It mows

"Terry Coombs" fired this volley in news:mj8fjs$7b3$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

Yeah, but do all three blades cut in the same plane? I've seen new mowers that couldn't do that! (distinct, individual blade paths visible in the cut-width)

Lloyd

Yup , they seem to be all in the same plane as far as I can tell . Not as smooth as a putting green , but then the area I tested it on was the power line easement , grass and weeds/wildflowers were between knee and waist high . I need to sharpen and balance the blades , there's a little vibration . I'm on totally new ground here , my previous mower experience is a 22" cut single blade u-push-it unit . A guy could easily get spoiled by a machine like this ... BTW , for those that were discussing leveling the deck - This deck rides on wheels , with rollers at center front and rear to (I think) help stop scalping . There is no way to level the deck other than to adjust the lift links for side/side leveling . I'll be looking at an online manual for information on how it's supposed to be set up .

By design, or after one or more blades hit rocks during the first mowing?

Larry Jaques fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

By LACK of design, is more like it. The decks are stamped, and seldom rigid enough to maintain alignment in any circumstances, even just shipping from factory-to-customer.

Lloyd

This deck is nearly an eighth of an inch thick , made back when quality was a consideration . I'm not sure exactly when it was made , probably in the

80's . I'm still looking for alignment information , found a couple of references but no actual specs/information on what and how . I did find a mention that the front should be 1/4" lower than the back , but no information on how to accomplish that . Why is it that wives don't understand the drive to finish a project while you're focused on it ?

The front/rear tilt adjustment on mine is the opposing nuts on the threaded horizontal rods leading to the forward attachment point.

The deck suspension is a four bar linkage whose geometry may not be easy to understand.

-jsw

The wheels are like safety bumpers. During normal use they shouldn't be touching the ground.

The lift links are indeed how you level from side to side. Usually there are some sort of threaded rod/couplers used in the front hook up that are adjusted for the front to back height.

John Deere's manuals are hard to come by for free. They want you to PAY for everything you get from them...

I put this together for a neighbor's machine, newer than yours:

Download and save it. Maybe it is enough like yours to get you on the right track. I'll be removing it as soon as you say you have it...

Perzactly. One has to buy the thicker "pro" blades to keep them from bending on the first gopher mound or tree root the deck hits. The resultant non-vibrating deck is a wonder to behold.

Heathen! You forget that the lighter weight decks are cheaper and easier to ship and pull around, saving five to ten molecules of CO2 over their short lifetimes. Greenies everywhere love them.

Spindle or deck itself? That difference right there would be enough to cause a pattern to show in the mown lawn.

Maybe because they have literally dozens of other projects lined up waiting for you?

On 05/17/2015 7:32 AM, Leon Fisk wrote: ...

...

I've _never_ had the Deere dealer refuse information or copies of pertinent sections of shop manuals or whatever gratis. A whole new user manual for a used machine bought privately and no relationship whatsoever with a dealership would be something else, though...

How many big green farm machines you got there? ;-)

Scag, ExMark, Poulan, Husqvarna, MTD... Owners, service, parts... manuals are all easy to find online in pdf form and can be had for the price of downloading.

My neighbor has an old John Deere A and now an old John Deere Lawn Tractor. I've looked for manuals/info online. You won't find diddly squat for them other than parts and those aren't easy to read. He looked himself and couldn't find anything of use to him. The newer stuff you can get as individual pages if you look hard enough. Nothing suitable for keeping locally or printing out though unless you work at it. Just saying...

They get two arms and a leg for their manuals, but if $25 - $30 sounds better, Select Manuals has a lot of JD's:

And, believe it or not. Target stores (or Target online, anyway) and Wal-Mart have some John Deere manuals.

Downloaded and saved . I'm not sure if it will help , but I'll look thru it . THANKS !

A few... :)

Have you tried just going into the shop? Here they're all there (may have to dig around a little to drag out the really old stuff, but Jerry's never failed on anything I've ever asked about including the ole

112 lawn tractor that's somewhere in the early '60s vintage...of course, I do have the original owner's manuals on everything here (plus some for stuff that's been gone for 50 year or more...I stumbled on the book for the old McCormick 10-20 and the bill of sale for it a few months ago in a drawer...it had been traded in on the first Farmall 'M' before or shortly after I was born so I never saw it... :)

That's not quite as convenient as if all had been scanned and put up as .pdf doc's if one wants to just sit at the keyboard, granted. I don't do collector stuff, but I'd've thunk w/ all the collectors there are that there would be just scads of places for vintage Deere doc's.

But, if you want something that's hard to get and pricey if you do, try JLG on their manlifts, etc., ... :( They hold stuff to authorized dealers only and won't discuss repair/maintenance issues at all with end users (I suppose for liability reasons). Cost me $150 for a base maintenance manual that turns out doesn't include hydraulic systems as well as other subsystems--they're that much more apiece. Deere looks pretty good in comparison to their shade of orange.

No , actually it was her day off and she wanted to "do something" . Probably wanted me to think up "something to do" too ...

Shoulda done this in one reply ... oh well , what's a few electrons .

I've read in at least 3 places now that the front is supposed to be 1/4" lower than the rear . Dunno why . After reading Jim W's post , I'll look into the adjustments . I wondered why there's a height adjustment knob down in front of the seat , well now that I know the wheels aren't supposed to actually support the deck while mowing I can see how it's supposed to work . Need to get that sheet of plywood out - as soon as it quits raining and dries out some .

So why didn't we hear that you said "OK, hon. Go jump into your Levis and an old tee and we'll finish this together.", hmm?

Maybe because he could finish it faster, without any help?

You've met my wife ?