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I remember hearing a few years ago that if you bought a John Deere lawn tractor at Lowes or Home Depot they're not made to the standards as the machines at actual John Deere dealerships. Is this true? I'm beginning to start my research for purchasing a new lawn tractor next spring. My 42" Craftsman is ten years old now and I'm certain things will start to break.

Thanks

Bob

The few JD machines that I have serviced lately were sold from Home Depot. I normally don't service JD machines, but I make an exception for family members which is not always the best decision!!!!
They were part for part shown in JD parts manuals and the only indication that I saw was an orange tag hanging underneath that had Home Depot and their part number on the tag.
I was able to purchase mower deck parts from my local JD dealer, once the deck serial number range was determined. Briggs and Kohler engine parts are readily available.

They are the exact some mowers. Made by the same people at the same place. With the same parts.

Read This Article: Make your own call on whether there the same or not.

Price Point Mowers

Ric said:

Read This Article: Make your own call on whether there the same or not. Price Point Mowers

Click to expand...

Now go to Home Depot and pick a mower.
Then go ask the dealer to order you one.
The mowers will be the same right down to model number and price.

A more important question is why a john Deere?

You can get much more mower for the same price. With any other brand.

If you believe "The magic Pudding" is a refference manual rather than an item of childrens fiction then the blind answer is no they are exacty the same.
However if you live in the real world you will understand that there is a finite amount of profit in making a product that can be dipped into to provide merchants mark downs.
Then we have cost efficiencies in scale so making 100,000 units can end up being 10% cheaper per unit than making 50,000 units however this can also go backwards once you have surpassed your most efficient production volume.
Then there are other costs. It is a lot cheaper per unit to send a full trailer load of mowers to a bulk distribution centre than it is to send 1 to a dealer.
Then there are finance costs, dealers get somewhere from 60 to 120 days free credit to pay for the mower so hopefully you pay for it before the dealer has to pay for it.
Big box stores usually pay on 30 to 60 days so JD gets more money faster so reduces their borrowing costs and these are astronomical for makers of highly seasonal products.

SO some companies can sell to big box identical products at the lower prices the big box will pay.

However usually the manufacturer will find some cost efficiencies or build down to a slightly lower spec and this is nearly always the case with lines that are exclusive to big box stores.
The amount that JD can tamper with the quality is proportional to the cost of making the modifications at the production line.
While you can save money by fitting say a cheaper starter motor, there is a cost associated with changing, ordering smaller quantities, adding another inventory line to your warehouse then the paper trail so some times it is not cost efficient to drop the specs.

This is what Honda claim for their walk behinds sold by big box companies and it may well be true.

OTOH common little tricks can be applied like pressing the parts out of slightly thinner steel which can increase the die life up to 60% which in effect knocks 30% everything that has come out of that press. Press dies can go anywhere up to $ 500,000 a set. So getting more out of them makes a big difference to the bottom line and is virtually undectiable by the purchaser, particularly if the part made from the thinner steel get a nice heavy powder coat so it feels thick between your fingers. I see this 5 years latter on where all the pivot holes get flogged out oval.

You see this with identical looking mowers branded differently and is easiest to detect by looking at the weights.
Check out the specs of each diffeent branded owed that comes out of the AYP tractor factory .
Price reduces proportionally with weight reductions.

The JD machines may be the same, but plumbing items and possibly others are not the same!!!
It for sure is about volume and quantity pricing!

Carscw said:

Now go to Home Depot and pick a mower.
Then go ask the dealer to order you one.
The mowers will be the same right down to model number and price.

Click to expand...

Seems like that's what the article and the JD seller said. If you want to buy half the machine then well sell you one of those or go back down the hill to the orange building and get one. But that doesn't make the machine the same as he the JD dealer sells in his shop because he is not going to have or carry that model. I think that was the point of the article and Todd Fratzel on Landscaping was trying to make, you get what you pay for.

The machines are genuine JD and if the same model is sold at the local dealer they are identical.

These models however are on the lower end and thus the lower price.

Carscw said:

They are the exact some mowers. Made by the same people at the same place. With the same parts.

Click to expand...

That is not true! John Deere makes cheaper entry level mowers exclusively for box stores like Home Depot. In fact you cannot buy the same thing from John Deere. They send a tech to inspect all JD mowers sold by the box stores to make sure it is to standard.

Carscw said:

Now go to Home Depot and pick a mower.
Then go ask the dealer to order you one.
The mowers will be the same right down to model number and price.

Click to expand...

no they will not be. You must be a HD gopher to write such misleading info. I know because i work for John Deere.

Bigk825 said:

no they will not be. You must be a HD gopher to write such misleading info. I know because i work for John Deere.

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I've worked at a dealership since 1998.
I was involved with several Home Depot and Lowes as the setup and warranty repair tech around the tri-state area here of WV,PA, and MD.

*When Deere first entered the mass channel arena, they had the Sabre and Scotts branded mowers which did have differences.

But from the introduction of the L100 series up to present day, they are all the same.
I have also repaired 100's of these units here at the shop and they all use the same parts, whether sold from the dealership or Lowes and Home Depot.
When you look up parts, it does not separate the machines into dealership vs box store categories.
The units are identical and come from the same factory. Side by side they are the same.
For example, an E110 at a dealership is the same as the E110 at Lowes or Home Depot.
Anyone claiming otherwise, please list what is different.
I am curious as to what is different.
Having actually setup and repaired units both at the dealership and Lowes and Home Depot, and dealing with the Deere Mass Channel reps over the last 15+ years, I am curious as to what is different.

Here in Ontario, I have a friend that works at JD and when I went and bought a D110, I was told by him that it was the same mower but he could not match their price so I bought it from Lowes and John Deere in my area does the set up on it. The dealers sticker was right on the mower at Lowes.

But let's keep in mind that there are MTD John Deeres and real John Deeres, huge difference there and I don't think the big box stores even carry the real ones?

tom3 said:

But let's keep in mind that there are MTD John Deeres and real John Deeres, huge difference there and I don't think the big box stores even carry the real ones?

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On the contrary, Deere doesn't sub out their lawn tractors as they did with the walk behind snow blower and walk behind mowers. The engines and transmissions are built by other manufacturers, but that also is true for their higher models as well. The 100 series are built in a Deere plant in Greeneville, TN.
But there is so much speculation out there on the web and on forums that the truth is hard to find. Here is a good article.
I will leave you to your own conclusions....

https://todaysmower.com/2017-john-d...lowes-what-is-wrong-with-these-lawn-tractors/

Prior to some posts last year I would have agreed with Tom.
When you get under them everything is AYP right up to all of the redundant holes in the chassis .
So either the chassis is a bought in item or the mowers are made under license from whoever did the design.
The only difference when you are underneath is the deck lift mechanism but you can swap AYP & JD deck lifts between the two mowers .
Thus I would have vowed that AYP made the 100 series.
This was reinforced by other JD's that were made by Honda and of course the rebadged Yanmar diesel compact tractors.