Lawn mower advice requested

[GLOCKMAN23C]

I'm a Deere guy...so Deere is the option. There should be a fill port under the fender cowl. Its like 4-6 bolts to remove it.

 

[Expat]

Okay, i did find the transmission fluid tank. It was between add and full. I went and and added enough to get it up to full. Still the same symptoms. Here are the symptoms.
When the parking brake is on, it runs and sounds fine. When the parking brake is off, you can hear a clattering sound.
Right now, the transmission is running fine. Last time out, when I was done and the mower was hot, it wouldn't want to move fast. Then when I stopped it to pull in the garage. The hydrostatic pedals were completely dead, no reaction to forward or reverse.
I called the closest JD dealer and I am going to have them check it out. I did some internet searches last night and a few others have had the same thing. In some cases it was the transmission, others a bad drive shaft, others bad drive belt... I am not a mechanic so I thought before I drop $5k on a new mower, as exciting as that is, I thought I better have it checked out.
Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Tactically Fat]

FYI: The same model JD you buy at a Box Store is the same exact model JD you can buy at a JD dealer.

An X570 from Home Depot will be identical to an X570 sold at the JD dealer.

 

[HoughMade]

FYI: The same model JD you buy at a Box Store is the same exact model JD you can buy at a JD dealer.

An X570 from Home Depot will be identical to an X570 sold at the JD dealer.

Except that X570s are not sold at Home Depot. They will sell you E series tractors (used to be D series)...which usually are not sold at the dealer (but can be).

https://www.consumerreports.org/cro...-like-a-deere-you-buy-at-the-dealer/index.htm

 

[Tactically Fat]

Except that X570s are not sold at Home Depot. They will sell you E series tractors (used to be D series)...which usually are not sold at the dealer (but can be).

https://www.consumerreports.org/cro...-like-a-deere-you-buy-at-the-dealer/index.htm

I know they're not...

How about this: An E100 from Home Depot will be the same as an E100 sold at the JD Dealer.

My overarching point is that John Deere the same models sold at different retailers are the same. JD doesn't make the ones sold at Home Depot any different than the ones they ship to dealers.

 

[510picker]

This seems like an obvious question, but have you checked the hydrostatic drive belt?

 

[Expat]

This seems like an obvious question, but have you checked the hydrostatic drive belt?

I checked as much as I could and felt along the belt where I could access it and it seemed okay.

 

[HoughMade]

I know they're not...

How about this: An E100 from Home Depot will be the same as an E100 sold at the JD Dealer.

My overarching point is that John Deere the same models sold at different retailers are the same. JD doesn't make the ones sold at Home Depot any different than the ones they ship to dealers.

That is true. My point had more to do with what is available at the dealer as opposed to at Home Depot or Lowes. I would shop the dealer because only the dealer stocks what I am interested in, the X series, at this point.

...and why someone would buy an E series is beyond me.

 

[Expat]

That is true.

...and why someone would buy an E series is beyond me.

I remember reading something about them awhile back. Something about parts being sourced different or assembled in a different factory. It made me wonder about them.

 

[Benp]

There is a used one on Facebook in Indianapolis that needs carb work done. They want $350 for it. Switch out the tranny in it and you're good to go AND have a spare motor and deck.

 

[HoughMade]

I remember reading something about them awhile back. Something about parts being sourced different or assembled in a different factory. It made me wonder about them.

The E series (and the D before it) uses the stamped steel body as the frame, not body on frame, kinda like a unibody car, and uses Briggs and Stratton engines. They usually have manual transmissions or belt CVTs. The more expensive E series have hydro static transmissions available.

The X series have steel frame rails under the body, Kawasaki (or Yanmar) engines and I think all have hydrostatic transmissions. Some are available with awd, some with 4 wheel steering. Generally speaking, they are heavier duty...and just plain heavier. Also, the warranty is longer.

John Deere sells a kinda "crossover" model, the S240, which used the stamped steel "unibody" with a Kawasaki engine for about what the E series costs.

 

[Expat]

Never heard of Yanmar.
I was looking on the JD website and they are listing the engines as John Deer iTorque? Are they just rebranding Kawasakis or did they start making their own?

 

[ghuns]

I remember reading something about them awhile back. Something about parts being sourced different or assembled in a different factory. It made me wonder about them.

Lower end stuff like the E series are made in Greeneville, Tennessee. Fitting name.

The good stuff is made in Horicon, Wisconsin.

 

[Expat]

Lower end stuff like the E series are made in Greeneville, Tennessee. Fitting name.

The good stuff is made in Horicon, Wisconsin.

I think that may have been what I was thinking about. It seemed like I remembered they weren't made in what the person that I was reading thought was the real John Deere factory.

 

[HoughMade]

Never heard of Yanmar.
I was looking on the JD website and they are listing the engines as John Deer iTorque? Are they just rebranding Kawasakis or did they start making their own?

John Deere has been using Kawasakis for a long, long time. Any engine model that starts with FX or FS is a Kawasaki. Yanmar makes the diesels. John Deere rebrands Briggs and Stratton engines as "John Deere" or "Cyclonic" in some models. Search the model number and you should be able to find where it comes from. JD does not make its own small engines.

 

[Expat]

X350 Lawn Tractor with 48-inch Deck - New X300 Select Series - Greenmark Equipment

• Powered by 18.5 hp (13.8 kW)* iTorque™ Power System

 

[ghuns]

I think that may have been what I was thinking about. It seemed like I remembered they weren't made in what the person that I was reading thought was the real John Deere factory.

I have heard numerous people claim that stuff JD sells at the big box stores are made by a company other than JD. Mostly people credit them to MTD. It's never been true.

MTD makes a lot of different brands of lawn mowers, but none in JD green.

I can't say JD has NEVER had someone else build any of their tractors. The only ones I know of were the compact utility tractors that Yanmar used to build for them. And those were GREAT tractors.

 

[HoughMade]

X350 Lawn Tractor with 48-inch Deck - New X300 Select Series - Greenmark Equipment

Engine model # FS600V- meaning it is a Kawasaki.

https://www.deere.com/en/mowers/lawn-tractors/x300-series/x350-lawn-tractor-48-in/

FS600V | Kawasaki - Lawn Mower Engines - Small Engines

I have heard numerous people claim that stuff JD sells at the big box stores are made by a company other than JD. Mostly people credit them to MTD. It's never been true.

MTD makes a lot of different brands of lawn mowers, but none in JD green.

I can't say JD has NEVER had someone else build any of their tractors. The only ones I know of were the compact utility tractors that Yanmar used to build for them. And those were GREAT tractors.

No, that's right. They are not MTD or Yard Man or any such. They are manufactured by Deere, as was the "Sabre by John Deere" line from the '90s and early 2000s that preceded them.

JD had wanted to get into the bog box stores going back a couple of decades, but the dealer contracts did not allow them to sell through non-dealers like the bog box stores. Therefore, they created a brand "Sabre by John Deere" that were not quite the right shade of green and not quite John Deere....and they sold horribly.

Apparently, there was a renegotiation or some sort of compromise made with the dealers whereby the dealers do final assembly and prep for the big box stores, thereby earning them some coin from the big box tractors and allowing the dealer to put their sticker on the tractors in HD and Lowes, with the hope that they will see the service and parts business for these. With this, JD was now able to sell tractors at the big box stores and keep the dealers happy...and get rid of the confusing and wrong-green Sabre brand.

 

[ghuns]

Never heard of Yanmar...

I used to have this 670. The *70 series was the last of the Yanmar made JD tractors. Ended around 2000...

Yanmar is a Japanese company. Their little diesel engines are second to none.

 

[ghuns]

Engine model # FS600V- meaning it is a Kawasaki.

https://www.deere.com/en/mowers/lawn-tractors/x300-series/x350-lawn-tractor-48-in/

FS600V | Kawasaki - Lawn Mower Engines - Small Engines

I can't believe they went back to air cool engines.