# John Deere and other manufacturers transaxles



## Jimbos (Nov 21, 2000)

This isn't about the regular John Deere's but the "big box store" lower price point 100 series lawn tractor.

I didn't need a heavy duty tractor but I was sick of trying to keep $300 buck riding mowers running at my home in Petoskey, I abuse them a bit but don't have a big cutting area so I picked up a used LA135 with a trailer and detacher and 86 hours which looked brand new for $800 from a lazy young guy with a trophy house, it's spotless, and everything has been maintained.









My point here is the T40/K46 hydro transaxles built by Tuff Torq which are the same, are junk and fail and they've been put in thousands of tractors.

Tuff Torq calls for 5w50 synthetic oil and John Deere who says these transaxles are unserviceable put in 10w30 regular oil to save money.
The unserviceable part is pure bunk and these transmissions are easily rebuildable and serviceable, you just have to pull them at least with the Deere's, which I just did.
I had to know what that 7 year old oil looked like and was there any metal shavings on the magnet under the cap. I was pleasently surprised with no metal shavings and the oil looked better than I thought, but I now know.
I have fresh oil and hopefully the transmission will last a little longer than it would have.
So if your tractor can't make it up an incline or slows up after warming up it's repairable for about $300 bucks and a 6 pack.


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## Waif (Oct 27, 2013)

The block under the hood that the p.t.o. linkage goes to was pot metal on my LA series and broke with low hours on it. The replacement out of pocket was of more durable material.
Would rather Deere told me before I told the parts place....

I take it easy on the axles, regulating it for domestic duties ,or I can see busting one easy enough.
They are what they are....not what they were. 
Thing starts and runs without being pampered over the winters. Give it credit for that.
And it survived bouncing off the truck bumper as a reward for the pto failure. ( No , that did not fix it.)


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## Jimbos (Nov 21, 2000)

I had to say myself "WTF John Deere" when some manufacturers have two drain plugs on the bottom to drain both sides of the transaxle, and the spots are there in the casting since their all the same, but Deere wants these things to prematurely fail because how much more could it possibly cost to have them drilled and tapped? 10 cents? Now that is pitiful. I'm just glad I didn't spend two grand for this thing but it is a serious improvement over what I had.

I'm going to look for that block.


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## Waif (Oct 27, 2013)

Jimbos said:


> I had to say myself "WTF John Deere" when some manufacturers have two drain plugs on the bottom to drain both sides of the transaxle, and the spots are there in the casting since their all the same, but Deere wants these things to prematurely fail because how much more could it possibly cost to have them drilled and tapped? 10 cents? Now that is pitiful. I'm just glad I didn't spend two grand for this thing but it is a serious improvement over what I had.
> 
> I'm going to look for that block.


Below the dash , about where your hat adjuster is in your picture ,viewed with hood open it is the biggest mass of metal attached to your hand control lever for the p.t.o..


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## d_rek (Nov 6, 2013)

"John Deere" AKA Husqvarna AKA Craftsman AKA Cub Cadet.... all more or less the same tractor, at least now they are.

I was gifted an older craftsman that is built like a tank. Rough on belts if I ride it through rough stuff, but otherwise solid. Was pleasantly surprised when I took the carb apart to inspect for building that it was spotless.

Thankfully you can order most of the major components from online retailers. I ordered an idler pulley for the deck from repairclinic.com and the part came quickly and has held up for over a year now.


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## Jimbos (Nov 21, 2000)

I've replaced so many parts on those MTD specials and they were all generic online available.
This is my first hydrostatic trans which should be a real upgrade.


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## jancoe (Jan 24, 2010)

Quit buying all those big box store throw away tractors. Buy a true American made case ingersoll. I love mine.


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## Jimbos (Nov 21, 2000)

jancoe said:


> Quit buying all those big box store throw away tractors. Buy a true American made case ingersoll. I love mine.


Appreciate the input.


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## d_rek (Nov 6, 2013)

They're easy enough to work on and parts are readily available...

When I buy a new one it will be a simplicity tractor or an exmark zt


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