The name of the brand you are showing your respect for has an "e" at the end. "John Deere".

Pointless rant. Same old L-series, "not-a-real Deere" bash thread. I have not seen this to be typical of Deeres in general, if taken care of and operated within the model's design limits and capabilities.

Nothing cheap about John Deere......I just bought a tiny bottle of "Official" John Deere green touch up paint for $9.00. Anyway you get what you pay for. You can pay $1500 for a JD with a 42" deck at Lowes or $3000 for an X-300 at the dealer that also has a 42" deck.

John Deere at least at one time was at the top of its class. Dont know about now but the 1986 165 that my uncle has that my grandpa bought brand new seems better than a lot of the new stuff today. It wasnt used a real lot so it is like brand new. My uncle said it is somewhat hard to find parts for. Is that true? This one has the hydrostatic.

I agree a bash thread, cheap has many different meanings. we associate it most with price, but actually it how and what products are made of and the design process. JD has low end and high it products. again you can't make a high end product cheap cost wish, but with neglect and failure to learn how to properly maintain any equipment it becomes cheap or junk after neglect.

anybody that can keep a tractor/product for 10, 20, or 30 years understand the word pre-ventive inspections and maintenance Yes maintenance is assoicated with inspections, you owners manual if full of inspections that are rarely done or understood. some require more and some require less. If you do nothing else at least check and change the oil, air filter, grease required points, and listen??? you equipment usually let's you know when something getting ready to go.

IMO most equipment failures are from not understanding (knowing how), following (inspections) , or complying with (checking and changing required items regularly) the pre-ventive maintenance process outlined in the owner manual.

Last year, John Deere got rid of all of their small tractor dealers, along with any availability to buy parts from them, and then opened some new dealerships in outlying counties, so if a repair shop or person needs any repair parts, they must drive at least 30 miles or more, one way, to buy the parts. So, as a result, their products aren't selling as good as before their nit-wit decision!
I for one am not going that route, except for one or two friends who own JD tractors.
I think JD wants to enhance their farm tractor business, and get away from the lawn mower business!

Plainly and simply JD has increased it's market share greatly over the past 10 years - especially the last five with the 100-series. As a result, you are going to see more Deere's in "less than desireable" environments than before. That includes people that abuse them, people that never do maintainence, and people that leave them outside. As a result, there will be more rough tractors around.

I also think there is a coorelation with lower cost tractors and how they are maintained. I think if you are buying a $1,500 tractor, you may also not put much $$$ it's care.

My $0.02.

I think their is some validity to his point. Deere cheapened their brand when they decided to go the "low" road. So of course your going to see a lot more beat up tractors. People who spend very little on their tractors are a lot less likely to do maintainence on it. Many people consider them throw aways. Use it until something major breaks, junk it and buy another one. Any way you look at it though Deere brought this on themselves. People who spend several thousand dollars on a tractor look at that as an investment. They then tend to take much better care of that investment.

Bill

I think posting an image of the $75 receipt will help this story.
A ten year old Craftsman? Does it have a cracked frame?

To add to the wheely boy "spark". Has this tractor ever caught fire?

JD did go at the lower end market, quite well, and as a result, they have captured market share. They do continue to make tractors that are upscale and as a result, very, very desirable. That said, 0% financing for x months, has just about killed the resale value of ALL tractors. Think about it, if you are in the market for a tractor and you have a choice of buying new, with a full warranty, with no interest for 36 months; now compare that to a used tractor with possibly no warranty, that you have to write a check for the full amount. Who's kidding who. You already know what's going on.

Cheers

JDFANATIC

jdfanatic, you hit it on the head. The value of used L&G equipment took a big downturn when the first Sabre's came out. Folks even then would rather buy a new $1500 Sabre with a warranty than "risk" a used LX or better without a warranty. I really can't blame them. Some folks see the difference, some don't.

To me, JD is like an auto company. Ford will sell you a Ranger, a F150, F250, or F350. Just depends on what you want to do and what you want to spend. If you want to save some cash and try to haul 2,000 lbs in your Ranger all the time, well, it might not last that long. Work it like it's supposed to be, and it will last for many years.

Well The John deer"e" will have to wait. I picked up a Craftsman LT1000 today. Clean as a pin, kept inside and only 2years old with a blown rod (Briggs inteks are junk). I can turn this one around faster than the deer. So I will focus on making a buck on it before I fix up the deer. Sorry if I bruised some egos but I work on a lot of them and from a mechanical point of view the deers are not much better than the cheapo's.

I paid $40 for the craftsman.

tractortrader writes (Briggs inteks are junk) we're wondering what you are repowering this machine with?

bushleague Says:tractortrader writes (Briggs inteks are junk) we're wondering what you are repowering this machine with?

I've got a few engines in my engine shed that will work. I will go with a briggs because I want a quick turnaround.

Hummmm. JD L1xx series junk? Let's see: I bought a JD Sabre 17.5 HP/42" cut in 2002. This was the last year for the JD Sabre, then they became the JD L110 I think.

Anyway, I sold that lawn tractor in 2005 with 94.x hours on it after upgrading to my current Simplicity Landlord DLX, year model 2000. I've since then talked with friends this year of the people I sold the Sabre to back in 2005. My understanding is that the new owners of my old Sabre are as happy as they can possibly be with that "junk" lawn tractor.

Maybe it does have something to do with maintenance, and pride of ownership after all. That makes more sense to me.

BTW, my "Junk" Simplicity will more than likely outlive many other tractors because I take good care of it too. I can't see why it will not live up to the quality name it has always had.

Maintenance is key, it doesn't matter what brand you purchase, you have to maintain it!

What sets John Deere apart from the rest is you can typically get parts FOR ALMOST ANY MODEL in 3-10 days.

Unlike many brands where parts are not available at all or may take months, JD still has the parts available.

That's one of the things that makes JD better, long term customer service!

Quality has gone down on a few mowers, true. I think cub has improved their mowers, People buy what they can afford. If quality on engines does not improve they will face the same fate as the big three.

If you abuse a Rolls Royce, it will look like crap after 10 years as well. Not sure what your point is, you bought a neglected tractor. You should be bad mouthing the person that sold it to you, not the company that made it. JD has been in business longer than Ford, please rethink your statemements.

JD losing value? Simply not true.

An auto mechanic friend tells me that over the past year and a half he is seeing people much more willing to fix cars with semi-serious problems. They know they won't be buying a new car. Time will tell if they will spend the time and effort to learn how to prevent problems.

In a case like that there will be less good used cars on the market, and those that are would be the worst of the worst.

I wonder if the same principle applies here- only the junky one are for sale because the good ones are being kept.

???

Wheel_horse_of_course makes a very valid point. I've been reading about the cash for clunkers program and about the vehicles and mileage piled up on them.

One guy had a Ford F150 that had something like 544,000 miles on it, and he still didn't want to get rid of it! He said it was the very best vehicle he'd ever had.

I guess so, because he would have never gotten that kind of mileage from that truck if it hadn't been a good one.

He did say he'd had a lot of maintenance done over the years. That goes without saying though.

I've been keeping my eyes out for another used Simplicity to match my current Simplicity. I've found the going hard. Most people will not even think about letting a Simplicity go unless there are serious problems with it.

You'd think in these hard times, there would be bargains galore, but that really isn't the case at all.

You can find some garden tractors, but most have seen far better years. I simply refuse to get caught up in shiny new paint. I've seen way too many paint jobs that covered up the real problems of the equipment. Dupont fixups is all they are.

1980's Deere stock was as low as $2.30 per share and high of $7.69, in the 90's it was as low as $6.05 and as high as $28.05, in the 00's (the greatest "recession" since the 30's) it has been as low as $27.49 and as high as $93.12. I would say they are doing quite well and would say at today's price of $46.06 you would be better off spending your money on some Deere Stock (DE) then on broken down Craftsman Tractors.

I now have the 1986 John Deere 165 that my uncle got from my grandparents. He just didnt want it anymore. It works perfectly. There is no comparison in quality and build strength to my Craftsman. The John Deere is better than the Craftsman by far. As for the new John Deere lets remember that my 165 was I think over $2000 back in 1986. What does that equate to now? Its easy to see then why a new Lowes or Home Depot John Deere isnt the same as mine.

I don't know about the value being down but I am frustrated with the company. I bought a snowblower for my 2305 and the assembly manual showed the first thing to do was to add the stiffening end plates. Guess what, some John Deere bean counter had decided that my tractor wouldn't push hard enough to make those end plates necessary. If I wanted them, they would cost another $300. IMO the company has lost the vision of making great machinery and now just cares about the bottom line. Who cares if a few people like me feel ripped off.

Used to be that businesses genuinely appreciated their customers and let them know it in no uncertain terms. Customer loyalty was carefully cultivated and was almost a tangible asset to a business.

Time went by and things changed... business cared less and less about the customers they had and concentrated on chasing more market share. They told us they valued us as customers but we questioned whether they meant it or not.

Now we're at the point that they don't even give us the illusion that they value their customers.

John Deere is no different than any other company in today's economy. An old timer around here told me "there are two kinds of John Deere dealers... the ones who made JD what they are today and the ones who made Kubota what THEY are today".

It's not just the dealers. Fierce competitors appear in markets where the established force in those markets is not fulfilling the needs of their customers or otherwise falling short addressing the needs of their customers.

I always wanted a Deere and now that I bought one I regret buying it... some for the shortcomings of the product, a lot for being forced to deal with a very bad dealer who JD gave an exlusive market to, and the rest for JD corporate.

Near as I can tell there are only two manufacturers that I know of that make 'em the way they used to and take care of their customers the way they used to... Bunn coffee makers and Kitchen-Aid stand mixers. Bought both decades ago and darn if they both still don't work they way they did the day I took them out of the box. Paid more for both then the competition but what a deal!

You're right Justalurker. Not long ago I started a thread here about wanting to buy a Deere riding mower. I said then that I always wanted a Deere even though I have been happy with other brands in the past, including my present Craftsman, which still runs good and has given me no problems during the past five years. I commented that I have saved up around $3000 and can now afford a John Deere.

Some posters to that thread thought I was trying to "impress" my neighbors which could not be further than the truth. I can get by with any mower really because my yard is flat and less than an acre. I have no garden and no snow here in Texas. I just cut grass.

I have always wanted a Deere for personal pride and to say that once in my life I owned one. It would go a long way in making my grass cutting "chore" much more enjoyable than it is now just to be on top of a John Deere. At least that is what I thought.

I went to two dealers right after Thanksgiving to start pricing a 300. I was not impressed with either one. One showroom was messy with crap everywhere (even with old parts). The yard in the back looked worse and like a "you-pull-it" car junk area. The salesman seemed okay and a good guy but I did not like the looks of the place. The second dealer was much better appearance wise but it was obvious this dealership was far more concerned with big equipment and serving ranchers and farmers than a guy looking for a lawn mower. Make a long story short, I finished the day rethinking my John Deere position.

Then a great sale ("friends and family") took place at Sears. They had the Sears 42" Professional model with specs to match and beat the John Deere at what appeared to be an all time low plus extra percentage off for this special sale. On top of that, I could get 10% cash back by using my Discover card and buying it on-line. It was a steal! Half of what the Deere would have cost although I must admit, it only has half the warranty period too. Well, it was too good to pass up, especially after my less than satisfactory experience shopping at the Deere dealerships. That John Deere value is down, as the OP suggested a couple years ago, is as true now as it was then.

milacqua,

Don't get me wrong... I regret buying my JD because of the dealer and the company not so much the product although there are shortcomings.

Prior to the JD I bought the big, bad, top of the line Sears with snowblower, chains, and weights. Rented a trailer, brought it home, and set about a detailed inspection of what I just forked over a considerable sum of money for. It appeared a lot for a modest price... looks are deceiving.

After discovering a multitude of serious cost-cutting in the product that manifested itself as stup[id to poor decisions on components I fired that puppy up. Sitting there idling at about 2400 RPM I knew something was wrong. Jumped on and mottored out the driveway and down the road. Steering wheel was off about 30 degrees when going straight. No repositioning of the steering wheel got it right and guess what? No adjustable steering links!

Shut it down and called Sears service... "we can get to you in three weeks". No thanks, loaded it all up and took it back.

The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of low price is gone. I hope you have better luck than I did.

After the economy has killed of the quality competition in the L&G market JD remains the best choice if you don't want disposable junk. JD remains because they can offset the L&G division with money from their Industrial and AG divisions.

In a world of blind men the one eyed man is king.

It sucks to be a consumer.

We used to say the competition sucks ,we just suck less. Thats about it , my family always owned Deere and we beat the snot out of them ,maintain them but still use them is better words. I used to see my dad pound snow banks with his 316 ,he took care of it by maintaining it but wasnt afraid to use it . I feel unless you buy a garden tractor you wont begin to get quality, a lot of people dont have coin for one . They go to a big box spend 1600 and the trouble starts. Do I feel guily spending more on a mower absolutely not because it is a priority to me . The equipment must perform to my specifications or it is gone.
Has quality gone down hill yes, and everyone just needs to pick up goods used in the household ,even food to see what I mean. The question , when is the last time you bought something and it said made in USA..?

"...when is the last time you bought something and it said made in USA..?"

Friday... ANCO wiper blade refills... MADE IN USA, that's why I bought them.

I feel retailers still give good customer service including Deere , had issues with my tractor but they always came through. Would I purchase this again ask me that in 20 years or so if it dont last , well another brand will do. Same with cars brand A sucks brand B sucks a little less... the point about finding things made in this country is it gets harder every day....