Tires D120 excessive tire wear

[primecut36]

I've got a D120 w/ less than 110 hours. The front tires are worn bald. They looked like they were excessively toed-in from the dealer. The connecting rods do not appear to be adjustable. I'd rather not put another set of tires on if they are only going to wear out that quickly. Any ideas?

 

[bertsmobile1]

Measure the toe in.
Should be in the region of 1/4" to 1/2".
If less then bend the tie rod a little, reassemble & check. repeat as necessary.
Almost no mowers come with adjustable steering linkages now days.
Another victim of cheapskate purchasers who will not pay a reasnable price for a quality product.

 

[old650gli]

when the tractors leave the factory the wheels are straight , but if you see what the box store cowboys do with them after the uncrateing, you would never ever buy one of those. they play tractor tag on the loading dock with them. they don't care how bad they get bent up.

 

[reynoldston]

Measure the toe in.
Should be in the region of 1/4" to 1/2".
If less then bend the tie rod a little, reassemble & check. repeat as necessary.
Almost no mowers come with adjustable steering linkages now days.
Another victim of cheapskate purchasers who will not pay a reasnable price for a quality product.

1/2 inch is just a little much. I don't agree with your last statement about your cheapskate purchaser comment at all. Not everybody can afford to spend 5 to 10 thousand dollars for a mower like you can. other then that I agree.

 

[bertsmobile1]

1/2 inch is just a little much. I don't agree with your last statement about your cheapskate purchaser comment at all. Not everybody can afford to spend 5 to 10 thousand dollars for a mower like you can. other then that I agree.

Well if you look at my profile you would notice that all of my mowers come from the 60's & 70's when ride on mowers were a luxury item so there was a good profit in making them and they were made to last for a very long time and to be fully serviceable.
So no I can not affod a $ 10,000 mower and seriously doubt I would even look at one.

It is one of the sad features of the modern Western population that there is an expectation , in fact a demand that every year everything we want has to become cheaper, in real terms at least and oft in actual $ price.
we want MORE MORE MORE and expect to pay LESS LESS LESS.
Thus in order to sell anything makers have to find ways to reduce the cost of manufacture.
So if two mowers look similar we buy the cheapest because most can not recognise what constitutes a quality piece of equipment.
Thus we get a whole generation of mowers with garbage engines ( Courages & Inteks ) and things that make a mower servicable , like adjustable linkages vanish, in fact tie rod ends have just about vanished.
professional liars ( advertisers ) convince the technically ignorant that "Quality" is all in the brand name and has very little to do with the item ( mower, car, Hi-fi even ice cream or chocolate bars ).
The mug purchaser buys what they are told to, so the makers of genuine quality items have to drop their prices to match the "advertised quality item " and the only way to do it is to downgrade their quality to match the poor value machines Joe Public is buying by the ton.

dads first powered push mower cost him 35 ginneas ( 35 pound +35 shillings +35 pence ) It is pushing 50 years old and still working perfectly. My sister has it ans I do a service most years on Boxing Day when I have lunch with her.
The purchase price was around 2 months wages.
How many push mowers out there cost 2 months wages ?
Nearly any residential tractor style mower will cost less that 1 month's wages
1/2 the commercial ZTR's cost less than 2 months wages.

So have a think about it.
Think about all of the great mowers that you have used over the past 20 years.
The ones that were a delight to use, that were cheap & easy to service ( OK they actually needed more service ) and seemed to go forever and chances are the comany that made them went to the wall.
The brand name may still be around but the mowers are not.

 

[javjacob]

Well if you look at my profile you would notice that all of my mowers come from the 60's & 70's when ride on mowers were a luxury item so there was a good profit in making them and they were made to last for a very long time and to be fully serviceable.
So no I can not affod a $ 10,000 mower and seriously doubt I would even look at one.

It is one of the sad features of the modern Western population that there is an expectation , in fact a demand that every year everything we want has to become cheaper, in real terms at least and oft in actual $ price.
we want MORE MORE MORE and expect to pay LESS LESS LESS.
Thus in order to sell anything makers have to find ways to reduce the cost of manufacture.
So if two mowers look similar we buy the cheapest because most can not recognise what constitutes a quality piece of equipment.
Thus we get a whole generation of mowers with garbage engines ( Courages & Inteks ) and things that make a mower servicable , like adjustable linkages vanish, in fact tie rod ends have just about vanished.
professional liars ( advertisers ) convince the technically ignorant that "Quality" is all in the brand name and has very little to do with the item ( mower, car, Hi-fi even ice cream or chocolate bars ).
The mug purchaser buys what they are told to, so the makers of genuine quality items have to drop their prices to match the "advertised quality item " and the only way to do it is to downgrade their quality to match the poor value machines Joe Public is buying by the ton.

dads first powered push mower cost him 35 ginneas ( 35 pound +35 shillings +35 pence ) It is pushing 50 years old and still working perfectly. My sister has it ans I do a service most years on Boxing Day when I have lunch with her.
The purchase price was around 2 months wages.
How many push mowers out there cost 2 months wages ?
Nearly any residential tractor style mower will cost less that 1 month's wages
1/2 the commercial ZTR's cost less than 2 months wages.

So have a think about it.
Think about all of the great mowers that you have used over the past 20 years.
The ones that were a delight to use, that were cheap & easy to service ( OK they actually needed more service ) and seemed to go forever and chances are the comany that made them went to the wall.
The brand name may still be around but the mowers are not.

Well said!! People only buying what is cheap is what killed quality. Honda used to sell quality lawn and garden tractors built to last a lifetime but people only wanted to buy the cheap junk that only lasts 10 years. The result is now Honda quit making lawn and garden tractors. I find it funny when someone has a mower for 10 years and it craps out and they act like they "got their moneys worth" out of it. People today literally have no clue a quality built mower will last a lifetime but there is no quality lawn/garden tractors made today. They say ignorance is bliss.

Even the new $13,000 John Deere garden tractors have all kinds of corners cut to save money. There is no such thing as a new quality lawn or garden tractor. Honda is the only one who makes new quality push mowers. John Deere really started cheaping out their lawn and garden tractors around the year 1999 or 2000 and Honda made their last lawn/garden tractor in 2001. When JD changed everything to the "X" series is when they really started cutting corners to save money but most people cant tell the difference.

 

[Jhon]

In 2007 I purchased new JD LA120. It has done everything I have wanted it to do for me and more. It still runs and looks great. I retire next year and had planed to include it with the sale of my house. Now I am planning to take it with me.

For me, this is anything but cheap junk.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Not cheap junk, just downgraded to a price or to put it another way not as good as a the name John Deere would imply.
The old JD's were fitted with engines manufactured to JD's standards which were substantially better build & higher quality.
Basically the JD vertical engines were built to & from Horizontal engine standards
Verticals are designed to a 500- 1000 hr service life ( around 10 years at 50 - 100 hrs /year )
Horizontal engines are built to a service life of 20,000 hours as they power thing that run 50-100 hours a week for 10 years.

Thus if you buy the right JD for your requirements, use it as it was intended, and service it as specified then you will most times be rewarded with a longer service life from your JD than from equivalent models from other brands.
However I see things with modern JD's you don't see with the older ones.
Typical is the mounting piliars on the yellow "edge" decks cracking and falling off.
About 1/3 of the ones I service have been replaced or repaired . I never see this with any other JD deck , no matter how much the user abuses them, an obvious quality downgrade.
Non adjustable drag links , another downgrade which you would not notice unless you smack into things like garden borders, tree stumps, pot holes etc.

 

[Carscw]

John Deere is just a name on a over priced mower.
In the $1500 to $3000 price range JD is at the bottom of the list.
Cub cadet is a whole lot better build and cutting mower for the same money.

 

[motoman]

Carscw, I cannot really comment on reliability except my DYT 4000. But what do you think about the consumer reports just released that shows Cub Cadet most unreliable accross the major brands (except I think, snow thrower). I once filled in one of their questionnaires on a car and they only ask about the first 3 years ownership, if memory serves.


BTW Hey crew, how 'bout someone help the newbies who want to know what toe is and how to measure it? ( yes, I know)