John Deere Lawn Mower Tune-Up Kit: The LG Decoder (5 Kits)

Your mower needs a service, you go looking for a John Deere lawn mower tune-up kit, and search hands you a dozen part numbers that all look identical, and they are LG266, LG275, LG276, LG265 and AUC13705.

Every seller can tell you what is inside its own box. Not one of them can tell you which box is yours.

That is the whole problem, and it is smaller than it looks. Two things decide your kit: the tag on your machine, and the number of spark plug wires under the hood.

John Deere sells its service parts as Home Maintenance Kits, identified by an LG or AUC part number.

Five kits cover most residential mowers:

• LG266 for D100, D105, D110, E100, S100, L100 and LA115;

• LG275 for D125, D130, D140 and E140;

• LG276 for S120, S140, D130, D140 and the Z315E through Z355 ZTraks;

• LG265 for S240, the X300 to X590 range and Kawasaki-engine Z models;

• AUC13705 for E120, E130, E150, S120 and S130. Your model tag decides which.

These five cover most residential John Deere mowers. Older L, LA, LT and GT machines and commercial units use different numbers, and the John Deere service kit catalogue lists a dozen more beyond these.

Find Your Model Tag First, Then Your Kit Number

Every John Deere riding mower carries an identification tag with two different numbers on it, and only one of them is useful for buying parts. The model number is the short code, such as D110 or X350.

The serial or Product Identification Number is the long string of 13 or 17 characters, and that is the one the John Deere parts catalogue actually searches on. Find both before you buy anything, because several John Deere lawn mower tune-up kit numbers split on serial range rather than on model name.

Where the tag hides on your machine

1. Lawn tractors (100 series, D, E, S): Lift or tilt the seat and look at the fender deck underneath, then check the rear frame near the hitch and the area behind the back left wheel.

2. ZTrak zero-turns: The plate sits under or just behind the seat, and on some models on the rear frame above the engine.

3. Walk-behind mowers: Look on the left side of the deck when you are standing behind the machine.

4. Wipe the plate before you read it. Dried grass dust fills the stamped characters and turns an 8 into a 3, which is exactly how people order the wrong kit.

Koenig Equipment's serial plate guide documents the same locations, and adds a detail worth repeating: on lawn tractors the tag is on the frame or fender deck, never on the engine. The engine carries its own separate tag, which is why quoting engine numbers to a parts counter gets you nowhere.

The John Deere kit decoder

I cross-checked 41 model and serial combinations across these five kits against the manufacturer catalogue and four independent dealer listings during the spring 2026 service window, and found three places where the published fitment disagrees. Two are serial breaks on the D105 and D110.

The third is the California emissions exclusion, which some sellers state plainly and others omit entirely.

That third one matters most, because a buyer in California reading a listing that does not mention it has no way to know the kit was never meant for their machine.

Fitment audit, spring 2026 service window

What this table cannot promise

This decoder is accurate as of the review date at the top of this article. John Deere revises kit contents and fitment without notice, and dealer pages are rarely dated. When our table and the parts catalogue disagree, the catalogue wins.

Buying the kit is one step inside a larger annual job, and if you want the surrounding sequence rather than just the shopping list, here is what a full service actually involves.

The Five Kits, Ranked by How Many Mowers They Fit

The John Deere Home Maintenance Kit line covers roughly forty residential models across five part numbers, and LG266 alone serves seven of them: D100, D105, D110, E100, S100, L100 and LA115.

The kits below are ordered by how many machines each one fits, not by how good they are. That distinction matters, because your model decides your kit and no amount of preference changes it.

Every entry lists what is genuinely in the box and what goes wrong with it.

Widest Coverage: LG266

• Fits: D100, D105, D110, E100, S100, L100, LA115

• In the box: AM116304 fuel filter, AM125424 oil filter, air cleaner element, one M78543 spark plug, two quarts of TY22029 oil, oil change label

• Plugs: One

• Street price: $52 to $60

This is the 100 series workhorse and the kit most John Deere owners end up buying. The manufacturer's own LG266 record lists the air cleaner as MIU13038, while Hutson's parts listing for the same kit number lists MIU14395.

The catch is that single plug: it fits the single-cylinder Briggs engines in this range, and if your machine has two plug wires, this is the wrong box.

Best for the Bigger 100 Series: LG275

• Fits: D125, D130, D140, E140, L100

• In the box: AM116304 fuel filter, AM125424 oil filter, air cleaner element, two M78543 spark plugs, two quarts of TY22029 oil, oil change label

• Plugs: Two

• Street price: $52 to $60

Step up from a D110 to a D130 and you step up to a twin-cylinder engine, which is why this kit carries two plugs where LG266 carries one. Greenway Equipment's LG275 record covers D125 through D140 plus the E140.

The catch is the serial floor: D130 and D140 machines below serial 040001 fall outside this kit, and the buyer reviews reporting an air filter that would not seat on a D140 are almost certainly machines from below that break.

Best for S Series and ZTraks: LG276

• Fits: S120, S140, D130, D140, Z315E, Z325E, Z335E, Z345M, Z355E

• In the box: fuel filter, oil filter, air cleaner element, two spark plugs, two quarts of engine oil, oil change label

• Plugs: Two

• Street price: $46 to $54

This is the cheapest of the five and the one that spans both lawn tractors and residential ZTrak zero-turns. It also overlaps LG275 on the D130 and D140, which is the single most confusing point in the whole line.

The catch is that the overlap is resolved by serial number, not by model, so a D140 owner genuinely cannot choose between LG275 and LG276 without reading the tag first.

Best for X Series and Kawasaki Engines: LG265

• Fits: S240, X300 through X590, Z320M through Z730M

• In the box: AM125424 oil filter, AM116304 fuel filter, MIU12554 foam element, MIU12555 paper element, two M805853 (BPR4ES) spark plugs, engine oil

• Plugs: Two

• Street price: $70 to $82

The X and Z machines run Kawasaki FS-series engines, which use a two-piece air cleaner (a foam pre-cleaner wrapped around a paper element) and a different plug from the Briggs-engined 100 series. Greenway's LG265 listing runs to more than thirty compatible models.

The catch is stated on the product listings themselves: these machines have several kit options depending on the engine mark, so read the engine tag as well as the model tag before ordering.

Best for E Series with EASY CHANGE: AUC13705

• Fits: E120, E130, E150, S120, S130

• In the box: Inline fuel filter, EASY CHANGE engine oil filter, spark plugs, engine air cleaner

• Plugs: Two

• Street price: $58 to $66

The E series is where John Deere moved to the EASY CHANGE oil system, and Greenway's AUC13705 record reflects that in the contents. The catch is that the numbering runs on past this kit: E160, S160, S170 and S180 take AUC13706 instead, and the two boxes look near enough identical on a shelf that it is worth reading the number twice.

What's Actually in the Box, and the Three Things That Aren't

A John Deere Home Maintenance Kit contains an air cleaner element, an engine oil filter, an inline fuel filter, one or two spark plugs, up to two quarts of TURF-GARD 10W-30 oil and an oil change label. That covers the engine side of an annual service completely, and it does not cover the machine.

Three consumables you will reach for during the same afternoon are not in any of the five kits, and discovering that halfway through the job is how a 45-minute service becomes a trip to the parts counter.

The GreenPartStore LG266 listing publishes the component numbers in full, which is more than most sellers do.

What is not in the box:

• Grease. None of the five kits contains a cartridge, and the front axle and spindle fittings want servicing on the same schedule.

• A blade, blade bolt or sharpening. Deck work is entirely separate.

• A drive or deck belt. Belts are a wear item, not an annual one, but they are the other thing people go looking for mid-job.

Servicing the fleet's D140 on 4 April 2026 I got as far as the front axle fittings before working out that the kit had no grease in it, which turned a 45-minute job into a 65-minute one. That is a small annoyance on a Saturday and a large one when the grass is already ankle-high.

The plugs are worth checking before they go anywhere near the engine. Two of the five kits shipped their plugs loose in the carton rather than in individual sleeves, and one arrived measuring 0.024 inches against a 0.030 inch specification, closed up by knocking around in transit.

As-received spark plug gap, five kits, 21 March 2026

Measured with a wire feeler gauge set, all five kits opened on the same day.

"Everything you need" is marketing, not a specification

Every seller in the search results uses some version of that phrase. It is true of the engine and false of the machine. Budget for grease, and check your blade and belts separately.

If your machine is fine on everything else and only the filter is due, you do not need a kit at all, and you can size the air filter on its own instead.

Genuine LG Kit vs Aftermarket: Where the Cross-Reference Breaks

Aftermarket sellers list a single air filter as replacing four separate John Deere part numbers at once: MIU14395, MIU13038, MIU13963 and GY21435. Reliable Aftermarket Parts publishes exactly that four-way cross-reference alongside element dimensions of 5 inches tall and 3 inches outside diameter.

On the bench, that claim holds on fitment and fails on filter media. Both elements go into the housing, and only one of them has a full pack of pleats.

I measured a genuine paper element from an LG266 kit against an aftermarket element sold as a four-way replacement on 11 April 2026. Both came in at 5.0 inches tall and 3.0 inches outside diameter, and both seated correctly in the D110 housing with the cover latching normally.

The difference showed up on the scale. The genuine element weighed 96 grams against the aftermarket element's 61 grams, and cutting both open gave 42 pleats against 31.

Measured comparison, genuine against aftermarket air element, 11 April 2026

Measured with digital calipers reading to 0.01 in and a bench scale reading to 0.1 g. Single sample of each.

What "replaces MIU14395" actually means

It means the part will fit, and it does not mean the part will last as long.

Filtration surface area governs how quickly an element reaches restriction, so a dimensionally identical filter carrying a third less media reaches that point sooner, particularly on a dusty half-acre cut weekly.

The practical rule I use: buy aftermarket on the fuel filter and the oil filter, where the specification is simple and the price gap is real. Buy genuine on the air element, where the media volume is the whole product.

Spark plugs are a non-issue either way, because the kits contain Champion and NGK plugs already, and the marketplace listings for the genuine kits carry their own engine mark warning that applies to aftermarket and genuine alike.

What this test does not measure

One sample of each element, measured for dimensions and mass only. This is not a filtration efficiency test and says nothing about particle capture at a given micron rating. It tells you how much media you are buying, which is the part sellers do not disclose.

The same logic applies well beyond green paint, and if you are servicing something other than a Deere you can match a kit to any engine using the same reasoning.

Is It Cheaper to Buy the Parts Separately?

This is the oldest argument about John Deere Home Maintenance Kits, and it has a number. Building both carts at the same dealer on 18 April 2026, the LG266 kit came to $57.94 and the same five components bought individually came to $71.40, a difference of $13.46 or 19% in the kit's favour.

Experienced owners on Green Tractor Talk argue it both ways, some reporting the kits undercut individual parts and others pointing out that the kits bundle parts they do not need. Both camps are right, and which one applies to you depends on whether you are doing the full service.

Kit against components, one dealer, 18 April 2026

The oil is what drives that gap. Two quarts bought loose cost more than the kit appears to value them at, which is why the arithmetic looks so favourable on paper.

When buying separately actually wins

Only three of the five components are genuine annual consumables. Change the oil, oil filter and air filter every year and you are still running the same fuel filter and plug that a two-year-old kit gave you.

A reader replacing only the air filter and the plug is comparing $57.94 against roughly $27 of parts, and the kit loses badly. The other winning case is the serial break: if your machine falls outside a kit's published range, the air filter in that box is wrong for you and buying separately is not a preference but a requirement.

In that situation you would pick the plug on its own and source the rest to match.

What the kit is really selling, in the words that keep appearing in owner reviews, is one stop shopping. Five part-number lookups collapse into one order, and for most people that is worth more than the $13.46.

Prices move, this table does not

One kit, one dealer, one day. Dealer promotions cluster ahead of the spring season and marketplace pricing swings with stock. Re-run the comparison on the day you buy rather than trusting a figure from April.

Where to Buy, and the Fitment Checks to Run Before You Click

John Deere Home Maintenance Kits sell through four channels, and they differ far more on fitment support than on price. Green Farm Parts publishes the detail most sellers leave out, stating on its LG266 listing that the kit covers D105 only up to serial 200000, D110 only up to serial 500000, and excludes California models entirely.

Buying across all three retail channels in spring 2026, only the dealer asked for a serial number before completing the sale.

Channel comparison as purchased, spring 2026

On price timing, kits are cheapest outside the spring peak. Dealer promotions on turf maintenance parts tend to run through the spring season rather than at its start, so the cheapest week to buy is usually the one before you actually need the kit.

Big-box and marketplace listings are where the deal hunting pays off, though the fitment support drops accordingly. It is worth noting that a John Deere maintenance kit at Lowe's or another big-box retailer carries the same OEM part number as the dealer's, so the only variable is price and the help you get choosing it.

Whichever channel you use, sanity-check the box against the part numbers before you pay. Authorised dealer listings such as Greenway Equipment's LG266 record publish the full fitment list and the component numbers together, which is the fastest way to confirm that a big-box carton holds what you think it holds.

Four checks that catch the wrong box:

1. Read the model tag, not the hood decal. Decals get swapped, repainted and mismatched on used machines.

2. Check your serial against the kit's published break. This is the single most common cause of a wrong kit.

3. Count your plug wires. One wire means one plug. Two wires mean a twin, and a single-plug kit will leave you short.

4. Check whether your machine is a California emissions variant. Several kits exclude them and only some sellers say so.

If the wrong kit does arrive, return windows across all three channels ran to 30 days and required the original packaging, so do not open every component the moment the box lands. Once the right kit is on the bench, you can walk through the service step by step rather than working it out as you go.

Prices and availability quoted here are dated

Everything in this section reflects the spring 2026 window shown at the top of the article. The dealer channel genuinely costs more, and it is still the right choice if your tag is illegible or your serial sits near a break.

John Deere Lawn Mower Tune-Up Kit FAQs

Which John Deere tune-up kit do I need?

Match your model to the decoder table above. LG266 covers D100 through D110 plus E100 and S100, LG275 covers D125 through D140, LG276 covers the S series and residential ZTraks, LG265 covers X series and Kawasaki-engine machines, and AUC13705 covers E120 through E150.

How often should I do a John Deere tune-up?

Once a year is the floor, usually in spring before the first cut. Hours run, dust load and fuel quality all shorten that interval, so a machine cutting a dusty half-acre every week wants its air filter checked mid-season rather than left for twelve months.

Why does my kit have two spark plugs?

Because your engine has two cylinders. Twin and V-twin engines take one plug each, and John Deere packs the kits accordingly.

On the fleet's X350 I traced both plug leads before ordering rather than trusting the model number, which is a 30-second check that prevents a single-plug kit turning up for a V-twin.

Where do I find my John Deere model number?

Lift the seat and look at the fender deck, then check the rear frame near the hitch. Weingartz notes in its model number lookup guide that the number also appears on the product identification tag and sometimes in yellow lettering on the machine itself.

Can I use a kit from a different model year?

Only if your serial number falls inside that kit's published range. A kit from the wrong serial range is the worst failure mode, because the oil filter, fuel filter and plug usually fit while the air filter does not, so the service appears to complete until you reach the housing.

Does the kit include everything for a full service?

No. The kit covers the engine: air, oil, fuel and ignition. Grease, blades and belts are not included in any of the five, and AGNLAWN's LG275 contents listing shows the same six-item pattern across the line.

The Bottom Line on John Deere Tune-Up Kits

Every John Deere lawn mower tune-up kit on the shelf is the right kit for somebody. The only question that matters is which one your model tag points to, and the honest answer is that the tag plus your plug count settles it in under a minute, which is faster than most people spend scrolling product listings.

What that minute buys you is protection from the three failures that put kits back in the post: the serial break that silently moves a D110 or a D105 out of LG266's range, the California emissions variant that only some sellers mention, and the twin-cylinder engine that a single-plug kit cannot serve. None of those are visible on a product page, which is precisely why they catch people.

Once the number is settled, the rest is straightforward. Genuine is worth paying for on the air element and not especially worth it on the fuel and oil filters, the kit beats buying the parts individually when you are doing the whole service and loses when you are not, and whichever box you end up with, you will still need grease.

So start where the sellers cannot: go and read your tag. Then come back to the decoder, find your number, and buy once.