Deere 100 Series

[bertsmobile1]

So now that your problem is clear, we can get some where.
I have not seen any L 100's in my shop with a stripped input shaft pulley but I will keep that in mind.
What I tend to see more of is the clutching pulleys coming loose so you do not get full tension on the belt thus the belt slips and the mower goes slow.

So now you will have to drop the deck off and get under the mower.
For these jobs I now drain the fuel tank & remove the battery ( if it is not a sealed type ), then sling the mower up from the front axel and stand it on its rear end.
This will not hurt the mower or engine & makes things a lot easier to work on.
The transmission belt runs very close to the mower and is a bit hard to see almost hidden by the side rails.

The other common slow moving problem is a brake full of crud that does not fully release, also very common particularly if you do a lot of rough mowing ( every long grass, weeds ) or mulching ( stirrs up a lot of dust ).

The rarest problem is low oil but this should be very obvious as you will see a build up of dust & clippings stuck to the oil where it is leaking out of the tranny.
Only 4 places, top pulley ( input shaft ) l & r axels and the control arm, all of which have oil sels on them.

 

[FPMotorsports]

Okay so, today I got the deck off and everything seemed fine there, mower belt looks a bit worn so ill change that just because. Now I have the deck off, and ive went under what should I be looking for?

1. Is there a way to check the fluid in the transmission?
2. How can i tell if the drive pulley, or belt or any of the linkages are out of whack? They all seem tight and fine, the belt and brake so on seem good...
3. There is a electrical sensor or something of that nature plugged into the transmission, could this cause issues?!


What should i be looking for under the mower with regards to my problems?

Also Product Number on side of frame was: GX0120A044346 if that helps!

 

[bertsmobile1]

Okay so, today I got the deck off and everything seemed fine there, mower belt looks a bit worn so ill change that just because. Now I have the deck off, and ive went under what should I be looking for?

1. Is there a way to check the fluid in the transmission?
2. How can i tell if the drive pulley, or belt or any of the linkages are out of whack? They all seem tight and fine, the belt and brake so on seem good...
3. There is a electrical sensor or something of that nature plugged into the transmission, could this cause issues?!


What should i be looking for under the mower with regards to my problems?

Also Product Number on side of frame was: GX0120A044346 if that helps!

You should have a Tuftorque 40 transmission and the method to check the oil level is not easy
https://www.tufftorqservices.com/EnvEEdefault/FlatHTML/TechInfo/ttcoil/pdfs/cc%20T40%20MODELS%20CHECKING%20&%20ADDING%20OIL.pdf

with the drive engaged you should be able to turn over the engine by rotating the drive belt.
If it just slips a little when the engine get on compression it is just OK
If it won't turn ov the engine without the spark plug in place, the transmission drive is too sloppy.
You shouls have an adjustment on the fixed pulley on the clutch arm.
Check both of these pulleys carefully as they are plastic and a normal service replacement item as is the belt itself.
Occasionally the clutch spring can go weak but that is not very common.


There is nothing electrical inside the box although you may have a reverse cut out connected to the drive pedal and /or a neutral safety swithc so you ca not start the mower with the transmission engaged although from memory JD put that one on the brake pedal.

You can read the entire factory workshop manual via the support section / manuals on the Deere web site .
However it only brings a few pages up at a time , you can print them out but you can not download & print the entire manual in one sitting unless you are an authorised JD service man.

 

[FPMotorsports]

Completely lost now. Now the effin thing wont start. I have DONE NOTHING to this mower since it arrived here friday except remove the deck. After that it wont start, i had disconnected the battery and now it doesnt start. It has to be boosted so any ideas there?

It also will stall the minute you press down on reverse. Now the steering weel appears to be jumping gears down the shaft when you try and turn the tires.

Like I can fix cars, atvs, snowmobiles but im about ready to roll this Deere into Deere because im completely fu%#^#d here.

 

[FPMotorsports]

Okay yeah, well that was what was happening as well as the fuse being blown. So the motor is starting each time now again. No problems there, the issue with turning right is the teeth on the plate bolted to the bottom on the right turn side are worn completely off. That seems like an easy fix.

Now i ran the mower for an hour PLUS. And cant seem to recreate this guys issue. I am presently uploading a video i made showing all the under workings and such so perhaps when that is ready yall can watch it and see if you can notice or hear anything of note.

 

[FPMotorsports]

Heres the video! HALLLLP! lol

https://youtu.be/TuGeGKnMCiQ

 

[FPMotorsports]

Side note, I measured the belt i took off the mower deck and it was 96"'s on the outside, now the parts look up says the Deere belt # is GX20072 and i am getting ALL sorts of measurements online that are contradictory! Some say 104, some say 108... i measured 96 wtf lol

 

[bertsmobile1]

Side note, I measured the belt i took off the mower deck and it was 96"'s on the outside, now the parts look up says the Deere belt # is GX20072 and i am getting ALL sorts of measurements online that are contradictory! Some say 104, some say 108... i measured 96 wtf lol

Go to the Gates site Auto Parts Interchange | Gates Corporation and type your belt number in.
When the equivalent Gates belt comes up click on the gates belt number and you go to a second screen.
Click on the Gates number again & it will bring up the full product details, including the belt length & section.
Unlike 99% of the lists & tables you will find on the web, this inormation is actually correct.

Old british Empire countries ( sing Rule Brittania in your head ) measure belts on the inside circumference in fractional inches.
Rebellious Americians ( sing Star pangled Banner in your head ) measure on the outside circumference in decimal inches.
Europeans measure both circumference and section and specify V belts as mean effective circumference in mm
Clots with no idea make up Excel spread sheets to convert Eng to USA to European and generally get it very wrong then publish their garbage on the web when they instantly become fact.

Next, pulleys wear on the sides which causes the belts to run deeper in the pulleys and effectively go slack.
Authorised service centeres fix this by replacing all the pulleys and the belt $$$$$$$$.
People like me fit smaller belts to take up this slack each service till the belt stats running on the centre so there is a good chance the fitted belt is not the same size as the one it left the factory with.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Further to your belt dilemma
GX20072 is actually 103 & 7/8 inches outside circumfernce.
Most aftermarket belts are whole inches only so most will list this belt as a 104" ( USA ) but some sloppy spreadsheets crop off the decimal so list it as 103"
Then others add 2" instead of subtracting 2" o get an Eng number os it becomes a 105 " (english) which further idiots add another 2" to convert the incorrect conversion back to USA size & you end up with a 107"

You have to be really careful because there are 5 different lawn tractors with 125 in their name
When using the JD parts catalogue it is the numbers on the decal on the side of the hood that you use.
And unless you are really familiar with JD it is always best to use the actual JD web site
John Deere - Parts Catalog

I have no idea which JD tractor uses a 96" belt.
It is listed in the Stens Book as fitting a 50" deck and has an OEM number M41668

 

[FPMotorsports]

Thanks for the info Bert, thats where i got the belt numbers from. The bottom of the seat. GX20072.

But further more, ill just put the belt that was on it back on because the mower was cutting fine and i dont think the belt on the mower deck is the reason why the tractor moves slowly after 15-20 minutes of cutting.

But ive been unable to recreate the problem after 1-2 hours of running it on the block. I am going to replace the steering sector gear.

Any ideas after watching the video Bert?