In the pages, and days and years that follow, I hope to share all that I can about these phenomenal machines. These classic garden tractors from John Deere are powerful, versatile and enduring!
My name is Scott. I am a regular guy who happens to enjoy working on small engines and small engine equipment. By small engines, I mean OPE (outdoor power equipment) like mowers, roto-tillers, chainsaws, log splitters etc…
As my knowledge and interest in these machines grew, I found myself drawn to classic lawn and garden tractors. Since I acquired my first John Deere 214, I was hooked. As of this writing, I currently own two such tractors and they both happen to be 214’s!
I hope that you hang with me as I share about my experiences and time spent on these classic machines!
In the Autumn of 2022 I added to my small herd of Deere 200’s. Now, in addition to my two 214’s, I have a 216. The engine starts, the electric PTO engages, but when I put it in gear – NO GO. I am toying with the idea of taking the transaxle out of my first 214 and replacing the transaxle in the “non-moving” 216. We’ll see what time and money allow. I wasn’t looking to purchase another Deere at this time, but I found the price to be so reasonable, it became a moral imperative to purchase this one!
I did find that the rear left tire is filled with liquid. The rear right is not filled. However, as you can see in the photo of the right rear tire, the rim is very rusty. It is apparent, that the liquid leaked out.
As I mentioned in a previous post, my ’79, has an electric lift that doesn’t work. As a result, I decided to purchase a used hydraulic unit from ebay. It will be an exciting day when I actually install it.
In addition to the hydraulic lift kit, I also wanted to get myself a special hitch. In the John Deere world, this is known as an “Integral Hitch”. Once this “integral hitch” is mounted on the back of your tractor, you can then attach ground engaging equipment to the hitch. Such as mold boards, plow blades, scraper blades etc…
My second machine (the ’78) was first used by me in the winter of 2018-2019. Although it had wheel weights, it also had the original 1978 tires with chains. One of the driveways that I clear is a bit steep. The ’78 just would not get enough traction to get up the steep driveway. As a result, I started to research ways to get better traction. I decided to get better tires and have those tires filled with liquid for additional weight.
The original tires from the 1978 John Deere 214
The tires that I chose to make this upgrade were “Carlisle All Trail ATV Tire – 23X10.50-12”.
I took the tires to my local tire center and they mounted them for me. In addition, I asked to have liquid ballast added to the tires. They only charged me $20. When I asked what liquid they put in the tires, I was just told “liquid”. I am going to assume that they used the same fluid as they fill a farm tractor.
So the first winter that I used this setup (2018-2019), I did not bother to put the chains on. I did OK for the remainder of the winter. However, the following winter (2019-2020) I didn’t fair as well. For some reason, I did more slipping and sliding. It may have been more ice or the fact that I was using a different snowblower attachment.
I did eventually put the tire chains on but still struggled with that previously mentioned steep driveway. I am currently thinking that the second snowblower attachment was causing the trouble. I will dig deeper this coming winter (2020-2021) if we survive the killer hornets!
In conclusion, I put each tire on a scale and they EACH weigh in at 100lbs. In addition, each wheel weight is 70lbs. So even without my backside on the seat, there is at least 340lbs of ballast on the back of this machine.
In anticipation of winter snow removal, I was looking forward to using my first machine for that purpose. However, it needed some work before it was ready (see “My First Machine” for details) and it wasn’t going to be ready by the time the snow arrived.
I was searching my local Craigslist when I came across my second machine. I contacted the seller and he confirmed that everything on the machine worked and it was ready to move snow or mow some grass.
This unit is a 1978 model. It came to me with an older 37 snowblower unit. It also came with a John Deere model snow cab, LED work lights, flashing amber light on top, and a battery tender to keep the battery charged.
Of course, I removed the mower deck before the snow arrived.
My first John Deere 200 series tractor is a 1979 “214”. As a small engine mechanic on the side, I was asked by a fellow to take a look at the axle of his 214. I had never worked on a 200 series tractor up until that time. I agreed to take a look.
I don’t remember all the details but I do remember replacing the axles and axle housings on both sides. At some point, I had the transaxle removed and open on my workbench. I also remember him spending a lot of money at the local dealership and bringing bags of parts.
I was able to get everything back together and he paid me accordingly.
About a year later, he contacted me and told me he was selling his 214 and would I be interested. Well, yeah! I ended up paying only $50 more than he paid me to fix it. I have now officially become a John Deere owner.
There are some other issues that I have yet to fix. First of all, the machine has an electric lift that no longer works. Second, I believe that at least one of the motor mounts is broken (the engine rattles and wiggles a lot when running). Third, the safety switch for the clutch lever no longer works. I hope to address these issues soon.
This 214 also came with a 37A snowblower attachment.
