Can a 3/4/500 series deck attach to a 500xi series?

[FatJackDurham 318]

Hi, 

Is it easy to adapt a 3/4/500 series mower deck to a 522xi style tractor? or are the attachment system completely different? I image the belt runs differently.

 

Thoughts?

 

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

1 hour ago, FatJackDurham said:

Hi, 

Is it easy to adapt a 3/4/500 series mower deck to a 522xi style tractor? or are the attachment system completely different? I image the belt runs differently.

 

Thoughts?

 

I guess you could adapt the fitting points, man made it so man can alter it ...

 

[Pullstart 62,803]

Yeah, the lift points are entirely different, as are the attachamatic points too, I believe.  The shell may be swapped, I’m not sure?

[Dan.gerous 2,696]

10 minutes ago, pullstart said:

Yeah, the lift points are entirely different, as are the attachamatic points too, I believe.  The shell may be swapped, I’m not sure?

That's what I was thinking, in theory I guess any shell from any manufacturer could be made to fit.

[bds1984 1,429]

I wouldn't be surprised they can be made to fit relatively easily.  My money is on the decks having the same mounting holes drilled/stamped in them and then you just swap the attach-a-mattic hardware from the XI-deck to the C/3/4/500 series deck and vice-versa.  Five years ago I bought a brand new, complete 48" deck that was meant for a 260-series and swapped it over to my C165 with just using the lift hardware and spindle shafts from my old 48" deck; the square holes were already stamped in which made this a very easy swap.  If you were to swap the mounts over, which I think can be done fairly easy, the only unknown I could see being a slight problem is if your PTO belt being the same length; I am leaning towards that being a very small chance since Wheel Horse seemed to be pretty good with parts interchangeability on the machines I have/had.  Good luck!

[shallowwatersailor 3,213]

The 5xi shells are different than the Classic series shells. I suppose with a welder and hardware anything could be adapted.

 

The reason that you were able to swap the 260-series deck was that Wheel Horse marketed that feature - only the opposite way. The marketing plan was that those with older C-series tractors could use their attachments on the 260-series tractor, thus saving the expense of buying all new. It helped to keep them in the Wheel Horse fold instead of defecting to a different brand and buying new attachments as well.

[bds1984 1,429]

I think you might be thinking of the 400XT series where there were some attachment interchangeability with the C/3/4/5 series. 
 

Here is my 260-series deck with the black belt guards that I bought new in the first picture (it is dirty from sitting in a garage for a decade).  I had to cut off all four of the mounting points from the 260-series deck (circled in gray) and use the spindle shafts from my old deck to be able to use it on my C165.  The second picture is a regular 48" deck that we've all seen on various C/3/4/5 series.  The third picture is of the final conversion I've been using for the last two years and it cuts beautifully.  The last picture is of the 520XI I had until last summer.  Shell looks to be the same but you can see how the mounting points are; some welded, some bolted.  But as you said, with a welder and hardware, it could be adapted.  I can see the shells for the 44", 52", and 60" inch decks being different on the XI series, but the 42" and 48" inchers seem to be 90% the same and could be converted between the two fairly easily.
 

 

[FatJackDurham 318]

Okay so not a direct swap. I was considering a 518xi but it has no deck and I wondered if I could use my 520 deck, however it doesn’t look like it.