John Deere Service

[EddieW]

I had bought a JD JS60 lawn mower. It ran about three hours and broke a piston rod. I took it back to the dealer and he has offered to replace the mower or let me use the purchase price to upgrade to a better mower. I haven't had any problems with my tractor but this indicates to me he knows how to treat customers after he gets the sale. My choices is to replace the the mower I have which has a Briggs engine or upgrade to a JX75 with a Kawasaki engine with oil pressure. I thought Briggs engines are OK. My last Briggs mower lasted 23 years. Are they still good motors or should I consider upgrading at a considerable cost? First mower cost right at $300, the upgrade costs $725 so I will have to pay some difference.

 

[Roy]

On another forum, members discussed the B&S -vs- Kawasaki -vs- Kohler issue for some time. Now some people are very emotional about engine brand, but the majority of the posters agreed that for non-commercial use, they all tend to hold out past the practical life of the mower itself. One argument was that they all will fail sometime (can't run forever), and the B&S parts tend to be more widely available and at a lesser cost. Sounds like you may of just gotten a lemon, and I don't think that all B&S are doomed to fail.

 

[EddieW]

Thanks for the information, Roy. I suspect I will just go with a replacement. You are probably right about it being a lemon. If there were very many having that kind of luck with them, you'd sure be hearing about it more.

 

[Roy]

From the complaints I have seen, I believe they are statistically insignificant. That is, B&S sells many small engines, for every application. So, you expect a little more complaints. I haven't noticed any pattern. That is, one may of had a bad 18 HP lawn tractor engine, next guy a weed-whacker problem, and another a 6 HP go-cart engine problem. But no consistencies. Hope the new one serves you well.