Question on John Deere lawn tractor engine oil drain plug (Page 2/3)
Hank is Here APR 16, 09:41 AM
That is a good lawn tractor. Be cautious the hood plastic like to crack so treat it gently. For the Kawasaki liquid cooled engines about 3-4 times a year take off the engine cover clean the cover and screen from the fine debris to keep it from over heating; this more needed mid season when it gets dry and late fall when leave get chopped up and the debris flies.
Patrick APR 16, 04:38 PM

quote
Originally posted by Hank is Here:

Be cautious the hood plastic like to crack so treat it gently.



Too late! The plastic hood was held together with gaffing tape. I removed the hood in pieces. The plastic is so brittle! I can understand plastic being chosen by JD due to it not rusting, but geez, it's way too fragile. It's too bad that JD didn't instead use the same material that Pontiac chose for Fiero body panels. Anyway, I don't plan on reinstalling this busted up hood. I'll be going for the rat rod look.

A second lawn tractor actually came with the property I bought, a currently non-functional Craftsman with all-wheel steering. It has a nice sturdy metal hood.


quote
Originally posted by Hank is Here:

That is a good lawn tractor.



Except for the craptastic plastic hood... yes, it appears to be a nice machine. It also came with a relatively rare Piranha 44" mulching deck. The image below is of one I found online. I appear to not have the bottom piece in the photo, which fully compliments its mulching ability. I'll see what kind of a job the deck does without it, and if necessary, keep my eyes open for a replacement component.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 04-16-2025).]

Patrick APR 18, 03:19 AM
I found an image of an oil plug with the part number indicated in the parts catalog image a couple posts back.

CLICK FOR FULL SIZE

Yes, that pretty much looks like what's on the end of my oil drain assembly. Armed with this knowledge, I was bound and determined to get the oil drained from my John Deere's engine today.


quote
Originally posted by Patrick:

I've been spinning wrenches enough years to know how to use two box wrenches in such a manner that you can slightly offset the two wrenches and squeeze them together to loosen such a fitting.



I tried that again today. No dice. I've got a pretty strong grip, but I could not squeeze hard enough to loosen the nut. So... slight change of tactics. I offset the two wrenches in the opposite orientation and used a short prybar to separate the two wrenches. It took a few attempts, as that drain plug did not want to budge... but finally... (as George Costanza divulged)... it moved.

I have no idea why anyone would've tightened that drain plug so friggen tight. There's a rubber O-ring on there for crying out loud. It was not going to leak or get loose if it was simply snugged up like a normal person would do. Geez!

Anyway, I changed the oil and filter, changed the coolant, sharpened all six blades, greased all the fittings, reinstalled the mower deck... and tried cutting some grass. Worked like a charm. I'm a happy camper.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 04-18-2025).]

maryjane APR 19, 11:17 AM
In a former life, I worked for an ag distribution dealership whose shop worked on any make or model lawn equipment and farm equipment. If you only knew how many times we got lawn equipment in with no oil in the crankcase because someone did not tighten the drain plug tigh enough.......
'o' rings deteriorate and that plug is probably straight threads, not tapered. That means the only thing really holding tension is the 'o' ring. Once it gets smaller, the tension is gone and the plug can back out from vibration and heat/cool expansion/contraction cycles..

Your missing deck piece is a mulching plug. Without it, the cuttings will prematurely exit the rear of the deck instead of getting rotated around in there, and cut up finer each go-around. That part also acts as a wear shroud for the rear part of the deck. All that grass/dirt and sand swirling around under there will wear the rear part of the deck thin pretty quick. Cheaper to replace the wear shroud than the whol;e deck.

The other option is to buy and install the grass chute that would be there if ya don't mind a long windrow of brown dead grass cuttings, which will eventually lead to long dark green live grass swaths where the long dead brown grass decayed into natural fertilizer.

You could also acquire the bagger attachment instead of the mulching plug if you really like handling and storing rotten stinking piles of grass to spontaneously combust when you least expect it to..

JD, is NOT your grandfather's tractor company. Many if not most of their smaller (and some larger) products are made overseas.


Lipstick on a pig................
In the Ag community, if a grass cutting machine does NOT have a horizontal PTO shaft coming out the back (behind rear axle) AND a 3 pt lift in the back, no matter what else the manufacturer tries to claim , it's still a lawnmower. And with the exception of IH Farmalls of the 1950s and prior, if the deck is under the prime mover instead of behind it, It's still a lawn mower.

[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 04-19-2025).]

blackrams APR 19, 11:40 AM

quote
Originally posted by maryjane:

Lipstick on a pig................
In the Ag community, if a grass cutting machine does NOT have a horizontal PTO shaft coming out the back (behind rear axle) AND a 3 pt lift in the back, no matter what else the manufacturer tries to claim , it's still a lawnmower. And with the exception of IH Farmalls of the 1950s and prior, if the deck is under the prime mover instead of behind it, It's still a lawn mower.




Yep. Quoted as the Truth.

Rams
Patrick APR 19, 03:46 PM

quote
Originally posted by maryjane:

Your missing deck piece is a mulching plug.



Yes, it is... and the price for this large chunk of plastic locally is $324 (Cdn). I was thinking it probably wouldn't be all that difficult to fabricate something relatively simple to effectively restrict the three exit chutes in much the same manner that the mulching plug does. I then found a thread on My Tractor Forum where the fella discussed the homemade mulching panel(s) that he had created.

If I decide I need to try this mod...The blue arrows below point to the type of metal stock I'd start with to utilize and mount where the mulching plug would normally reside, indicated by the red outline. The green arrows indicate the three exit paths, with the different levels of restricted flow. Looks like a relatively simple concept to implement.

CLICK FOR FULL SIZE

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 04-19-2025).]

MarkS APR 21, 09:54 AM
Lipstick on a pig................
In the Ag community, if a grass cutting machine does NOT have a horizontal PTO shaft coming out the back (behind rear axle) AND a 3 pt lift in the back, no matter what else the manufacturer tries to claim , it's still a lawnmower. And with the exception of IH Farmalls of the 1950s and prior, if the deck is under the prime mover instead of behind it, It's still a lawn mower.

Man, never realized this was such a sticky wicket. So PTO on the front w/ hydraulic connectors is a mower too. I had the opportunity to buy a snow blower front end for the 316 but I missed out, still regret that. Always thought of mine as a garden tractor, but it doesn't matter. Unfortunately, the newer Deere's that are sold at the Home Depot don't get very good reviews.
blackrams APR 27, 06:41 AM
I can't contribute to this thread with any good information reference the mower being asked about but, I'm (somewhat) looking for a new mower. My current zero turn is like me, getting old and tired. I've come to the conclusion that just about any new zero turn mower made for the residential market is pretty much crap regardless of brand name. So, I started looking at commercial versions. My goodness, they are proud of those puppies.

You get what you pay for (as usual) but................................ Just curious but is there an American made mower out there? Or at least one assembled here?


------------------
Rams
Learning most of life's lessons the hard way. .
You are only young once but, you can be immature indefinitely.

maryjane APR 27, 06:53 AM
BadBoy and Cub Regret Cadet are supposedly still made here in 'Murica..
I don't know for sure anymore tho.

Dixie Chopper is made way down South in Indiana USA. They s'posed to be FAST!
Patrick APR 27, 02:53 PM

quote
Originally posted by blackrams:

I've come to the conclusion that just about any new zero turn mower made for the residential market is pretty much crap regardless of brand name.



Does all wheel steering count as "zero turn"?

When I bought my property, I actually negotiated to have two lawn tractors included in the deal... the John Deere 345 (discussed above) and an AWS unit labelled as a Craftsman (sold by Sears Canada) which was made by Murray. This is what it looks like...



I didn't even realize that AWS was something that was available on lawn tractors. I soon discovered though that something was wrong with it (after I bought the property) when I realized that both rear wheels/tires could be turned independently by giving either tire a good kick. It turns out that a lever is broken underneath the tractor that connects the rear wheels to the rest of the steering mechanism. Anyway, I focused on getting the John Deere running (mission now accomplished), and this lawn tractor will be a future project.

I mention all this just to bring AWS into the discussion in case it qualifies as "zero turn". I can't say I'm impressed with the build quality of this Murray lawn tractor (ie the broken rear steering lever), but AWS may be an option to look at depending on what is currently available.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 04-28-2025).]