John Deere L108

The John Deere L108 ride on lawnmower is the second smallest garden tractor in John Deere’s L100 series. It was built in JD’s Horicon plant in Wisconsin for a period of just less than a year in 2005. If you are looking for a smaller model, then you may be interested in checking out the John Deere L100 lawnmower. But if it’s something a little bigger that you are after then the John Deere L110 lawn mower may interest you. The engine powering the JD L108 is a Briggs and Stratton, 1 cylinder. It has a displacement of 0.5 liters and has a power output of 18.5 hp. The engine does not need a liquid cooling system and so is air cooled. Before entering the combustion chamber, the air intake is first filtered through a paper and foam air filter.

The 12 volt battery used to start the John Deere L108 is charged by a 9 amp alternator once the engine is running. The JD L108 does not need a clutch or gear stick thanks to it’s Tuff Torq K46 hydrostatic transmission which makes it an automatic with unlimited gears when traveling forwards and unlimited when traveling in reverse also.

The fuel tank on the John Deere L108 is not the biggest, holding only 7.9 liters (2.1 US gallons) of gasoline. The total weight of the machine comes to 209 kg (462 lbs) which is distributed fairly evenly through the wheels. The front wheels each measure 15×6-6 (15 inch diameter, 6 inch width, 6 inch rim diameter) while the rear tires each measure (20 inch diameter, 8 inch width, 8 inch rim diameter). Many people find this particular model in the JD L100 series to be perfectly adequate at cutting their lawns. They also find it easy to use, although this is usually because of it’s automatic transmission.

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10 Reviews of the “John Deere L108”

  1. Paul says:

    Bought this new in 2005 and use it still. Still going strong and has mowed my nearly full are yard at least once a week every season. Maintained regularly by either JD shop or myself. No major problems and only one battery abd belt in 1 years.

    Year of Manufacture: 2005
    Pros: Great long lasting little mower
    Cons: Little canopy faded quickly and broke easily
    Attachments: canopy (gone for years

  2. Chuck Harlowe says:

    Love it. Have had it 12 years. No complaints. Self maintained.

    Year of Manufacture: 2005
    Pros: Bought new in 2005. Has worked great. I have fiddled with the plastic grass flow system, and aded additional bunnies to hold it tight, but once fixed, works great. Easy to maintain (made my own cheap cheap cheap drive on hoist out of scrap. I love this machine. Would buy again.
    Cons: takes gas. you have to empty the grass manually.
    Attachments: mower bed.
    Modifications: extra custom bunnies and fastening points to get the grass catcher to stay put.

  3. Ken says:

    I don’t own the machine. I maintain it for a neighbor. It’s in nice shape,but they are junk built.
    JUNK machine. More like an MTD made junk pile.
    Junk hood mounting. Very flimsy. Do they really expect the hood to stay attached????
    Poor steering set up. A 6 year old can design better steering. Cannot get the front wheels aligned. Chews up tires.
    Junk mower lift design. My 318 don’t have that much crap.
    Noisy and sounds like cheap junky engines.
    Mower decks are pure junk. My 31 year old 210 has a better original deck.
    Feels like junk when you are on it.
    These are junk machines. Only good for mowing a small yard. Don’t waste your money or time with this style mower. They are junk.

    Year of Manufacture: 0
    Pros: Starts up. Hydro works good. That’s about the only pros on these junk things
    Cons: May take a while to fill this out.
    Let’s just say, PURE FREAKING JUNK!!!!!

  4. John says:

    I purchased my L108 used and have had no issues with it. I have had to replace the belt and battery and thats it. Engine does not smoke, starts everytime and it mows very well. I have mowed yards from 3/4 acre to 5 acres with it, and it just keeps plugging along. I am selling it after upgrading to a zero turn, as 5 acres of mowing was taking a long time with the L108.

    Year of Manufacture: 2005
    Pros: Reliable, Easy to operate, Cuts very well
    Cons: Paint peeling

  5. jerry says:

    purchased brand new at HD, done maintenance myself. it has been a great purchase very happy with the mower, it began to smoke last year, getting ready to replace head gasket. still running strong.

    Year of Manufacture: 2005
    Pros: has ran well for 17 years
    Cons: baked on paint has been peeling off for a couple of years.

  6. Chuck Hardy says:

    I really like the L108 model, but I wish I could find what is keeping it from running after 30 minutes of mowing. I even checked the cooling fins and nothing is plugged! I keep a very clean mower and blow the grass off it after every mowing.

    Year of Manufacture: 2005
    Pros: My John Deere L108 has been running great since buying it in 2006. That’s 9 years of use on 2 acres of country property. A couple years I let part of the property grow up into natural habitat for wildlife, then I’d mow it because it just looked nicer. I’m talking about weeds that were 3 to 4 feet tall! I’d mow it slowly going forwards and backwards a section at a time. The L108 did great under pressure. Up until this year 2015, I haven’t had any problems….but read the Cons section for what happened.
    Cons: In June 2015, my L108 would run for about an hour then lose power. When I turned off the deck, the mower would keep running in the idle position. But when I tried to give it more power, the mower wouldn’t keep running. I thought there was a vapor lock, so I replaced the gas cap. That didn’t solve the problem. I ended up replacing the fuel lines, fuel pump, air filter, coil, and pulse line, and spark plug,but the engine still shuts down after about 30 minutes of mowing. The parts department at my local John Deere business keeps giving me suggestions, but none of them have helped. They’re trying to save me the $80 an hour labor charge. When I first start the engine, there’s gas in the fuel filter, but after the 30 minutes and the mower won’t keep running, there’s no fuel in the filter. Sure wish I could find the vapor lock that’s keeping gas from getting to the fuel pump.

    • Bill Harrison says:

      What you will find as I did Chuck is that the mower is starving for fuel,I had this exact same problem, with a similar JD I bought for $500 NZ. It would run for about 10min and stop, I checked the fuel filter and carb float bowl. I then removed the fuel line from the filter and pressurised the fuel tank, no fuel coming out. I got some mig wire from my mig welder, bent the end over and worked the wire down the fuel line back and forth, back and forth until fuel came through, A whole heap of dirt came out, I also cleaned the fuel tank out as best I could, thatv was 4 years ago, no problems since.

      Year of Manufacture: 0

  7. Kaz says:

    It sucks!

    Year of Manufacture: 2005
    Pros: Easy to ride and that’s it.
    Cons: 1. Not reliable. I bought it used (1 year of use) but in very good condition. I get proper maintenance done every year for about $250. Then throughout the summer one problem after another. Overall I spend about $500-700 on the tractor alone.
    2. Currently it is back in the shop and the vendor tells me that the engine in this model is bad and the two options I have are either replace the engine ($800) or fix the valves ($300). He doesn’t guarantee that fixing the valves will definitely solve the problem.

  8. kylie says:

    purchased this second hand…nothing but problems, same as Kyle “above” and more issues now it seems with transmision…every mow is an issue…last owner had mowing deck welded by local recommended JD service agent…she was not happy with their sevice and suggests there were missing parts etc when returned…

    Year of Manufacture: 0

  9. Kyle says:

    Professional lawn service-man

    Year of Manufacture: 0
    Pros: Umm.. its easy to drive because it is an auto.. thats it.. no other pros..
    Cons: The worst lawnmover i have ever driven.. i mow lawns as a profession and i still own my l108 by john deere but i dont know why! This tractor has problems everywhere. From the poor design of the spark plug wire not even two inches away from the exhaust, to the uber amount of problems related to gas flow! I will NEVER buy another tractor from briggs or jd. Apologies to those who like john deere or their l108.
    Attachments: Bagging unit
    Modifications: Fuel pump. Fuel filter. Exhaust. Mowing deck (welds came apart).

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