520xi tire chains to 48" deck wheel clearance

[JoeM 7,874]

I had picked up a 98 520xi and was fixing her up as a spare mower / worker. Was thinking about retiring my old C145 Auto. 

The deck was a D-, pretty jazzed up. Rusted, bad bearings, one blade welded to the shaft, I am sure you get the picture. Being a spare I decided to go ahead and fix it. Some welding, one replaced spindle and new SKF bearings, It ran pretty smooth.

After mounting the deck to the machine, I noticed the right side deck wheel was running very close the the rear tire, Not enough space to install tire chains. Checked out some pics on the web and it seems most of the 48 inch decks look to be closer on that side. 

I know the PO had done some welding in the adjustment / wheel mounting area but it didn't look like it was moved. Fanangled around a bit and it seemed like the best option was cut the shaft and widen the stance to clear the tire on the right side. The spacer shown moved the wheel 7/8"

718 hrs on the machine it runs nice. I rolled the yard a couple times and I really like the low range as it doesn't labor the machine as much on the hills. Plenty of power and comfortable.

I included some pics of the repair.