Why Do Some L Series Have Larger Rear Wheels Than Others?

JonnyBlaze

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  • / Why Do Some L Series Have Larger Rear Wheels Than Others?
Like title says, why do some JD L Series have larger rear wheels with lower profile tires than other do? Thanks.
 

javjacob

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  • / Why Do Some L Series Have Larger Rear Wheels Than Others?
Its a sales gimmick. Offer the same thing with bigger wheels for more money or offer a bigger engine or deck ect for more money. Bigger tires give better traction and a smoother ride over rough terrain. The thing is they know a lot of people will look at the base model then think, for another x amount of dollars I can get...
It fools a lot of people into spending more money on something they might not really need.
 

ILENGINE

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  • / Why Do Some L Series Have Larger Rear Wheels Than Others?
Just look at tires on cars and trucks and it will answer your question.
 

bertsmobile1

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  • / Why Do Some L Series Have Larger Rear Wheels Than Others?
I always like conspiracly theories.

Every one is plotting against you.
Fashion ?
JD make neither the tyres nor the wheels
They are bought in
So they buy what is
a) available
b) cheap
 

JonnyBlaze

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  • / Why Do Some L Series Have Larger Rear Wheels Than Others?
I figured as much. Thanks.
 

javjacob

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  • / Why Do Some L Series Have Larger Rear Wheels Than Others?
I always like conspiracly theories.

Every one is plotting against you.
Fashion ?
JD make neither the tyres nor the wheels
They are bought in
So they buy what is
a) available
b) cheap

And they make a profit off everything. The higher end models have more of a profit. There is no reason why John Deere needs 10 different D series lawn tractors.
 

bertsmobile1

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  • / Why Do Some L Series Have Larger Rear Wheels Than Others?
They is no NEED for a lot of things
But to remain in business you NEED to meet the demands of the market or like CUB, MURRAY, BOLENS, NORMA, TROY BUILT, POULAN , McCulloch , Etc etc etc you go broke.
People are by and large totally ignorant idiots when it comes to buying ride ones
Usually it is " I have $ xyzt to spend what is the best ( cheapest ) mower ".
Thus JD, like Husky, Poulan , and every one else make a $ 1000 mower a $ 1200 mower a $ 1400 mower etc etc etc.

And there is very little profit in making ride on mowers which is also why there are not longer 200 factories making them and a good deal of the bits on the locally made ones are sourced from China.
There is a stupid totally illogical & ignorant belief that every thing I want HAS to get cheaper every year so I can own more .
The same idiot brain dead morons also believe that they should be paid more every year for doing exactly the same job as they did last year.
The two are mutually exclusive.
If you expect to get more then so should the workers who make the mowers thus the cost should be going up not down.
If you are capable of logical though stop & have a think about all of the parts that go into making a mower.
A good quality PUSH mower from a company that refuses to make garbage just to satisify cheapskates ( Honda for example ) cost more than a lot of ride ons do.
So what does that tell you about the quality of some ride ons and the mentality of the clots who buy them ?
 

javjacob

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  • / Why Do Some L Series Have Larger Rear Wheels Than Others?
I would like to know where the idea came from that John Deere doesn't make much profit off the D series tractors. The profit off each individual sale might not be a lot but they sell tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of them every year. Just like Wal-Mart they make their profit off quantity. John Deere got into the box store lawn tractor market because they seen the profit they would be missing out on.

I agree its ridiculous how people only care about cheap prices and don't care if they are wasting their money on throw away junk. Honda got out of the lawn/garden tractor market because they refused to make a cheap throw away product. Honda is the only quality push mower manufacture today. If you buy a Honda push mower and you maintain it and don't abuse it they will last your entire life. The cheap box store models last about 5 years or so. Honda has a reputation for quality and I hope they always keep it that way.

The lawn mower industry figured out there are only 3 things the average fool cares about. 1... Price 2... Horsepower 3... Deck size.
Another reason why most manufactures have false HP ratings. Has anyone noticed that HP numbers have risen over the past 15 or 20 years? Its because there is no standard for HP rating.

It used to be a push mower would be rated at 3.5hp or 5hp and a lawn tractor would be something like 13hp and a garden tractor would be something like 18hp. Now you see push mowers rated at 7+hp and lawn tractors rated at 25hp.
They used to rate HP at what the engine produced at the RPM the governor is set at. Usually around 3200-3600 RPM. Now they rate the maximum HP output which might be at 5500 RPM but the governor is set at 3200.
 

bertsmobile1

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  • / Why Do Some L Series Have Larger Rear Wheels Than Others?
I would like to know where the idea came from that John Deere doesn't make much profit off the D series tractors. The profit off each individual sale might not be a lot but they sell tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of them every year. Just like Wal-Mart they make their profit off quantity. John Deere got into the box store lawn tractor market because they seen the profit they would be missing out on.
.

There is about $ 40 worth of steel in a D series tractor ( retail price )
The top & bottom dies for the rear fender & foot boards cost around $ 100,000 each
The broaching dies that cut all the holes in the main frame would be around the $ 80,000
Then there is the folding dies , stripping painting & assembly.
There is 5/8 of SFA profit in making the mower.
Engines have around a 50% retail mark up as do the trannies so get the price of a replacement engine and tranny, take 1/2 to 1/3 off that price then subtract that from 1/2 to 2/3 of the retail price of the mower ( retail mark up is around 30% )
You get around 10 to 12 of them in a shipping container so work out what that costs from the factory to the shop.

If there was a lot of profit, then there would still be a lot of companies making ride on mowers.
Then remember mowers are seasonal so all of the bought in parts, wheels , tyres, switches, seats ,what else all have to be bought in and paid for well before the mower is even off the production line.
Then there is the wages of the people who assemble them.
Stores like Lowes then screw them even more by demanding 60-90 days credit or free floor stock and 90+ days on replacements for the stock sold.

AS for Wal Mart the are strait out criminals, exploiting their staff and flogging off stuff bought in from China at 1000% + profit.
If you don't believe that then get onto Made in China , Alibaba , or China Trade and see what sort of prices you can get stuff from china in quantity.
When you do most likely you will recognise stuff sold in Wal Mart, usually in a different colour for about 1/10 to 1/20 of the price you see it for in Wal Mart.
If I want to buy walk behind mowers with Honda clone engines in quantities of 200 I can get them for $ 140 Aust, landed
Buy them in 1000's and the price goes down to $ 60 Aust.
The discount stores sell these mowers ( in different colours with different brand stickers on them ) for $ 299.
The 239 profit on the push mower is probably more than JD make on a 100 series mower.
The big hope is you go in to buy a 100 series & come out with a ZTR which is much more profitable.
 
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