Vic Dura wrote:

On Sun, 19 Jun 2005 00:30:56 GMT, in alt.home.repair John Deere
Riding lawn mower wrote:


Has anyone owned a deere that wants to share some info?

I'm on my second JD mower and have been disappointed with it and the
first one.

I don't recall the model of the first one. It was the type with the
engine in the rear and about a 30" cut. I believe it had a Kohler
engine. It had several fuel system problems over the years that I had
it. After about six years the transmission died suddenly and I had to
replace it the mower. At the time, JD was the only game in the rural
area where I live, so I bought another one hoping that my experience
was not typical.

I bought an STX-38. The fuel system has never worked well. When I shut
the engine off, I have to shut the fuel line valve otherwise fuel will
slowly leak into the engine and flood it.

That's what the valve is for...

...When I've been mowing a
while and shut the blades down and put the mower into neutral the
engine speed cycles increasing and decreasing quickly about a dozen
times before the speed stabilizes.

....although this makes it sound as though the float may be sticking or
you have a partially clogged jet preventing clean closing of the
supply. An air leak could be partly to blame as well...


There where two breakdowns that I didn't think should have happened.
One was the pully-shaft that drives one of the blades. The bearings in
that assembly broke after about three years for no apparent reason. A
couple of years latter I had an electrical component fail which
prevented the engine from starting. I don't recall what the component
was.

....
I must admit however that I'm pretty rough on mowers. I have about two
acres to mow, the ground is rough and there are always a lot of small
branches in the grass from all the trees that we have. I've also heard
that the larger JD mowers and small tractors are more reliable, but I
don't have any experience with that. Other than the problems I
mentioned, both mowers were really solid.

Some of my dissapointment may be due to unrealistic expectations.
Based on the JD reputation, I expected *no* problems.

I'll agree sounds like you're abusing the mower...we have similar
situation w/ limbs/branches, but I take the time and trouble to pick up
anything that is more than just a twig.. for that type of mowing you
definitely need something much more rugged--the STX'es are just home
lawn mowers. I still have the one I moved from TN which is now 10 years
old by now (altho it is an "SX" the predecessor to the "STX" they're
very similar) and can't complain of any of this problems w/ it--