Customer Reviews

John Deere Front Loader Ride-On

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My 3 year old loves this tractor! We take walks and he pedals all over the nieghborhood with it. Much better excersise for him than a powered ride on. No batteries to charge,which is a plus. So far seems very durable. Happy with our choice!

My 3 yr. old is such a "boy" boy, and he LOVES tractors. This tractor was the ultimate gift for him. He especially loves hooking it up to the trailer. I have mention that while you assemble only half of the tractor, the instructions are quite vague. I caution you to be patient and allow some time for assembly, and you may even have to use your own noggin to decide where some small parts go, specifically on the loader's pin and where to put the washers.

My 3-year old son is absolutely happy riding this tractor on the playground. I didn't install the loader for safety reasons / maneuverability (the playground is crowded, and it's hard to steer the tractor precisely with the loader attached). One strange feature of this tractor (which appears to be shared by other ride-on toys and carts for some unexplained reason) is that only ONE rear wheel is connected to the chain transmission. The other three wheels are free-spinning, so this is essentially a "one-wheel drive". Sales reps. at Toys R Us were clueless as to the strange design, so it remains a mystery. Nevertheless, the traction of the left rear wheel (the driving one) has so far been sufficient; no skidding. Pedal-drivennes of this tractor is one good feature I want to mention; besides giving the kid an exercise, it eliminates the pain of having to recharge the battery after a day's drive and wait for another day till the toy can be used again.

We bought this for our 3-year old after reading all the praises. I'll tell you what-- the hype, in my opinion, is ridiculous. Besdies null customer service from Peg Perego, here are my points:

> The instructions are absolutley the worst. Here's an example:
8) Remove the tape <---what tape???
9) Insert a retainer in the special device. <---What is a "special device"?? What retainer? No figures to help.
10) Insert the plugs in the handle bar <-- there are no plugs!

And it goes on and on like this. Even Toys 'R Us warned me about the instructions. I'm a pretty handy guy, so I was able to get it assembled (except for a stripped screw) in an hour. If you're not very handy or confident improvising, have Toys'RUs do it for you.

> Next, the hardware (such as screws) seem to be made of very soft metal. That means stripping during assembly and during use.

> Our boy is an aggressive digger (but not a rough kid). After one hour, the handle and retainer snap and wobble, and the steering wheel is stripped and wobbling.

This product is okay if your child is content just pedalling around, but try to pick anything up or use it like a tractor, and you'll find very quickly that most of the price of the unit does not seem to go into quality, but likely goes to John Deere for the licensing fee!

Ours goes back to Toys'R us.

Bought this tractor for my 3 year old for Christmas. He loves it. It is easy to pedal and goes great on concrete or grass. (Unlike his bike and tricycle that spin on grass) It is very large so it would definately be for outside play.

I bought this for a strong 4 year old with a fairly tough 2.5 year old usually in tow. In terms of sheer play value this toy is superb. Their eyes went like little saucers when they saw it. It is large and impressive looking and is sufficiently like 'scoop' (from Bob the Builder) that it instantly became part of the family.
They were a little dissapointed that it was pedal powered as some of their friends have battery powered but as this toy has more play value (and goes faster!) than the battery ones they were ok about it.
Now for the down side ... if ONLY this product were made by Fisher Price! Pellegro use a lower grade of plastic which is both flimsier and brittler than is needed for this kind of toy. Everything is still working but I wince every time I see this toy take abuse (and remember this is a digger; it is going to take abuse).
To be specific many of the plastic parts are slightly mis-shapen and do not join cleanly. The screw fixings are 'wood screw into moulded plastic'; whilst strong initially these joints can weaken irreparibly over time. A number of the large flat plastic sections have structural screw joints in the middle; the effect is severe plastic discoloration where the joint has come under strain or torsion. Over time these areas are prone to 'platic fatigue'.

As other reviewers mention the construction manual is pathetic; the pictures show you everything other than what you need to know. That said, an hour of figuring and a few screw/unscrew attempts was enough for the toy to be assembled by one person.
All in all I think this probably IS the best toy of this type on the market (and our neighborhood has most of the others) and the kids will love it. The dads however will feel a slight sense of unease that this isn't quite built the way it should be.

We bought this tractor for our little girl for her 3rd birthday and she absolutely loves it!! We have a hard time getting her to get off of it. We especially liked the idea of it being a self-powered toy (no batteries). That way she is getting exercise while playing on it. We have a very large multi-surfaced yard and it seems to work on them all (grass, concrete, gravel, dirt, etc.) It will go over anything she is able to pedal over.

I do have to agree though with those that have mentioned the trouble with the assembly instructions. They were very vague and confusing but with a bit of perserverance and common sense it can be put together, just make sure you give yourself some time. The only disappointment I have is that the trailer does not come with it and it cannot be purchased in the store, so you have to order it online and it is a bit pricy compared to the tractor.

Overall we are very satisfied with this toy and since we are expecting a boy in a couple of months we know that it will be well used.

I read the reviews on this loader and bought it for my grandson's fourth birthday, but am frankly disappointed in it. My husband put it together, and encountered the difficulties in the instructional mentioned in the reviews...he made a copy of the images page so he could see both the images and the narrative at the same time, which helped. It looked great, and I was so excited to give it to my grandson, since he is completely taken with construction equipment. However, when I gave it to him, and watched him try to operate it, I was quite dismayed at the design flaws it had. The tires don't do well on gravel or bark, and he wanted to dig in both areas. He is a strong little boy and could pedal it quite easily, but the tires often spun instead of engaging the ground. A big problem is in the design of the bucket dumper. Unless we have it constructed incorrectly, it will not pick up bark or dirt without major help from an adult. He can't pedal it, steer and operate the two levers at the same time...yet if he simply lowers the bucket and pedals forward, the bucket doesn't touch the ground and nothing gets scooped up. We bought the accessory trailer, which constantly comes uncoupled and can't be dumped into, since the bucket hits the edge of the trailer before it is angled enough to dump anything out.

I guess I'll wait and see if he figures out uses for the digger portion, since it is pretty frustrating on dirt, gravel and bark. Right now, though, I'm wishing I hadn't spent the money on such poor design.

This loader tractor was given as a Christmas gift to my son when he was 2 1/2. He has loved it to pieces! Back then we were stuggling to find a peddle toy that he could sit on the seat and reach the peddeles. The that summer he was 36" tall and it was easy for him to peddel. The chain drive allowed him to move at a good walking pace for his mother so that summer we put miles on this bike.
That being said, I must caution readers that this bike is all plastic except the chain drive and the screws that hold it together. The ROPS bar is for show. The fenders can not take weight. The loader is not for hauling heavy things.
We have had durablity problems with this toy. My son rides it hard but I'd say the problems stem from plastic-to-plastic connections having too much flex and eventutally the screw or bolt falls out. The seat keeps coming off. And ours has not been a loader tractor for quite sometime as the end clamp fell off that and we've not replaced it. Lastly the tires are plastic too. Our rear tires have holes in them because of hard use.
Finally, My brother said it was an adverture to assemble and he is very handy.

Overall, I recommed this tractor. Its not too offen you can say your child wore a toy out! All that peddeling, uphill and downhill over and arround has been quite a benifit, too.

I bought this toy for my grandson's third birthday in April. It was a big hit initially . He loved it. Within weeks, however, it began to come apart. By the time I saw it in mid-June, the loader was falling off and couldn't be repaired. The trailer hitch wasn't working so the trailer fell off constantly. Next a pedal fell off. My daughter reports that it has been very lightly used. We are all very disappointed . Its such an appealing looking toy, it seems a shame it couldn't be made more durable.