JD 265 lawn/garden tractor is dead? Help

slowrev · Oct 3, 2003

430.00 wow ! What kind of engine is on the machine ?
Briggs starters run about 150.00 so do Kohlers.

jrlichina · Oct 3, 2003

Look in your local yellow pages and see if there is a altenator/starter rebuilding company close by you. There usually is at least one and they can typically rebuild anything far less then a new one.

Hambone · Oct 3, 2003

llmark,
Where are you in Indiana? There are several places in my area alone that repair starters.
I would at least call JD about the starter, you never know till you ask.

llmark01 · Oct 3, 2003

Its a Kawasaki engine.....go figure!

Joe1 · Oct 3, 2003

Where you there when the mower got killed at the Little League field? It seems like and odd coincidence that a 4 month old starter would go bad immediately after striking a pipe on the field. Did the operator try to start it and overheat and burn out before you tried to start it? I know you tested it yourself and the autoparts people did also. Is there possibly some simple fix like a broken wire or similar item that may prevent the starter from functioning? The starter rebuilding people sound like a good idea; they may find something simple before tearing into it. Was that a replacement starter? How old is the machine itself? The warranty may cover it if it's only 4 months old.

My nickels worth.

Joe

llmark01 · Oct 4, 2003

Well, I wqas at home when this happened! He hit a 2" x 20' long pipe that was lying next to a fence. Can't figure out why he was cutting grass at dusk...

I did find out from him tonight that the sparks were flying immediately after he hit it and he found that the battery had come loose from the mount. So it sounds like to me that the selenoid my have been shorted out???

THe starter was a BRAND NEW JD OEM unit, thats why it cost $430.

I'm not sure if he tried restarting it..doubt it though! He told me that the machine did not lurch forward violently, he just hit the pipe and it stopped the blades...then it died. Sounds strange....

I will try contacting some rebuild shops around here to see what they can do. I will also contact the JD dealer where we bought the starter and see what they say about it. Unfortunatley, I did notice that someone has "beat" on the starter, so I'm sure the JD dealer will say it has been absued. But it will still be worth a try.

llmark01 · Oct 4, 2003

I'm at the other corner of the state....NW Indiana, Hammond to be specific.

Joe1 · Oct 4, 2003

To break the battery lose he must have hit the pipe pretty hard. By the way, how old is the tractor itself?

Good luck and let us know the outcome.

Joe

llmark01 · Oct 4, 2003

I think it is about 15 years old. I'm not sure. Its been a good machine.

We also have a Model 445 (about 10 years old) with a 60 mower deck, and a bucket. This is the tractor I get to use. At our girls softball field, which the league owns the land, we have about 1.5 acres of land to take care of. The 445 is a real work horse. I am in charge of field maintenace for the softball field, and help out a lot with the boys field since no one knows how to fix stuff but me. I've just installed an underground sprinkle system at our main softball field. Saved the league about $6000. Anyway, I'll keep you posted on how things go with the 265!

Thanks to all!

Molerj · Oct 4, 2003

First he said he hit a pipe & it wouldn't restart. Then he says sparks were flying, then it looks as if someone was beating on this new starter. Makes you wonder what else was done to this machine. When I get a machine in that has quit or has problems the owner usually says, "I don't know what happened to it, it was running fine then just stopped" or "it was cutting fine the last time I used it & now it's cutting crooked". Along with diagnosing the problem the other thing I have to do is tell the owner what he did to it, ie; put in bad gas, hit a stump, no oil, using it as a brush hog, the list goes on. The bad thing about your problem is you have to get the starter fixed first to find out what else is wrong.