Stay away from John Deere

[Mower King]

All warranty diagnosis and repairs MUST be made at a Dealership that sells the product....whatever brand it is!
People buy the smallest, cheapest mower to do the largest job.....I see this everyday!

 

[gotomow]

Small engine guy said bad tranny so he replaced it. Hopefully you checked for debris around the unit and also checked the belt. Here is a video checklist, again hope he went thru the checklist before replacing.CVT pre-repair check

 

[Hammermechanicman]

Unfortunately JD in an effort to gain marketshare from the big box stores has decided to market machines to compete costwise with the cheapest mowers. The ultimate result is a line of machines just as crappy as the other colored cheap mowers. Just because it is green it is not good.

 

[bakerg]

I have a JD D110, live in town on a lot just big enough for a rider. I knew what I was buying, got a good deal and I am pleased with the results. Have had no real problems since buying it in 2014 and now have 86 hrs on it. Like it has been said prior, these machine were made to compete with other low end mowers but I feel that they are still built better then them but not as hefty as the other JD models

 

[gotomow]

I have a JD D110, live in town on a lot just big enough for a rider. I knew what I was buying, got a good deal and I am pleased with the results. Have had no real problems since buying it in 2014 and now have 86 hrs on it. Like it has been said prior, these machine were made to compete with other low end mowers but I feel that they are still built better then them but not as hefty as the other JD models

Well Stated!
Not sure how things work in Canada but here in the States, anywhere a John Deere riding mower is sold, (yes big box) the machine is set up by the local John Deere dealer. This leads to an overall better customer experience with their new machine. I don't know of any other brand that does this.

 

[bakerg]

Same in Canada, bought the mower at Lowes but was serviced by JD dealer a few miles from me. Tried to buy from dealer but they could not beat Lowes's price.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

The local Lowes here sells the low end JD stuff and tells buyer who the nearest JD dealer is for support. The mowers are set up by a 3rd party that assembles mowers and grills and such for Lowes. A guy i used to work with retired and went to work for the 3rd party company. He setup all brands of mowers Lowes sold. The JD dealer HATES those mowers. Zero profit from sales but loses money when mechanics have to spend time diagnose problems that may not be covered under warranty or reimbursed and the dealer labor rate is $98/hr. Dealer says most come in for bad trans and JD won't warranty them and customer makes the dealer the bad guy. Dealer told me a couple years ago JD made him carry the low end stuff. He has a couple he has never sold.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Same in Canada, bought the mower at Lowes but was serviced by JD dealer a few miles from me. Tried to buy from dealer but they could not beat Lowes's price.

Well what do you expect.
Lowes pay around 1/2 the price that the dealer does for the same mowe
so they can sell it to you at a 25% discount and still be making the same profit that the dealer would make selling it to you at full price.
It is a disgusting side effect of free trading which allows those with very deep profits to starve smaller operators for sales and force them to undertake loss making repairs.
I get a lot of new mowers in for repairs because the local dealers quotes 4 to 10 weeks to look at a warranty claim repair and quite frankly I do not blame them either.
The franchise management demmands that they take in loss making warranty jobs but very few actually want to do it unless there is nothing in the workshop at all.

 

[gotomow]

Remember we are talking only the low end of the JD lineup here folks. Just the 100 series so it's not like it's the entire line. As far as warranty remember once again that these 100 series mowers carry a 2 year warranty making actual factory warranty claims lower probability than that of the s240 and 300 & 500 and up series tractors. Statistically the big box purchasers are a higher impulse purchase and have a much lower inclination to follow proper routine maintenance guidelines, so they will one day provide the service dealer service profit. What Lowes pays John Deere for their 100 series tractors would interest me greatly, so if you could please provide me with paperwork beyond just saying that you know wholesale pricing that would be great. I have a connection to a local factory service JD dealership here who BTW is wildly successful and has 2 dealerships because they know what they are doing and treat their customers well.

 

[Smithsonite]

Back in '03 I bought a L100 (basically the same thing, but with a manual transmission) $1,500 out the door with MA sales tax, which was 5% at the time. I sold it to a friend who abused the hell out of it - left it outside, uncovered, never maintained it, etc.., and it ran for YEARS afterwards. Only thing I had to repair on it during the time he had it, was all the safety switches that failed.

Quality across the board has taken a nosedive, whether it's a GM product, a washing machine, or a low-end lawn tractor. As a mechanic, I see it all. The state of manufacturing today disgusts me. Just look at what you could buy in the 1980's for a reasonable, working man's price. Alot of that stuff is STILL out there, doing what it was designed to do, 35+ years later!