John Deere LA100 Series

Nice little mower – I beat the hell out of this mower with just the normal yearly greasing and oil change mowing brush over 6 feet tall yearly pulling as much as she could handle buying a new mower this year giving this away after 13 years only had to replace 1 belt and blades. Show details

I love it – I've had my LA 100 since Feb. 2008. I purchased it directly from the John Deere dealer. The only issues I've had with my John Deere is a starter solenoid and a new battery. The original battery died about 4 years ago. I can't complain, I love my John Deere.  Show details

wish i had two – This old girl is 15 years old, has had 2 batteries, new steering rods and two new bearings on the deck. It is a 5 speed, so glad i saved 100 bucks rather than buy the lousy hydrostatic. I bought a new x350 last year but continue to put the L 100 through the routine. 2.5 acres, trails in the woods it won't stop. WISH I WOULDA BOUGHT TWO !!!  Show details

Low end Awesome Piece of Mower – Transmission is slipping a bit, but it works fine. Since the unit has been used almost twice a week during the spring and fall on a 1 acre yard, we decided to gave it away to my inlaws for their smaller yard and acquired the S250. It is a solid unit, but there is no need to bit up the engine. The accessories will be kept for the new unit.  Show details

engine burning smoke – After 5 years and 186 hrs. Engine started to burn oil. Not pleased since it has had 4 oil changes with synthetic each time. Put new pulleys on the mower deck at around 75 hrs. Seat started cracking right away. It never stays outside when I am done mowing so, why did the seat go bad so fast. Now it won't start and sounds like the engine is coming… Read more

apart. You would think with so little hrs. And scheduled servicing it would last longer than this.

June 12th 2018 Update: You get what you pay for.

Rather cheaply built machine. They built these models to compete with other brands of similar price using poorer products. Belt pulley's start whining under 100 hrs and need to be replaced also on my particular machine the engine needed replaced at 186 hrs. Would I buy another John Deere mower? Yes. but it would be in the X series which cost more but built more heavy duty. P.S. You get what you pay for.

Maybe the last good mower JD made, not sure if I will ever find out – I just sold my L100 and was going to replace it with a new D105. That was until I read that it has a plastic transmission. The L100 has an alloy Dana transaxle. It worked very very well on the L100. It climbed the hills and gave me faultless performance even the times I used it for hours on end on real hot days. I would have prefered JD give us an… Read more

option of the manual box over the auto. I liked not having to do anything with my feet while mowing. The thought of holding down a spring loaded pedal for hours does not sound fun. I have read about some problems with the plastic trans and heat. I would like to know more or I will have to say no. Has this transmission got what it takes to take 10 years of abuse like the dana happily did?

Poorly designed deck – I have a LA 105 wiith 79 hours (2.5 years old) on the clock ,mowing couch grass around 100mm thick oneday and the blades pulled right through the deck,I will not buy another JD product for as long as i live.....! I advice you to buy any other mower on the market before even looking at a JD.

John Deere LA100 – Honestly - I have no complaints - tuner her up once a year - cut is even. Power is good. Minor repair on steering. Bought in 2005 and still running like new.

LA 105 – The greatest piece of rubbish I have ever seen I have had Two of them and neither got to 160hrs Ask any small engine repairers and they will tell you

Deere by name. Deere by nature – I have spent more time re-welding the cracks in the deck then mowing the lawn. I have had to strengthen both the leading and trailing edge of the deck. A small hole in the lawn that the front wheel dropped into caused the steering arm to bend and required another couple of hours to straighten. Price to replace the bare deck is… Read more

ridiculous($600AUD+) for the flimsy construction and amount of repairs required. Wouldn't recommend to anyone or am I going to consider any JD product again.

Now on to third Mower deck replacement for LA125 – Welded mower deck after 40 hrs, then replaced deck when spindle broke through the light gauge steel, 2nd deck lasted about 45 hrs before welding required & have now just taken off again with spindle mounts all cracked & broken & still haven't made it to 100 hrs in total. I've also gone through 2 mower belts & 1 drive belt, steering gear & nut… Read more

replaced. All very expensive. My Massey Ferguson TEA20 has about 3000+ hrs & just keeps going & going. Suggest JD investigate why 1950's technology works so well & their stuff doesn't. No to buy my third deck from the plymouth brethren at JD.

Avoid at all costs – Very poor quality construction. Where to begin? The deck is powder coated and started to peel in great chunks almost immediately, lots of surface corrosion followed. The rotor spindles shook themselves from the deck, resulting in expensive fix and replacement of spindles. The body is also powder coated, same problem with under the surface… Read more

corrosion at any point with a connection to seat, footrests etc. The wiring to the lights is cheap and burnt out against the hot engine. The cut is pathetic, uneven on even lawn. If the grass is thick or long, forget it. It just flattens long grass. The cuttings outlet on the deck consistently blocks causing engine to shudder and stall.

I will never never neevvvvveeerrrr purchase another John Deere product.

PS A mower service guy told my that if ride on mower has a welded deck, its a sign of quality. The opposite of JD. Nothing. Deck, body, wiring, quality of cut.

Cheap mower for a expensive mower price – I am on my second deck as the first wore out in 60 hours mowing grass only but no warrenty as it was abuse apparently so $800 and 7 weeks later i got my mower back and it is no better. Still a very poor cut. I would never recomend or buy another mower from john deere. finnish, quality, dealer support

Very poor quality cut – If you define grass as turf that is 1 inch high then this mower is still only average. It will not cut grass cleanly or evenly, and it leaves strips. Every time we use it we regret having bought it. The cut grass does not clear the deck well. It is rough to ride. Dealer support was terrible and JD headquarters not at all nice to talk to. … Read more

Blades wore through at 30 hours.

Won't cut grass well at all. Grass won't clear. Blades don't last. Rough to ride. No dealer or company support.

Rattled to bits – I purchased a brand new JD LA 135 with a 42'' deck for my 3 acre block ,on flat land.. The deck was a major let down .... the spindles bolted through the deck slowly vibrated and wore the holes out , the steering shaft is now loose ,I replaced the gear and the gear nut , I've now replace the deck and both spindles , The holes in the body… Read more

for the seat mount have now worn through ... so the whole seat came away from the body ..

It will be 18months old at the end of this month !! the colours The mower deck ... and body

Weak poor quality mower deck, belts wear out under 50 hours, very expensive to maintain – Extremely disappointed, purchased new LA108 a few years ago, I am meticulous with servicing, hoped it would last many years. 42 inch. Pressed mower deck is very weak, support mounts cracked away within 12 months had re-welded. Belts rarely last 30 hours (expensive to buy). Mounting assl'y for spindles on mower deck bend easily (poor quality… Read more

deck). Support bolts for mower blade spindles sheared off within 12 months (dealer said common problem). Briggs and Stratton Head gasket blew within 12 months (dealer said common problem). Overall very unhappy with John Deere reliability, would never consider buying another John Deere. Very little, transmission has been OK though Not reliable, very poor quality and weak mower deck, very expensive to maintain

Croco's John Deere Opinion – I had my john deere mower now for four years and I had good and bad experiences with it, when cutting dry grass the cutting power is great, the cut is clean and neat, but long green grass is another story, the cut isnt as clean as i would like, it often leaves gaps and uneven cut,even with 21.5 hp it really strugles in long tall green grass, I… Read more

often have to go over grass that I have mowed to get it to cut it properly,theres a couple of gripes with my mower you need to push that silly rio button every time you need to reverse with the mower deck operating, its such a pain in the backside.

The quality is mostly pretty good, but their is room for Improvement, the paint on the mower deck easily peels off easy and electrical wires and fittings seem cheap, the light lenses easy fill up with dust.

I found the john deere mowers to be great value for money, for size and horsepower and features there in front of the competition for price. value for money, spare parts avalability , great looking mower. green grass cutting performance, that silly rio button, service costs and spare parts are exspensive, quality could be better.

Terrible – Looks good, very unreliable. I have a 2.5 acre lot and a john deere 145. At 175 hours i have to replace the transmission ($1100.00 AUD) the electromagnetic mower clutch ($250.00 AUD) front axle ($80.00AUD). May be ok if you have a bowling green to mow. Its looks Its reliability. Google Tuff torq transmission problems.

Overrated – Had this machine for years and it was ok. I had problems with the transmission and it threw belts left right and centre and they werent cheap to replace. I mowe around 1,5 acres and this machine was ok but the cut wasn't great and the turning circle could have been better. I bought a John Deere as they are in the media everywhere as being the… Read more

best but to be honest I feel that they are overrated big time. I have since purchased a Cub Cadet and have had that for around 12 months now and during the biggest season in 10 years it has performed great. Comfortable Expensive to maintain servicing department charge like wounded bulls because they are "John Deere" and the overall quality is over rated.