I own a John Deere D-130 with a 42" twin blade mowing deck. I have to be honest and say this was a big mistake buying this model with the 42" mowing deck. In plain English the mowing deck sucks, ooops! No I mean it stinks, I wish it did suck. Previous to this tractor I owned a Toro Iron Horse with a 36" mowing deck that cleanly sucked up leaves without any blow out on either side of the deck. What mean by this is that the Toro deck made a clean sweep like a vacuum cleaner. My D-130 deck picks up leaves but also blows out leaves on the pickup chute side which makes you have to drive in a clock wise fashion. If you drive in a counter clock direction the deck will blow leaves back onto the cleaned lawn side. I've directed my complaint to John Deere and the dealer with a video showing exactly what I was complaining about and it fell on deaf ears - very surprising for what is supposed to an up standing company. I have tried using shredder blades and the result was no change. Tried running at a lower engine RPM and had very little difference. I added an air escape vent on the bagger unit to lessen any possible back pressure and that minimally helped. If there is anybody out there that has run into the same problem I would appreciate if they can give me any solution that they found. I'm in the dog house now because my wife constantly tells me I should have not sold the Toro tractor why? Because she loves doing the leaf cleaning up job!
Mower deck D-130 42" Mower Deck Problem
- Thread starter Paul R.
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mechanic mark
Lawn Pro
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- Jul 15, 2013
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https://jdparts.deere.com/partsmkt/document/english/featbene/fb_Maint_D130_42_deck.pdf Have you tried the high lift bagging blades?
Yes - as matter of fact I have 2 sets, unfortunately they didn't make a difference. When I read the instructions it said left and right blades even though they looked the same. When I contacted John Deere they told me that it didn't make a difference how they went on.
Thank you for your reply -Paul R.
Hi Mark - You won't believe this! After 2 frustrating years of trying find a solution to the JD deck blowing out leaves, talking to the dealer, DEALER EVEN PICKED UP THE TRACTOR TO TEST IT, talking with John Dear direct about the problem and numerous JD parts dealers I found my answer purely by accident. I was searching Google for any kind of motor assist for bagging up leafs and I came across a Front Blowout Baffle plate for JD 42" mower deck. Does this make any sense? - the deck is already pre-drilled to accept the exact positioning of the four bolts that attach the baffle plate to the front edge of the deck. JD is obviously aware of the problem but doesn't include the baffle plate when you purchase the deck. (Cost me $38.00 which included S & H)
Since I have attached the plate not one leaf blows out from the port side of the deck - go figure!
Paul R.
mechanic mark
Lawn Pro
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Good deal Paul, and yes it's about money, not much customer satisfaction these days, few and far between, putting customer first that is.
All in all the machine is a good tractor for the price and I was very close to swapping for another brand if I didn't find a solution. I wonder how many other owners have this problem and just take it in stride - I want perfection when I pay the price for it.