D170 with failing K46 transmission, now what

beenthere · Jan 24, 2019

Is the D170 the cheapest model Deere puts their name on? Just wondering if it is and unfortunately just the reality of it all.
Possibly to have share of the low-price market, and possibly mfg by MTD ??

buckeyefarmer · Jan 24, 2019

Picture of the inside

Richard001 · Jan 25, 2019

buckeyefarmer said:
Picture of the insideView attachment 588659

Wow, looks like new, button it back up and go !

buckeyefarmer · Jan 25, 2019

Richard001 said:
Wow, looks like new, button it back up and go !

I had to replace an axle.

s219 · Jan 25, 2019

beenthere said:
Is the D170 the cheapest model Deere puts their name on? Just wondering if it is and unfortunately just the reality of it all.
Possibly to have share of the low-price market, and possibly mfg by MTD ??

Deere makes them, but it's a comparable product to an MTD. I like my Deere equipment but never felt good about them manufacturing low end mowers. I guess they are taking advantage of the brand name to compete in the low end of the market, but those products just aren't very good.

rdaisley · Jan 26, 2019

If you are using the mower for anything other than mowing a normal, level, lawn, you can expect problems around 200 hours. That's just they way they are built.
Consider the K66 upgrade ... it works great.

Richard001 · Jan 26, 2019

rdaisley said:
If you are using the mower for anything other than mowing a normal, level, lawn, you can expect problems around 200 hours. That's just they way they are built.
Consider the K66 upgrade ... it works great.

Or just buy the MTD at half price.

tomplum · Jan 26, 2019

Yeah, I personally wouldn't do the upgrade kit that is widely available online. If you sourced the parts and could do it much more affordably it could work out. I had a customer who had the kit done on his L series. It did work real well. 1900 clams seems like a bit much. The same folks will sell you a nice looking front axle for about 400$. Really these 40/ 46 transaxles can become problematic much earlier than they should. Yet the next guy gets 600, 800 hours or better.

crazyal · Jan 27, 2019

The fact is there's probably millions of them that work just fine. I think Tuff Torq builds them to a price point and the machining is probably not as tight as it should be. Those that are a little loose probably are the ones that have issues sooner than expected.

L120 · Jan 28, 2019

rdaisley said:
If you are using the mower for anything other than mowing a normal, level, lawn, you can expect problems around 200 hours. That's just they way they are built.
Consider the K66 upgrade ... it works great.

Hi Roger...what model K66 comes with the kit? AC or R or etc? Does it have diff lock? I'm extremely close to buying the upgrade kit having everything in order on my L120 for this spring.