LA145 48" Deck is high maintenance

[jinman]

In general, I really like the design of my LA145 mower because it seems to perform well for a grass-cutting-only lawnmower. The problem I've had with the engine's carburetor and sticking float valve are more related to ethanol in the fuel than a problem with the B&S engine which performs flawlessly otherwise. However I have spent over $200 in repair parts on my mower deck in the first 90 hours of use. I think 10% of the purchase price is a little high maintenance on the costs.

I've now replaced all the idler pulleys (two small and one large) one time and just had to replace the center spindle because it blew up the last time I mowed. I grease my deck religiously as can be seen by grease on the outside of the spindle assembly. I also have never hit any big rocks with this mower. I'd say nothing bigger than a golf ball. It's life has just been spent mowing my 1/2 acre yard around my house.

The good news is that the spindle was only $60 complete and the small idlers are about $9 each with the larger one being $12. I'd gladly pay more for better idlers if I knew where to find them, but replacing these at least once per year won't break the bank. The deck is very easy to remove and replacement of parts is a snap, even if I think the parts are failing too early. Here are some pictures of my deck and spindle and the new replacement. I've got my fingers crossed as to how long the deck will go before something else craters. I'll soon order a replacement spindle and idlers to keep on hand for the next repair.

 

[rayikeo2]

Jinman, those spindled are a lot different than the ones on my 44" mower deck. Looks like pot-metal, not good. My theory is that you may not be greasing them enough or they are a poor design and quality. When you grease them, how much do you put in and how often? My deck zerts are on the top of the spindles (where the nut is on yours) and I always shoot 8 or 9 punps from the grease gun three or 4 times a year. Make sure it comes out of the seals when greasing. I mow a lot toughter terrian with mine and hit a lot of large rocks and sticks and the spindles have lasted 10 years without failing. Ray

 

[jinman]

Jinman, those spindled are a lot different than the ones on my 44" mower deck. Looks like pot-metal, not good. My theory is that you may not be greasing them enough or they are a poor design and quality. When you grease them, how much do you put in and how often? My deck zerts are on the top of the spindles (where the nut is on yours) and I always shoot 8 or 9 punps from the grease gun three or 4 times a year. Make sure it comes out of the seals when greasing. I mow a lot toughter terrian with mine and hit a lot of large rocks and sticks and the spindles have lasted 10 years without failing. Ray

Ray, I have a battery powered greasegun. The zerks are on top of my deck and I grease them every 8 to 10 hours of operation until the grease oozes out the bottom of the deck at the blade or the top at the pulley. This deck has NOT suffered from undergreasing. Today, while we were mowing, my wife was in 5" Saint Augustine grass and heard a thunk. The deck immediately quit working. The strap that holds the electric PTO clutch had broken off and the clutch spun and jerked the wires loose. I know the broken pulley put some extra stress on that PTO clutch, but it never stopped spinning the other day when the spindle cratered. It just rattled and I shut off the PTO. I ordered the strap today. It's a whole $1.62 and the plastic grommet inside the clutch where it fits is $4.64. While I was at it, I ordered a whole new set of idlers and a new spindle. Total parts order before shipping is about $88. The mower is nickle-diming me to death.

Have a look at the front of my deck in the photos above. Not only do we not mow in rocks, we hardly have the paint worn off this deck. We go out of our way to not abuse our equipment and I try to maintain it at a high level. I am on my third set of new blades. I sharpen them once and then they are worn out by the time they have been sharpended twice. This deck and its components are designed to wear out quickly. This is a terrific little mower, but the deck is wearing me out.:thumbdown:

 

[rayikeo2]

Sorry to hear of all those problems. If it were mine I would losing faith in the quality of the deck. The only other I can think might cause the problem would be if the spindle top (center) nut is too tight and binding the bearings and causing a self destruct with friction and heat. I don't think you are abusing the deck with the yard you mow. Does the spindle turn freely when you turn it by hand before installing it on the mower? I am wondering if the grease zert on the side of the spindle is factory or dealer installed. Some of the information on decks says the spindles are maintainance free, but that might not apply to your deck and it doesn't apply to mine.

 

[KENSFM]

Jim, you are using WAY too much grease on the spindles. This is causing them to run hot, expand and cause most of your problems. Of course the fact that they are a cheap aluminum casting made in China does not help. Sometimes less is better, give that battery powered grease gun some time off.
Ken

 

[jinman]

Well fellows, I'm going to have to disagree with you about the grease. This spindle has no seal and the bearing freely allows grease to flow through. I've looked at the illustrated parts breakdown for the spindle. The dangers of not insuring grease is in the bearings is far greater than any damage that might be done by too much grease in my opinion. I believe this part failed on my mower due to its aluminum casting having been weak or perhaps cracked when it was installed. I don't think I'll have anymore problems since I've replaced it. However, there is no maintenance on the idler pulleys and their sealed bearings. No amount of greasing of the spindles can account for three idlers failing in less than 90 hours.

As far as saying that this mower cannot handle my grass, well that's a bit of a stretch. I have the mower deck set to 3-1/2" cutting height. When I mow over 5" grass, we are only cutting the top 1-1/2". I'm not scalping my lawn. Saint Augustine grass is best left very long because it provides its own shade and preserves water. I like my grass longer so I don't have to water every day. I'm pretty sure you misunderstood what I meant by the 5" grass. That's my normal maximum height before mowing. I have to mow every 5 days or the grass grows out of control. As it is, it's long, lush, and even.

I haven't given up on my mower, but I think I've had to replace a lot of parts. From what I've seen, the parts that I put on the mower seem to be holding up better than the originals. At least that's true for the idler pulleys. We'll see how I do in the future on spindles. For now, I'm sure glad I have my Kubota G1800 diesel lawn tractor as a backup. I'm sure I would have better performance from a premium X-series Deere also. This is not an indictment of Deere, only that their lower-end mowers can be high-maintenance. That's my experience and all I'm trying to say. Luckily, their parts support is superb and I'm able to keep my mower running most of the time.

 

[rayikeo2]

Good luck jinman, the problem I see from the pictures is the design of the spindles and the construction material. From the point of where they bolt to the mower deck to the belt pulley is too long for the strength of the allum or pot metal (whichever). The belt then provides more torque that the design can withstand. So the end result is a weak 48" mower deck and not up to JD standards. The least JD should do is re-design the spindles and do a recall. I bet every owner of that deck is having the same problems.
The only other possible explanation is if when you install the spindle to the deck then install the blade to the spindle it some how binds up the bearings and causes them to be so tight that the heat/friction destroys the bearings. Again that would be a bad design. Ray

 

[jinman]

The only other possible explanation is if when you install the spindle to the deck then install the blade to the spindle it some how binds up the bearings and causes them to be so tight that the heat/friction destroys the bearings. Again that would be a bad design. Ray

Ray, the spacers at each end of the shaft have a shoulder that bottoms out so you cannot overtighten the spindles. When I put the new spindle on the other day, I tightened it down and could feel the spacer seat. The blade spun easily and freely before I put on the belt.

I just think my sandy soil is hard on idler bearings and I had a bad spindle on my deck that failed early. How high value can it be when the whole mower and deck sells for $2100? If I'd have spent a bit more money, I probably would not have these problems. I'm still way below the price of an X300 and I'm just sure I'll have to continue doing more than average maintenance. There are probably some other decks with similar problems and some that work perfectly. At this price point, quality has got to be hit or miss. You can't blame Deere for wanting in this low-cost market. I'm just thankful that they don't abandon me on parts. I'd be really upset if I couldn't order the parts online and have them delivered via UPS to my house. It doesn't matter what level of mower you buy, having your parts delivered by UPS doesn't get any better.

 

[Engine_Tech]

I work on JD's all the time, and I've never seen a broken spindle housing like that. I'd call it a fluke. JD has built hundreds of thousands of those tractors, with 2 or 3 spindles on each - that's a lot of spindles. If there was a design problem, it would be all over the internet.

But as you've discovered, the parts are not very expensive if you have problems.

How long have you had the tractor? For most people, 90 hours on an LA is 3-4 years worth.

Good, low cost tractors.

 

[jinman]

I work on JD's all the time, and I've never seen a broken spindle housing like that. I'd call it a fluke. JD has built hundreds of thousands of those tractors, with 2 or 3 spindles on each - that's a lot of spindles. If there was a design problem, it would be all over the internet.

But as you've discovered, the parts are not very expensive if you have problems.

How long have you had the tractor? For most people, 90 hours on an LA is 3-4 years worth.

Good, low cost tractors.

This is the third year for my mower. I bought it in April of 2008. I agree that the spindle problem is a fluke, but I'm wondering how many idler pulleys you have replaced? When my idlers start to howl and I can feel the bearing is rough, it's time to replace them before they start siezing up and burning belts. All of my idlers have had rough bearings. I'll get this fixed and continue using the mower, but my expectation is to continue have little nagging problems. It's what I'd expect with any mower in this price range.

 

[Engine_Tech]

Yes, I've replaced a number of idlers. But again, nothing I'd see as excessive.

Sorry you've had so many issues. It's really not typical. I see a lot of 100's run hard and seem to hold up great.

 

[jinman]

Yes, I've replaced a number of idlers. But again, nothing I'd see as excessive.

Sorry you've had so many issues. It's really not typical. I see a lot of 100's run hard and seem to hold up great.

Thanks for the info. At least I have some hope of getting better reliability after putting on repair parts. Ease of replacement and parts support from Deere has sure been terrific, but it does take some time waiting on backorders of NIS parts. I haven't received any of my latest parts order, but my CC hasn't been charged yet either. They are good about not charging until they ship. I'll keep my little stash of parts because that's what keeps me going if something breaks. I could drive 90 miles to a dealer who has the parts in stock, but that seems counterproductive. Having another mower as my "plan B" sure has worked out. Otherwise I'd be cutting my grass with my rotary cutter.

 

[joes_427_vette]

My 4110 has a 60" mmm that I paid 1300 for. A little extreme for me but it performs so good. I cut tree stumps, hay fields, branches and what ever else gets in the way. I grease it about every 4th time out but it cuts about 6 acres at a time. Usually about 10 pumps and you can hear the air escape the shaft. I rotate 3 sets of blades. Being so heavy it is a pain to take on / off so it stays on for the mowing season.
Jinman, I had you pegged for a quality , quality guy. Before the account goes dry change components or mowers. No one should have to R & R as much as you have done.

 

[jinman]

I've been really busy during the last week of June and the first week of July and have not updated this thread. Shortly after posting the previous note about not getting my parts, I emailed my JD dealer to ask if I could pick up the parts he had in stock since I was going to be by the dealership. The parts guy responded that he had not seen my order at all, but with the info I gave him, he found the order online in their system and he had all the parts available. I stopped in the next day and picked them up. What a surprise! The parts total came to $9 less than what I was quoted online. It wasn't shipping because that would have been added to the online price. I was really amused by all this because not many people talk about John Deere and cheaper in the same sentence. They even put all my parts into a nice heavy-duty John Deere paper bag. Woohoo!:thumbsup:

Only earlier this week did I get around to installing the PTO clutch retainer strap and repairing the electrical wiring where it was jerked out of the harness when the clutch spun. It was an easy job to accomplish using crimp-on splices. I carefully located the harness out of harms way and tied it up with cable ties.

In addition to replacing the clutch retainer strap, I added a spring as a backup in case the strap ever breaks again from metal fatigue. I'm not really happy with the strength of the strap (illustrated by the Z-shaped black object in the illustration below. The clutch (shown in light blue) has a hole where one leg of the strap goes and the other leg bolts to the frame. I notice that in addition to the hole for the strap, there was a round hole available on the clutch. I had a very hefty belt tensioning spring available from an old mower deck and found that I could put it into the additional hole and secure it to the frame. That way, it provides some "help" for the retainer strap and serves as a backup if the strap ever breaks. I know my paranoia is showing a bit here, but I'm hoping the spring will provide some additional stress relief during the shock of engaging the clutch. Anyhow, it is all back together and working nicely at the moment.

One more thing... I have another thread about all the problems I've had with the B&S engine carburetor and how the float valve sticks everytime I let it sit overnight. My standard way of starting my mower has been to use compressed air to blow into the carb inlet hose to unstick the valve everytime before I started the engine. If I didn't do that, the engine would start and then die after about 20 seconds of operation due to the fuel being depleted from the float chamber. This tedious process has gone on for several months with me putting off rebuilding my carb because it was easy to remove the hose and blow air in there. Well, I found a local station with non-ethanol gasoline and bought 15 gallons for my mowers. I put one tankfull of that gasoline into my mower and like magic the sticking float valve went away. I've started the engine at least 10 times since adding the non-ethanol fuel and it works perfectly. The needle on the valve has a rubber compound on it's tip for a better seal and the ethanol must have some effect on it. I've chased this problem on and off for the last year and with one tank of fuel the problem disappeared. I think it's too dramatic to have been a coincidence. All I know is my LA145 is running perfectly again and I'm happy about that.

 

[WayneB]

Hey Jim that is so interesting! What brand of gas is it you found? Around here I think they all have ethanol addative. My LA-145 has about 17 hours on it, sure hope I don't have the spindle problems you had.

Wayne

 

[jinman]

Wayne, my mower continues to run well. The local station that has non-ethanol gasoline is an independent. There is another independent in town that used to be Fina gas, but they went independent about 6 months ago. I've found that they also buy only non-ethanol gasoline. On average, the non-ethanol runs 5-8 cents more per gallon. I'd say you should shop around for independents if you want to find pure gasoline. I'm not sure your state will even allow it. I'm sure that Texas is one of the less restrictive states.

Good luck also with your LA145. Keep the spindles well greased and I suggest keeping one small and one large idler pulleys on hand. The first small idler pulley takes a beating when you energize the clutch because it has on damping spring. It's a rigid mount and takes the full "hit" from getting the deck spinning. The spindles are a snap to change and very inexpensive. I just consider them a maintenance item and keep them on hand just like filters, grease, and fuel.

 

[jinman]

Well, it happened again. I lost a small idler while my wife was mulching leaves in the yard. We don't have heavy leaves because we stay on top of them and my wife just started in an area where the Saint Augustine grass has mostly stopped growing, but is very thick. After about 10 minutes, she smelled smoke and shut down the mower. I was nearby with my backhoe and she walked over to tell me the mower had a problem. I went back to the mower with her and had her start it up and engage the PTO as I watched. Sure enough one of he small idlers was frozen and the belt heated up as its back side slipped across the face of the idler.

I keep plenty of spare parts now that I expect problems. I keep two small idlers and one larg idler plus a deck spindle in my John Deere parts bin. The two new small idlers looked very different in construction. One seemed rougher where the two halves are riveted together with a black faced bearing and the other was more smoothly finished with a yellow faced bearing. I'm sure they are from different vendors, but the yellow-bearing model had "Made in USA" clearly on the label, so it was the one I chose to go on the deck as a replacement for the frozen idler.

I took the opportunity to grease the deck and the mower while I had it off and I removed the blades and sharpened them so they would do a better job of mulching leaves. The repair and service took about 1 hour's time and then it was time to start it up and test it. When the PTO was engaged, the deck sounded very solid and smooth. My wife gave me a thumbs up and went off to mulch leaves. Everything worked great, but this is again a higher level of maintenance than I would expect.

Maybe I expect too much. Our hour meter is now approaching 100 hours. I have replaced one deck spindle, three small idlers, and one large idler in that 100 hours. We are not rough on our equipment. We use it almost exclusively in our lawngrass yard, but I know we have very abrasive sand because the tips of the blades erode really quickly. The underside of the deck was as clean as if it were sandblasted. The combination of mulching leaves and the dust/sand picked up by the blades has removed all grass residue.:thumbsup:

So, my saga with the LA145 continues. My engine problems seem to be over since I changed to non-ethanol fuel and also replaced the plastic float valve with a much heavier brass one from Briggs and Stratton directly rather than buy a John Deere part. The engine starts and runs perfectly and I have nothing but praise for the operation of the HST transmission. I still think my money was well spent, but if I were not able to do my own repairs, I'd probably hate this mower and sell it. For that reason, I couldn't recommend this to my neighbor who cannot work on his equipment. Different strokes for different folks. . . .

 

[jinman]

The sand may be part of it, but I've worn right through a few blades without any problems. I'd be curious to see if you can find out what caused the failure. If it were me, I'd open up the failed parts and have a look see. Maybe there's an answer....... and maybe not. Where I live, we have good access to bearing suppliers. I've replaced a few failed ones with Fafnir (a division of the Timken Company) and never had a follow-up problem.

Unfortunately, the only way to replace this bearing is to grind off the rivets on each half of the idler pulley because the bearing is captive. It's placed between the two halves and then the pulley is riveted together. I'll try to get a picture to show. The bearing is just worn out and turns really rough. When it gets hot, it seizes. My wife said she heard it singing for about 10 seconds before she smelled smoke, so it went downhill pretty fast. I'm pretty sure I could drill out the rivets and replace them with #10 machine screws/nuts and then grind down the screws flush with the nuts, so I might buy a quality bearing and give it a try.

I found a photo of the idlers on a previous picture. You can see how the idlers are made from two separate halves and riveted together so the bearing is captive. The small idler in the photo is the one I replaced and the big one on the right was replaced when I replaced a deck spindle. It was still working, but I could feel the bearing getting rough.

 

[jenkinsph]

I have very likely the same deck on my L130 with 48" cut. No issues same belt and bearings, pulleys and over 240 hrs. Would be great to know what is causing your issues though.

 

[jinman]

I have very likely the same deck on my L130 with 48" cut. No issues same belt and bearings, pulleys and over 240 hrs. Would be great to know what is causing your issues though.

Steve, I can't imagine that everyone is having similar problems. I have changed most idler pulleys when they start to make noise or I can feel rough bearings, but I'd expect a lot more complaints from folks if everyone had similar issues. We just cut grass in a dry and dusty environment. Since the idlers are above the deck, you wouldn't think they would get sand blasted like the bottom surface and blades, yet, I've sure had my share of failures. The blade tension is completely a function of the large idler and the tension of its spring. Engagement of the electric PTO is ON or OFF, there's no feathering it and we start it at mid-rpm range as the operator manual suggests.

Does your deck have two small idlers and one large idler? Electric PTO? Is the first idler off the electric clutch a small one that has a rigid mount with no spring for shock absorbtion? Believe me, I'm looking for reasons for our problems, but we are doing nothing out of the ordinary for any riding mower we have ever owned. As I've said before, thank goodness parts are cheap and easy to replace. I put a new set of blades on every year and sharpen them once before they have to be tossed because they are eroded away. I'll replace parts as they fail as long as I can get them from JD. Parts support has been terrific. The dealer is very helpful.