Weird John Deere L130 Transaxle Issue

[buickanddeere]

Before you get to indigent or offended by Deere and their lawn tractor . Deere makes lawn mowers right from the lowest end to obtain some market share from the cheap pr1ck who does'nt care what is as long as it's the cheapest. On up through mid range and into the premium machines.
How did you come to expect a premium machine when the L130 is in the cheapskate 100 line lawn tractor line? Even the 300 series are built light until into the X310 and up. The 500 series are a heavier duty garden tractor . The X700 are the premium machines .
You get what you pay for .
Btw I swapped out the factory oil for straight 60 weight synthetic motor cycle oil.

 

[Bill Guenthner]

You can spend a lot or a little on a riding mower but often times it comes down to luck. I have an old $700 Ariens rider that I cut 3 acres of the roughest hilly, rocky ground you can imagine. I've had it back in the woods throwing sticks and kicking up dust many times. I constantly hit rocks and stumps. My maintenance regimen consists of little more than putting gas in it and checking the oil once in a while. I've used it this way for years. On the other hand I took my JD X300 out there one time and almost tore the deck up hitting little rounded off stumps that the el-cheapo mower just jumps over. The JD gets all of the recommended maintenance and and stays on the lawn because with what I paid for it I'm going to take care of it.

 

[RUSSELL SHETTLE]

Russel,
If you change the oil every 50 hours that should keep everything clean for sure. Should also help longevity too. But it should not be necessary to change the tranny oil every year or 50 hour interval. If that is needed to get reasonable life expectancy then it should have accessibility to fill and drain ports.

Looking forward to your reports on this in the future but it may take several years for you to get enough hours on the mower to form an opinion. Keep us posted.

It's the tranny oil I'm most concerned with, not the engine. The tranny should have accessibility and drain ports anyway, especially the K46, or in my case, TLT200. I'm still trying to find out what the difference is. I'm sure the reason it doesn't is just what Buicanddeere said.

So many questions still, such as:

1. Is there anything different about the synthetic oil from Tuff Torq compared to a 5W50 from Ams or Mobil 1, etc?

2. Curious... is that the Tuff Torq K46 reference for oil shows a standard 10W30 CD. Why CD diesel graded? That's kind of interesting, don't you think?

3. If the original oil is "CD", should the synthetic optional replacement be diesel rated as well?

4. Why would JD put in a V twin, 22 HP B&S engine in such a low end mower? Nice power but it doesn't make sense. (Gas Hog)!

Deere makes lawn mowers right from the lowest end to obtain some market share from the cheap pr1ck who does'nt care what is as long as it's the cheapest. On up through mid range and into the premium machines.

YES I KNOW IT'S CHEAP! But tell my wife that.

She got the D130 for me as a present because it was on sale from Lowes and thinks everything from JD is the greatest. She has no idea. I love her anyway and it is great for just cutting grass compared to walking behind a push mower for 3 hours in the hot Son.

Pulling out the trans and changing the oil along with all the other maintenance has actually been fun and educational. JD doesn't want you to service the trans. OK.. I'm going to beat them at the game.

 

[Topcat14]

Russell


D130 isn’t a cheap lawn mower—it’s a lawn tractor- not a garden tractor. And it’s a pretty good lawn tractor if used within design specifications, It will handle 1 acre flat lot pretty easily – doubly so since you have changed the tranny oil. Some of these guys anything less than a 700 series and you have junk. JD isn’t trying to “get some market share”- they already have it- I get a kick out of some guys who say Deere should drop the 100 series line- truth is 7 out of 10 riding mowers JD sells are sold at big box stores. And about 8 out of 10 riding mowers they sell have a T40 or K46 in them.in other words hundreds of thousands of the units are sold yearly. Talk to Duane at Tuff Torg ( great guy ) 90% of all K46 failures are from using outside design specs. Again some of these guys will make you feel like you are doomed with K46 despite facts hundreds of thousands of them are still mowing lawns with 500-600- 700- 800 hours on them. With 1 flat acre you are only going to put 60 or so hours a year on machine- no reason why lawn tractor can’t give you 10 maybe 15 years good service if well maintained and used within specs

 

[Topcat14]

Russell

One other thing you can do if you are worried about the K46- upgrade it to a K57. You seem fairly handy. Call Duane at Tuff Torg and find out how much for the upgrade (think it’s about 200 bucks, but I’m not sure) - you put in drain port charge pump and a few other enhancements- basically gives you a tranny comparable to upper 300 series machines- makes it much easier to change tranny fluid going forward . Much less expensive to do the upgrade before you are having problems ( have to buy less parts) – at any rate Duane can give you details how much it costs with a working tranny rather than one that already has problems- I'd be interested how much it costs myself. I'll probably do that upgrade when my X300 warranty is up

 

[jenkinsph]

It's the tranny oil I'm most concerned with, not the engine.
.

I was referring to your posts about the transmission. Nothing mentioned about the engine in my posts.

 

[captmoroni69]

just had to respond. 1st off, there is a link on this site that discusses rebuilding a K46 tranny. it is: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/parts-repairs/164892-tufftorq-k46-repair-guide-pictures.html It is 50 pages or so, but the first 10-20 are the rebuild part. It lists a salesman/knowledgeable guy at tufftorq named Derrick Dalton (423-585-2000) that will sell you parts ($320 or so) and can provide pointers. My mower is a x304 from a JD Dealer, and as such is an upgrade from big-box stores, but still the same k46 tranny. I bought my x304 to replace my LT155 (JD Dealer mower, but old) - I had the LT155 for 11 years without any issues on my hilly acre. Just after my 4 year warranty ran out on my x304 the tranny quit, but I only had about 150 hours on the machine. I talked JD into changing the tranny, which quickly started in with the same issues after about 40-50 hours. I rebuilt the tranny this year, and can tell it probably wont hold up. I will try to baby it along. the rebuild process was pretty straight forward - follow the website - and pay attention to how things come out. take pictures when you are doing it. I love the mower - 4 wheel turn - but wish tufftorq would sell an upgrade that will be much stronger. I've checked the $1700 upgrade, but they do not sell for a 4-wheel turn mower. I wouldn't spend $1700 anyway. JD also sells a multi-terrain mower - the x500 - that is $6000. I won't be spending that either - too many good used mowers out there for sale. good luck - hope this helps a little. bh

 

[buickanddeere]

The X310 JD mower and up uses a much beefier K58 than the chinsey K46. The X500 is yet again a heavier transmission than the K58.

 

[Teachu2]

I was rather torqued after reading all the Internet experts opinions on the K46 and L130s. I have a 10+ year old L130 that came with the house, and it was exhibiting all the symptoms mentioned. I could not see spending $1700 to upgrade the transmission, so I had relegated it to flat-land-only. One day I was discussing it with the owner of the closest independent repair shop, and he told me that it probably wasn't the transmission....so I hauled it in for an evaluation. After ten years of dirt, weeds, rope, and hillsides, the drive belt had worn the pulleys down beyond specs so that even a new belt would slip. New set of pulleys (including idlers) and a new drive belt and a complete service later, and it climbs like a new machine.

 

[Kish318420]

That is why you check everything first, it is hard because the specs for the parts are not easily found, so a direct comparison of a part is tough to do. I glad you decided to look at it again (with help).