John Deere Lawn Tractor L130 - weak hydrostatic drive

Two years ago, about 2 years after purchasing the new L130, I noticed the same problem, resulting in the John Deere agency replacing the hydrostatic transmission under warranty.

I expressed my concern at the time that the same fault may happen again, with us having to foot the out-of-warranty bill next time. The agency's response was that this was most likely a 'one-off'.

When I contacted them before Christmas about the present problem, the service guy said, "Oh, we don't bother repairing these transmissions - we just throw them out and put in a new one."

This did not reassure me at all, and made me wonder how many other L130 owners are being taken to the cleaners by John Deere with having to replace their transmissions about once every two years!

It also makes me wonder if there is some underlying fault in this transmission that JD are not being straight about.

Any insights very much appreciated :)

Here in New Zealand we don't get many of those other mower brands you mentioned.

By the time we got to the John Deere, we had tried 3 other international and local brands. Each time we were assured "Yes, this machine will do the job" (on a moderately-sloped acre of land with several flat areas). Those first machines all packed up sooner rather than later.

We bought the John Deere because our next door neighbor owned the dealership for JD and we were desperate for a machine that would handle the terrain.

He came over to look at the land and said the L130 was ultra reliable and would handle it no problem at all. Neither he, nor his head mechanic, nor John Deere in USA, told us the transmission would need to be replaced every two years!

Had they told us that we would have told them to shove it where the sun does not shine.

BTW, in NZ one of those JD L130 so-called "piles of junk" costs around $NZ8500.00.

And...John Deere would not reveal what actually went wrong with the transmission that was replaced under warranty, or what goes wrong with transmissions that pack up every two years or so.

So much for "standing behind the product". /:~(

Whenever you get a low-end Deere, you will find that John Deere will not stand behind the product once you get it.

The L130 and other model junkers are equivalent to buying a Yard-man built by MTD. It is clearly meant to be a disposable piece of crap, but I find that Sears Crapsman lawn tractors will outlast any Deere.