John Deere Lawn Mowers

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belcherm58

New member
I know this has nothing to do with detailing. My MTD riding mower blew the engine after 6 years. I had 2 blown head gaskets and other issues as well.
I am looking at a John Deere lawn tractor and was wondering if anyone else here has them and are they all they are hyped up to be. Tell me please as I am going to go purchase one Monday. I have about 1 1/2 acres to mow and want a good machine that will last if I take good care of it.
 
belcherm58 said:
I am buying a John Deere this
time. Hope it last longer. I looked at cheap mowers and was looking at 1300
bucks. The John Deere is only 1900.
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I help my father (he has a small engine repair business) out when he gets knee deep in machines. I've repaired just about everything at one time or another. A word of caution, the John Deere machines that you see in the Depot or Lowes are not the John Deere machines of old. I've got no idea where you're pricing them but that price sounds kinda like a Depot machine, they make several priced between $1400 - $2000. They still make a good commercial caliber machine, typically they are at a higher price point than what you have indicated. They're lower priced line has some problems with front hubs/spindles and well if you're buying a Briggs and Stratton engine, you're buying a Briggs and Stratton (I use this only as an example, I like B&S many John Deere are now powered by Kawasaki) engine whether it's on an MTD or JD. Make sure you take a look at your local Green Line dealer to see the whole line. My opinion for what it's worth is that there lower line up isn't too disimilar from MTD's equiptment. Research them well.
 
i work for a lake and we use all Deere equipment, (our old supplier sold them) The old stuff was really good, it worked well adn alsted forever. However in an atempt to save money Deere has introduced plastic to there stuff. Honselty i was in love with Deeres before but after having to realce stuff ever week i would say go shopping and find somthing better
 
Actually I am buying it a a tractor dealer. I used to own a mowing service.
I did a lot of business with this dealer. They matched Lowes on the price reluctantly. The mower in question has a Briggs 22 horse V-Twin with a pressured oil system and a filter. I have a friend that works for a contractor sales and rental business. He says that the Briggs engine is what they replace all of their equipment engines with. I know that I looked at just the engine
replacements and the Briggs are higher priced than Koelers. I wish the Deeres had Honda Engines. Wish in one and and..... You know the other part.
The tractor dealer says that these engines are made for John Deere and are rugged. Thats the dealer though.
 
As I said previously, I like the B&S engines. My point here was simply that the B&S engines on JD are the same as B&S on MTD. They don't use a different product to power them. Have you considered products such as Toro or Snapper? They offer high quality Home Owner type tractors. Actually Toro is a perfect example of what I've done a such poor job of relating. They make every price point of machine imaginable. The product that they market through a Wal-Mart for instance (disposable in every way) isn't like their commercial machines. That's the kind of comparison I was trying to make.
 
GearHead_1 said:
As I said previously, I like the B&S engines. My point here was simply that the B&S engines on JD are the same as B&S on MTD. They don't use a different product to power them. Have you considered products such as Toro or Snapper? They offer high quality Home Owner type tractors.
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Thanks, I will take that into consideration. There are a lot of features that
I like for the 600 bucks more that the MTD mowers. The foot controlled
Hydrostatic drive versus the belt driven automatic. A real frame instead of
a stamped steel shell. Do you have problems with the other features as well?
 
I have a deere and it's five years old and works GREAT.I have a cart and it move 10 tons of stones for my hourseshoe pit.(not all at once) it have a 17.5 tachumche engine..
 
belcherm58 said:
Thanks, I will take that into consideration. There are a lot of features that
I like for the 600 bucks more that the MTD mowers. The foot controlled
Hydrostatic drive versus the belt driven automatic. A real frame instead of
a stamped steel shell. Do you have problems with the other features as well?
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If you're looking at a hydrostatic drive, you're probably looking at one of their better models. Their upper line is a good line. I don't like anything about MTD (they make 60% of the market, mostly house branded) and that was the comparision I was trying to make with their lower line. MTD however makes full framed models too but that doesn't make them a great machine.

Snapper's Hydro is probably the best on the market, I've never had to repair one. I like this set up a lot. I probably look for different features in a tractor than most people who buy one. Some have the mind set that the bigger the deck the better the tractor. In reality a large single blade will give a smoother cut than a multi-blade bigger deck not to mention you have more blades hubs and bearings to wear out. Of course you don't cut as wide of a swath, it's a trade off. Can you put a blade on it if you want to, are the accessories reasonably priced. I don't like a machine that uses plastic bushings on the front spindle for instance. Same type beam but one manufacturer uses plastic and one uses bronze. I don't like exciter (ignitor) style ignition systems (Kawasaki does this). I don't like having to have a voltage regulator in the charging system (Ariens does this). I don't like Tecumseh plastic bowl carburetors. All transmissions and axles aren't created equally. There are a lot of little details that make a difference in the end product.

Chances are you can't pick a model that has every feature I desire or one that doesn't have any of the nit picky problems I don't like. Snapper probably comes the closest but you pay more. I don't know exactly which model you are looking at and chances are that you've picked out a good one but JD's intro line up isn't anything to write home about and that was all I was saying when I started this. Don't go second guessing your instinct once you've done your research.
 
i have a 19 hp cub cadet that i bought 3 years ago and it does a real good job on mowing almost 1 acre of mostly flat land... and of course it gets detailed regularly, has many coats of wg sealant on the body and the deck.
think i paid like $1400 for the mower..
 
My great-uncle had bought a JD tractor mower around 25 years ago. Kohler engine, Hydro-static drive, etc. (Actually, it seemed pretty fancy, even years later. :D ) Never had any problems with it. (I used it to cut my great-aunt's lawn after he died.) Basically, from what I've heard, the Kohler motors were better than the B&S, but were also a fair bit more expensive.
 
I have a john deere, but would not buy one of the models sold and lowes or home depot. They are rebadged Scotts/Sabres and don't have the build quality of the rest of the JD line up.

If you look at the frame thickness, steering build, transmission (non sealed), battery size, engines (Kawasaki), 'feel', etc you will notice a big difference. Drive a HD/Lowes L series, then go to a dealership and test drive the LT or Lx and you will notice a big difference in the 'feel' of the machine.
 
I have the John Deere X500 Garden Tractor. It's great, rides good and cuts great. Do yourself a favor though if you are going to buy a deere and you can afford to shell out alittle more, get the Kawasaki engine, as its a far superior engine to the rest.
 
John Deere is over-hyped IMO. They've come down to the quality of any Craftsman, Husqvarna, Toro, etc. They aren't what they used to be. JD just knows that people will pay more for the name.

My dad bought a Craftsman Tractor in 1981 Brand new. We only got rid of it 5 years ago, and was still in running/usable condition. Now we have a 5 year old Craftsman with the 15.5 HP Koehler/Hydrostatic drive. It works very well.
 
If I am not mistaken, John Deere, Troy Built, Cub Cadet, Yard Machines, Yard Man, and maybe several others of the "garden variety" lawn tractors/mowers, are all produced by MTD. A little research will either clarify or dismiss my point, but I don't have the time to look into it right now.

FWIW, I have a John Deere L120 that has been a great mower for 3 years.
 
JaredPointer said:
If I am not mistaken, John Deere, Troy Built, Cub Cadet, Yard Machines, Yard Man, and maybe several others of the "garden variety" lawn tractors/mowers, are all produced by MTD. A little research will either clarify or dismiss my point, but I don't have the time to look into it right now.

FWIW, I have a John Deere L120 that has been a great mower for 3 years.
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This is from MTD's website:
The MTD family of brands include Cub Cadet, Troy-Bilt, Yard-Man, Yard Machines, Bolens, McCulloch and White Outdoor.
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The list from their site is not all inclusive. MTD builds far more brand names than those listed. Craftsman would certainly be one of their leading house branded products.
 
I bought the John Deere GX0135 at a tractor dealer. JD has a 30 day test
drive. If you do not like it, they will give you credit for another model or your
money back. No questions asked. I got a Briggs and Stratton 22HP V-Twin
with a full pressure oil system and oil filter. The dealer said they have no
issues with these engines at all. It is a Hydrostatic drive and drives like no
other mower I have ever owned.
 
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