment was me and the guy next door about 20 years ago when I lived in the 'burbs, we both bought new 21" self propel mowers the same week, He got one from HD with a B&S, I bought a Snapper commercial with a Wisconson/Robyn. He paid $250, I paid $750. He cut his 1/12th acre lawn, I cut mine, my mothers, my aunts and the older couples around the corner. His lasted 3 years, I still have mine and so far the only things I have had to replace are oil, belts and blades.
OK,my soapbox has been put away,
Tom
Power equipment from the big box stores are on sale there for one primary reason, price point. The large retailers negotiate with the manufactures to "customize" the product line so that the price will be more attractive than the other big box store around the corner.
The term "customize" in the large retail world is a misnomer, it doesn't mean a better product, in almost all cases it means a product with a bigger cup holder, fancier decals and one that the engineers were asked "where can we remove costs without effecting reliability during the guarantee period?"
The big box stores do not care about after sales service, they don't honor warranties, they rely on the individual component manufactures to handle claims. The component manufactures have also learned that price is king in the big box world, they have lowered the quality of the components and "gamble" that the equipment won't be used hard as most people that buy PE at Homer D's or Low's are simply "keeping up with the guy next door" and use a rider to cut a 12x35 foot lawn not 3 acres and they aren't looking to spend a lot more $ on equipment that has commercial engines like Kohler, Kawasaki or Robyn that will last 40 years because by then, the paint would be faded.
The "new" B&S engines have been separated into several classes, in order to get something on par with the other commercial duty stuff, you need to go to the very high end of the B&S line, far away from the "value line" offered for big box equipment.
The best example of the quality difference between big box and real commercial equipment was me and the guy next door about 20 years ago when I lived in the 'burbs, we both bought new 21" self propel mowers the same week, He got one from HD with a B&S, I bought a Snapper commercial with a Wisconson/Robyn. He paid $250, I paid $750. He cut his 1/12th acre lawn, I cut mine, my mothers, my aunts and the older couples around the corner. His lasted 3 years, I still have mine and so far the only things I have had to replace are oil, belts and blades.
OK,my soapbox has been put away,
Tom
ShookFarm
Bronze Member
Caveat emptor.
I'm sure I'm rubbing salt in an open wound, but, I have a problem (and I know it's mine) with the idea that it is a manufacturer's responsibility for an item which is admittedly +/- 7 months out of warranty. Seven days, that would be a different story. A half year out, while it hurts and it hurts real bad, that's the breaks. On these types of deals, you tend to lose more than you ever win - at least I do and that's the #1 reason I refuse to support 2nd hand purchases of consumer electronics.
There is quite a bit of truth in the "you get what you pay for" mantra. Unfortunately, someone got bit by this one. We make the choice to vote for quality or price. I'm a Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's, Big Lots junkie and I suffer for that choice - sometimes.
My recommendation on a Kohler, B&S and/or Tecumseh, find a local, reputable small engine shop for service. You want the support of your dealer, support them with the purchase of their retail product. Taking them the cut rate equipment from HD would be like taking a Ford Taurus to a Jaguar dealership and expecting the parent company (Ford Motor Company) to service a vehicle which is 5,000 miles out of warranty.
I'm sure I'm rubbing salt in an open wound, but, I have a problem (and I know it's mine) with the idea that it is a manufacturer's responsibility for an item which is admittedly +/- 7 months out of warranty. Seven days, that would be a different story. A half year out, while it hurts and it hurts real bad, that's the breaks. On these types of deals, you tend to lose more than you ever win - at least I do and that's the #1 reason I refuse to support 2nd hand purchases of consumer electronics.
There is quite a bit of truth in the "you get what you pay for" mantra. Unfortunately, someone got bit by this one. We make the choice to vote for quality or price. I'm a Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's, Big Lots junkie and I suffer for that choice - sometimes.
My recommendation on a Kohler, B&S and/or Tecumseh, find a local, reputable small engine shop for service. You want the support of your dealer, support them with the purchase of their retail product. Taking them the cut rate equipment from HD would be like taking a Ford Taurus to a Jaguar dealership and expecting the parent company (Ford Motor Company) to service a vehicle which is 5,000 miles out of warranty.
ToadHill
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MrJimi: Just a point of reference. About 2 weeks ago the battery on my wifes 04 Caddy just up and died. Delco batt and on it it says 6 year warranty. I call the service department, guess what, the batt warrenty is only as long as the car, not 6 years. Of course the warranty on the car expired on October.
NoMo
Gold Member
I agree with you. This thing is (maybe ??) over the warranty period by a significant amount and Deere still gave the warranty some thought. And depending on what the repair place said, Deere might have paid for it.ShookFarm said:
Could be that this repair shop is a little angry at the box store customers that didn't buy from him and told Deere that the mower was abused or who knows what. Or maybe the "friend" isn't as good a friend as one thinks.
MrJimi
Elite Member, Rest in Peace
ToadHill said:
How come you didn't get separate warranty papers with battery?
We haven't bought a new car in a long time
Robert_in_NY
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ShookFarm said:
I agree, I have had issues with things breaking down after warranty and it is usually up to the dealer to decide how to proceed. In my case I have had two items repaired out of warranty and one was a design problem (kept failing until a fix was found (which failed again this summer
Stupid Woods brush chopper )) the other a assembly issue that wasn't noticed till the warranty was up (pinched wire for a rear outlet).In my case the dealer could tell it was a problem on the manufacturers side and they dealt with them to get it covered under a warranty. In the case of this motor on the John Deere, well, it happens. They are cheap motors and some times they blow up in a day, other times they last forever without ever touching them. Your tractor was over 6 months out of warranty. The fact John Deere even had the dealer look it over tells you that if it would have been something that could be tied to a manufacturing defect then they may have covered it. The fact the motor may have just ran its course and like people, not all of them live to the same age, Deere decided not to warranty an out of warranty motor. You can either suck it up and repair it or throw the tractor away and buy another one (which is what these tractors are really designed for). If you are lucky you can get 10+ years out of a cheap lawn mower but by the end of its life it looks very worn and well past its prime even with good care. They build them cheap and to do that they have to cheapen them up and you find where they cut cost over the years.
I had a old Ranch King (MTD) from Quality Farm and Fleet. It still cuts grass but the paint came off the deck immediately, you had to tighten the motor down once or twice a year, the hood supports broke so the front of the hood just sits there loose, the steering shaft broke 3 times, tires kept going flat because the paint on the rim flaked off allowing air to leak out. Fix one and the paint would flake off somewhere else. Finally just put tubes in them. Steering wheel broke also but still turned the wheels. We also had a 4'x8' sheet of plywood that is encased in stainless steel get caught by the wind and land on the rear of that mower. Crushed the fender down into the wheel but that was it. Bent it back up and she kept going. This was all for $1k.
It still runs but looks terrible so we bought a Cub Cadet GT1554 from TSC as we know the manager. It is a great tractor to operate, cut our mowing time in half and looks nice. It was a $3k tractor but I do not expect to get 30 years out of it. I will be happy if we get 10+ years out of it though as the time saved is worth the added cost.
I do wish you the best but don't get mad at Deere for not covering this. Just learn from this as just because it has green and yellow paint doesn't automatically make it top of the line. The same goes for the Cub Cadets as they are made by MTD and while they are not like the CC's from 30 years ago they still make some good ones and some throw aways also.
mjncad
Super Member
Whenever I see someone looking at a Deere at Despot and Doh's I hand them a card to the dealer I bought my tractors from for a few reasons. Mind you I do not work for the dealer, I do not have friends there, I don't make any money from the referrals, and I feel they could do better on some things than they do; but Despot & Doh's piss me off as they have run the competition off.
First is that Despot and Doh's don't need any more money from people, so screw them.
Second, the dealer knows the equipment better than the pimple faced geek with more tattoos and piercings than brains.
Third, the dealer charges 2.9% sales tax while the D & D's near by charge anywhere from 8.6% to 9.63% sales tax depending on which greedy city they are in.
Fourth, going to the dealer keeps them in business and the dealer is a better resource for parts, etc than the Big Box Marts are. One nearby family owned Deere dealer that specialized more in small lawn tractors and landscaping equipment went belly up last year. I don't know if that was due to Despot & Doh's pinching his bottom line, or his health as the old boy never looked well when I saw him.
A buddy of mine bought a smaller Deere than my L130. Originally he was going to go to Despot; but I said let's go for a 20-mile drive and see what the dealer had. What he saved on sales tax allowed him to upgrade one model. It's still smaller than my L130 and it has the BS engine, which was fixed under warranty by the dealer when it wouldn't start due to a bad choke cable or some such thing.
First is that Despot and Doh's don't need any more money from people, so screw them.
Second, the dealer knows the equipment better than the pimple faced geek with more tattoos and piercings than brains.
Third, the dealer charges 2.9% sales tax while the D & D's near by charge anywhere from 8.6% to 9.63% sales tax depending on which greedy city they are in.
Fourth, going to the dealer keeps them in business and the dealer is a better resource for parts, etc than the Big Box Marts are. One nearby family owned Deere dealer that specialized more in small lawn tractors and landscaping equipment went belly up last year. I don't know if that was due to Despot & Doh's pinching his bottom line, or his health as the old boy never looked well when I saw him.
A buddy of mine bought a smaller Deere than my L130. Originally he was going to go to Despot; but I said let's go for a 20-mile drive and see what the dealer had. What he saved on sales tax allowed him to upgrade one model. It's still smaller than my L130 and it has the BS engine, which was fixed under warranty by the dealer when it wouldn't start due to a bad choke cable or some such thing.
ToadHill
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MrJimi: I don't recall ever getting a separate warranty on the battery on any vehicle I ever bought. I just assumed the warranty was what was listed on the battery, I'd never have guessed the warranty ran out with the car.
MrJimi
Elite Member, Rest in Peace
ToadHill said:
Well, they could have done away with that. The last new car we bought was in 1983
but we did buy a new Harley recently and all we got were motorcycle papers.getting old is not a good thing, times change and I'm not catching up with them.
Jim
Robert_in_NY
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mjncad said:
Chances are your small Deere dealer closed down because of Deere Corp telling them to. They have been trying to streamline their dealership network so that basically all the dealerships have lots of money and great service departments that meet Deere's expectations. They have put pressure on small independents to sell to larger outfits or close down if they were basically a lawn and garden Deere dealer. It wasn't Home Depot or Lowes, it is Deere corp.
connecting rods RAREY break after two years of use... If you have a bad rod they go within the first week of ownership.
Connecting rods break because of lack of lubrication. Thus you will never get a warranty. Especially if the dealer took the engine apart and saw medal transfer on the rod and or bearings. There are tell tale signs an engine has had poor lubrication...
Don't blame JD or Briggs, blame the person responsible for maintenance...
Connecting rods break because of lack of lubrication. Thus you will never get a warranty. Especially if the dealer took the engine apart and saw medal transfer on the rod and or bearings. There are tell tale signs an engine has had poor lubrication...
Don't blame JD or Briggs, blame the person responsible for maintenance...
montanaman
Gold Member
7 months out of warranty AND the second owner? Sounds like a sorry we can't help you problem to me. I would also wonder if a tractor so cheap even has a warranty that will transfer to a second owner? A lot of products are for the first owner only and it sounds like the first owner wasn't brought into the picture till they refused to help the first time. That's sort of like slowing down after the radar gun has already clocked your speed, doesn't do much good!!
