JD L100, L110, L118, L120 Mower Deck Advice

[tractorshopper]

If you ever need to replace your deck shell and want to do it as cheaply as possible, don't follow my lead and buy just the shell. I was lured in by the $418 dollar price on a new shell vs. over $600 on a new complete deck. I reasoned that I could nearly buy a whole new lawn tractor for $600+ (not JD) so thought I'd be thrifty and strip my old shell and reuse everything for the new shell.

Went to JD dealer 50 miles away to get the shell. Figured I'd replace the belts while I was at it and new oil filter and oil. Ended up spending $500 at the dealership with tax.

Still felt good, saved a hundred bucks right?

Everything went fine until I got to the spindles on the old deck. The pulley nuts were fused to the pulleys and a gorilla had put them on. Had to literally use my largest pipe wrench and a sledgehammer to unsieze the nuts. With the pulleys being fused to them, the pulleys both stripped on the hex drives because they turned with the nuts.

Next day, went another 50 miles and got new pulleys and nuts and figured I'd put new blades on while I was at it to have a set to change out each time I wanted to sharpen them. There goes another $100 plus gas again.

Now I have a shiney new deck and the mower looks and runs good again, but I still have a few used pulleys and my spindles are used also and will probably need changing some time or another.

Moral of the story; should have bought a new complete deck and saved time and $.

 

[Johndeere3720]

I would have got a new deck compleatly. Luckly the deck on my L118 will last several more years, by then, I'll probably have a new lawn tractor.

 

[dbail]

i pull the deck off in the fall, clean and paint it. this year i noticed the paint was flacking off the body.so i stripped the tractor down and removed the body for cleaning and painting. not happy about this the tractor was new in 03 and always stored inside. looks like the body was rusting under the paint

 

[rayikeo2]

I guess they don't make them like they used to. I have a 1999 LX270 with a mulching deck 44". I mow about 2 to 3 acres with lots of rocks and sticks. I am still on the original deck and spindles. Replaced belts and 1 idler pulley. Have the same blades, never clean the deck unless I mow when grass is wet. (I do remove grass clumps from the belt area) There is no rust anywhere on the deck. It looks like it will last another 10 years. :thumbsup: