48" deck from 520HC rebuild

[608KEB 796]

On 5/1/2016 at 6:19 AM, cleat said:

Will do. Next time the deck is off I will clean it up and get some pics.

Cleat, I was wondering  how the deck would hold up. 2 years ago I did 2 decks. A 36" and 42" SD mower decks. I applied  easy slide to the underneath of both. One deck was bead blasted and repainted with a gun. The  other was wired brushed  sanded and rust converter  brushed underneath  before brushing on the easy slide. The 36" sd bead blasted and repainted deck has held up great. The 42" SD has not. The easy slide is pretty much gone.

[Don1977 604]

On 4/29/2016 at 2:51 PM, cleat said:

Deck assembled, decals installed, blades balanced and installed.

Installed deck onto 520-HC.

 

 

Still need to test out bagger whenever grass starts to grow.

 

That blower hanging out there on the end of the deck is what broke up the deck. Bad design to save money on an engine to power the blower and a mount for the blower.

in the rear. That's my opinion, I know everyone has one.

[cleat 6,635]

Actually, this deck did not have a bagger on it. Bagger came on another 48" deck mounted to a 416H. That deck was simply rusted out.

 

This deck came with the HC. I wonder if the faster ground speed banged it up ?

 

Bagger will likely only go on in the fall for leaf cleanup.

[Don1977 604]

Maybe ground speed and a stump not quite short enough. Never seen a center spindle mount busted up like that. I know just adding a chute put and extra load on a deck.

[cleat 6,635]

That poor deck had cracks all over it. 2 spindle mount areas were replaced and cracks were welded up all over.

It will live a much more pampered life now that I have it.

 

Deck was also twisted and it is now as good as we could get it. Blades all sit even but the front anti-scalp rollers do not.

 

Mows well now and does not scalp even on uneven terrain so I will call this rebuild a success.

 

[cleat 6,635]

On 5/24/2016 at 5:55 PM, Vixmith said:

Cleat, this is an outstanding rebuild very professionally done!

Appreciate it much with all your info.  My 48" SD deck is in need of much the same and if you don't mind I will attempt to plagiarize your work.  My deck is leaving some streaks in the lawn, as if some of the blades are not cutting level with others.

what did you do to check blade alignment horizontally and vertically?  Asking because it appeared there was some warpage remaining after you repaired all the cracks on the stripped down deck.

Great job !   Wish I had your talent.

Thanx,  VGS

Thankfully, these were just in the light sheet metal and the support plate easily pulled everything level.

 

To check level, just park the deck on a level, hard surface and set mower to mid cut height. Then measure from the bottom of the blades to make sure they are level from side to side (no easy adjustment there), and that the front is 1/4" or so less than the back. This is adjusted with the rod at the back of the deck.

[Vixmith 25]

Cleat,

Thanx BuKu for the blade-checking info.  Always get lots of helpful stuff from this site.

 

BTW, since I am asking, I have a C-175A with a KT-17 engine.  Bought new in 1981.  when mowing or tilling I sometimes ran long distances on a slant.  I believe that contributed to ring wear due to loss of lubrication inside the engine.  It was using lots of oil, so I took engine to a rebuilder.  .......Then life happened and it has been ignored for a long time.  Planning to re-install the engine this summer.  Is there any modification I can do before reinstalling that will make the internal engine lube better?  It does NOT have a spin-on engine oil filter so I don't think it has much of an oil pump. 

Thanx,

Vic