[AussieDasha]

Hi badly I need some advice on the Transmission belt driven "Fan Drive" on an a (much regretfully purchased) Australian purchased John Deere LA -135 Mower the belt is so loose it is flopping around and polishing the Steering Shaft? The Steering is also very "Heavy" like the when the PWR steering on a Car Fails! I can find no Way of Adjustment? I can see the 2 small "Plastic" Idler pulley's the belt runs through" however they don't appear to be Adjustable either? Could it be they are Spring Loaded and the springs are Broken?? This Picture from another Forum Topic is very near the same a mine but it's a K-46 mine is the (2nd Trans in 80 hours) Torq Tuff T40 Thanks for Any Help you may be able to give Cheers for now. AussieDasha:help::dunno:
K46 Transmission Repair Successful - MyTractorForum.com - The Friendliest Tractor Forum and Best Place for Tractor Information

 

[Mark / Ohio]

Welcome to the forum AussieDasha!

On the loose belt I'm afraid I have no ideas there other then I would think there should be a back tension spring on it that operates depending on the setting of the parking brake.

On the steering tightness two things come to mind first of which is to check your tire pressure to make sure it is not too low. Second would be to pump some grease into the steering spindle bearings.

 

[AussieDasha]

Trans Belt Reply

G/Day Mark, thanks for the quick reply" I will have another go at the "Trans belt" again tomorrow (Friday EST) I have a pretty switched on Neighbor and Pal who has had a look and he thinks that the belt is definitely not going around the 2 little "Plastic pulleys" correctly!

I just don't know where to begin next all these Major incidents like 3 hours trying to get the original Oil filter "off" to change it at (11 Hours)! 2 Bolt's of (4) missing (omitted) in the left side Mower Pack head' overlooked during assembly we presume" that destroyed the "Mower Head Plate" causing bent mower blade Shafts, Every "Weld" join for most of the Brackets on the Mower Head Plate have cracked and had to be reinforced and re welded, The Transmission failed at 70 hours (this is the 2nd)! The amount of times I have had to replace the main Cutting belts is (9) they have worn the Plastic "Belt" Covers in half through flopping around! It just goes on and on. John Deere Ride on "mowers" are very poorly regarded here. Seems they were produced to be as cheap as possible" to compete with the big hardware outlets in Australia (Bunnings Hardware) etc) but they could not even claim to have done that.
I am left with a Mower I paid $4600 AU for that has done only (80) hours and is virtually worthless and every time I go near it" I have to get under it. I suppose I should not be "Venting" here but you can probably understand my frustration" being on a Pension makes it all seem impossible

I will apply more grease to the steering! Tyre pressures were correct.
If I have to' I will contact TUFF Torq Transmissions and ask them about this belt!
I will let you know how it all went Cheers for now and thank you very much for all your help, AussieDasha

 

[Mark / Ohio]

Yikes! Sounds like that tractor has been a real disaster so far for you.

Do you know if it was made in the United States or did it come from a factory over there someplace?

 

[AussieDasha]

Mornin Mark, Dunno I am pretty sure that they arrive here in Crates pre-assembled? When I was fighting to get them to honor the "Warranty" over the Missing Bolts incident I went to who I thought wast the "Top" being John Deere in Brisbane Aust, and over a period of 5 Phone calls to a so called "Service Manager "got a new Mower head Plate, Shafts etc. During this argie bargie I told them if they didn't fix it that I would go directly to Head Office in Kentucky USA Management" they just laughed and said "that won't do you any good"!

So in January this year when the Trans failed I took it back to "HWY 1" the JD Agent who sold me the thing" and dumped it in their Yard, had a long talk with the Manger and reminded him and gave him pictures of every thing that had failed in the 2 years (80 hours) told him for the 3rd time I wanted my money back or I would go to the Consumer affairs again the Denials so I went to Consumer affairs and again HWY 1 refused to replace the Trans even though they knew that it was an on going problem with the Torq Tuff T40's?

They wrote a Pack of "denial lies" contradicting each of my listed my "complaints" and the Gov dept "Consumer" affairs Dept accepted their version and told me I would have to sue them myself. So in the end HWY 1 replaced the Trans at a cost of $350 to me and now another belt has broken and the top Transmission Drive belt is loose. Others in my street which are all 5 Acre lots have had problems with belt coming off and breaking One has had an engine failure at 30 hours. So as you can see Mate I am not a happy man.

Anyway if you think that it may still pay me to go too Head Office in America let me know as I said I have all the Letters Listing everything to them and Pictures to match:help: Okay gotta go now you will never guess where? Yup back under the JD LA- 135 will let you know how I went. Cheers Mark AussieDasha

 

[Mark / Ohio]

...Anyway if you think that it may still pay me to go too Head Office in America let me know as I said I have all the Letters Listing everything to them and Pictures to match:help: ....

I don't honestly know if they would be of any help or not. I would guess (and it is only a guess) they probably would refer you back to either the Australian regional offices or maybe the European headquarters in Germany.

John*Deere worldwide locations

That seems to be the way it works with companies that have offices, factories and warehouses around the world. In the end the amount of support or lack there of depends on how good your local people are and how much cooperation they can get from their bosses up the ladder somewhere across the land or water.

The LA Series and other lower price point models at least the ones over here were/are manufactured in Greenville, Tennessee USA.

TractorData.com John Deere LA135 tractor information

Some higher dollar models are manufactured in the Horicon, Wisconsin USA factory. For example:

TractorData.com John Deere X300 tractor information

You can find a list of their many other factories here:

John Deere - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[AussieDasha]

Thanks Mark, I'm sorry for taking so long to reply my computer (ISP) is down. It looks like iam stuck with the thing. I wouldn't sell it to my worse enemy, the little plastic Idler Pulleys re the trans belt drive have sprung back into the correct position after I sprayed them with CRC so that has fixed that problem for now! Thanks for all your efforts and advice it was greatly appreciated no doubt I will talk with you again on this forum take care Mate cheers for now AussieDasha