I bought a X300 at the start of the summer. It is there, you have to really look hard for it. It is next to the forward foot control on the top of the frame. You will need a 10mm socket to remove it. I removed it, tie-wrapped it closed, then tie-wrapped it to the frame. I also removed the park brake switch. Drilled a hole in the dash next to the key. Mounted the switch next to the key. You have to push the switch in to start, then release it. It's nice though, you don't have to engage the brake to start the mower. Both "fixes" are done so that I can put them back to "factory" if needed. You would want to do that if you have to bring the mower in for service. If you don't the dealer will do it for you.

Have grass getting longer, John Deere X 300 Removed mowing deck deck to clean , lube and sharpen blades . I have done this at least twice before with out problems ( actually read manual) when attemtiing to reinstall mower deck I Found : The deck raise footpedal locked in the forward position and the deck lock pad is iin the down position and won’t budge.. Both appear to be jamned tight so the draft arms wont come down far enough to be locked onto the mowing deck. Someone mentioned 12 inch screwdriver to unlock mechanism from underneath? probably will try this before resorting to sledgehammer! i will report back with results. Thanks

The weights hang low on the rear bracket and make your X300 look like a big tractor. If my tractor had a built-in weight bracket I'd get the weights. WWAF in the tires gets the weight below the axle... about as low as it can be. Only downside is that it's a pain to put the fluid in and if you don't add tubes the inside of the wheels may rust. If you search all the L&G tractor forums you'll find oodles of posts like yours and adding weight resolved the traction problems almost all the time.

As long as you use the same rating 10W30 and it is marked as meeting the SAE standard, it would be acceptable for use in your John Deere. (no fudging, like similar to the standard, we know about the SAE standard etc.) The large oil companies make a batch of oil to meet the SAE standard and then it is packaged out in to the retail containers, as is required by their sales. They make a batch of 10W30 oil to SAE standards for that grade of oil. They will fill and label the retail containers as needed. Fill for Shell, then filling from the tank for Walmart, the next for John Deere, and so on. When the tank is empty they make the next batch and continue filling as required by their sales on that day. You may see some difference between the manufacturers in the little things. One manufacture may add blue color to the the oil. The next wants it natural. Bottom line is they are all the same regardless of the vendor if they meet the SAE Standard. Same goes for gasoline. There is a large gasoline terminal near us, a couple of dozen 500,000+ gal tanks. The gas from these tanks go to all of the gas stations in the area, regardless of brand. This works the same for many items. One of my favorite memories when working through college, was listening to a customer explain for 15 minutes that the store brand milk was so much better, than that from the local dairy. If she had only known the difference between the store brand milk and the local dairy was the container into which they were filled. The milk came from the same tank and the dairy filled to meet the demands of the customer. She was so sure of her facts, and I knew the customer was always right.