Bobcat Deck for my Horse

[kpinnc 12,049]

2 hours ago, 8ntruck said:

With a deck that sturdy, maybe look at the old JD system of driving over the deck to get it underneath!

 

The clearance on these decks is very little- or at least mine is. I won't speak for Bill, but there is no way I could drive over mine. I would be concerned that I'd break something.

[Bill D 1,921]

I made some progress today.  Most of the fab work to mount the deck is done.  Gauge wheel bar is finished.  I have to pick up two 1/2" Heim joints to connect the height adjuster to the gauge wheel bar.  I'm fighting with a spindle that won't come apart at the moment.  I plan to rebuild them with new bearings at some point.  For now I plan to take the spindles apart and remove the inner grease seals from the bearing and add grease fittings to the spindles.  For some reason Bobcat doesn't want you to be able to grease their spindles.

Next up is new pulleys and front anti scalp roller brackets. 

[pacer 3,169]

Been following your adventure with this deck 'transplant' with great interest, I have been looking for a 'donor' but havent come across anything so far. You are approaching it in what seems the manner I would ... and if I could turn one out as well as yours -- well, I'd be quite pleased, looks great!!  One of my 'Bid D's' deck has cancer pretty badly and I need to replace it, hopefully with something like you are doing.

 

I would like to make a couple suggestions-- first, consider leaving the bearing sealed. Some yrs back I had a 'Yard Man' that I worked pretty hard for some 20 years and it had sealed bearings in the spindles, and IIRC I changed them 3 times, each time with only one failed bearing, but changing one I went ahead and changed all. Therefore when I got in to WH's and saw that awful mess of grease packed in side and appearing - to me - that little of it had actually got into the bearings. I quickly decided to go the route of the Yard Man and used the bearings sealed ... I have had no problems with this and I have one deck on a D that is some 5-6 years into the bearings....

 

Next is 2 things, the - likely - difficulty of getting your new deck under the tractor with out a hernia, or using a string of expletives! I have a MF1655 with a 54" and its quite a handful, so I thought I'd try and explain what I figured out -- in the pic is shown one of HF's $10 dolly with a couple boards attached. Using my overhead lift, I pick the deck up and set it on the dolly. Then, using 2 jacks I raise the front and rear about 6-8" with the deck lift (hyd or manual) raised up, Using the dolly roll the deck under (I still have to turn the fronts to the far right) When in rough position lower the lift - and possibly the jacks until you can attach the lift. Again, using the jack and lift lower/raise the mounting points and attach. At this point with every thing attached, using the deck lift in full up position, I can slide the dolly out and lower the tractor --- no hernia, no cussing.

 

Next is the pic showing the mods I have done to keep the deck useable. The anti scalpers on front were metal slides and of course they were completly ground away and the mod shown is about the 3rd or 4th attempt at correcting that and it is working pretty good. The rear wheel were completly shot 3"  and again here, with some trial & error I ended up with those 6" 'no flat' wheels from HF.

 

So, after after a good bit of labor/frustration the deck does a pretty darn good job -- and the future looks promising for your 'labor/frustration'

 

 

[Bill D 1,921]

49 minutes ago, pacer said:

Been following your adventure with this deck 'transplant' with great interest, I have been looking for a 'donor' but havent come across anything so far. You are approaching it in what seems the manner I would ... and if I could turn one out as well as yours -- well, I'd be quite pleased, looks great!!  One of my 'Bid D's' deck has cancer pretty badly and I need to replace it, hopefully with something like you are doing.

 

I would like to make a couple suggestions-- first, consider leaving the bearing sealed. Some yrs back I had a 'Yard Man' that I worked pretty hard for some 20 years and it had sealed bearings in the spindles, and IIRC I changed them 3 times, each time with only one failed bearing, but changing one I went ahead and changed all. Therefore when I got in to WH's and saw that awful mess of grease packed in side and appearing - to me - that little of it had actually got into the bearings. I quickly decided to go the route of the Yard Man and used the bearings sealed ... I have had no problems with this and I have one deck on a D that is some 5-6 years into the bearings....

 

Next is 2 things, the - likely - difficulty of getting your new deck under the tractor with out a hernia, or using a string of expletives! I have a MF1655 with a 54" and its quite a handful, so I thought I'd try and explain what I figured out -- in the pic is shown one of HF's $10 dolly with a couple boards attached. Using my overhead lift, I pick the deck up and set it on the dolly. Then, using 2 jacks I raise the front and rear about 6-8" with the deck lift (hyd or manual) raised up, Using the dolly roll the deck under (I still have to turn the fronts to the far right) When in rough position lower the lift - and possibly the jacks until you can attach the lift. Again, using the jack and lift lower/raise the mounting points and attach. At this point with every thing attached, using the deck lift in full up position, I can slide the dolly out and lower the tractor --- no hernia, no cussing.

 

Next is the pic showing the mods I have done to keep the deck useable. The anti scalpers on front were metal slides and of course they were completly ground away and the mod shown is about the 3rd or 4th attempt at correcting that and it is working pretty good. The rear wheel were completly shot 3"  and again here, with some trial & error I ended up with those 6" 'no flat' wheels from HF.

 

So, after after a good bit of labor/frustration the deck does a pretty darn good job -- and the future looks promising for your 'labor/frustration'

 

 

Thanks for the input.  If I had more financial resources I would start with a Husqvarna deck I saw for sale on eBay.  It's a fabricated deck.  It already has antiscalp wheels on the front.  It's designed to fit under a tractor.  I know there is a double pulley available for the spindle to drive a bagger.  It could be used on the center spindle.  I just don't have $699 laying around to spend on something like that.  Sorry I can figure out how to attach a link to the listing.  If you go to eBay and enter Husqvarna 588826501 the listing will come up.  

Edited August 29, 2021 by Bill D

[Bill D 1,921]

My neighbor has a Husqvarna GT 48 LXSI with a fabricated deck. Anyone looking to do something like this may want to look for one of those machines for a donor deck.

[Bill D 1,921]

More pictures.  Some trimming of the rear mounting brackets may be needed.

[Bill D 1,921]

[Bill D 1,921]

[Bill D 1,921]

I got the deck under the tractor today.  It's heavy.  I was able to take a pulley from harbor freight and cut it down and stack it on top of one of the OEM pulleys.  I keyed the two pulleys together.  I'll try it out tomorrow.  I will have to trim the deck as the front tires rub.  Stay tuned.

[kpinnc 12,049]

Looking awesome Bill!

 

Using mine regularly now, and I love it. Can't wait to hear how yours works for you!

[Bill D 1,921]

2 minutes ago, kpinnc said:

Looking awesome Bill!

 

Using mine regularly now, and I love it. Can't wait to hear how yours works for you!

Thanks.  My plan is try it out, shake out any problems, then tear it back down and clean and paint it.  

[Bill D 1,921]

I had to shorten the lift rod by an inch.  It was hitting the center spindle nut.  The cross rod was rotted where it connects to the frame, so I cut the old one out, shortened the bar an inch and welded in a new cross rod.  I've seen that other people have problems with the grease fitting on the OEM decks hitting that rod, perhaps that would be a good way to fix the problem.

[Bill D 1,921]

I got a chance to mow with it.  Sounds much different than the OEM deck.  The cut quality is great, however there are more clippings built up on the engine intake screen then there was with a stock deck.  The deck has gator blades on it and doesn't have front baffles like the Exmark deck @kpinncused for his build.  I have to trim the front of the deck to stop the front  tires from rubbing when I turn.  I plan to add a baffle to the left side.  Hopefully reshaping the deck shell and adding a baffle will improve air flow.  I may also change to high lift blades.  In addition I will be adding much needed front anti scalp wheels.  

[Handy Don 12,227]

Thanks for letting us follow your play-by-play. This could become a nifty avenue for more horses to follow.

[Bill D 1,921]

13 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

Thanks for letting us follow your play-by-play. This could become a nifty avenue for more horses to follow.

If I ever do this again I would use a different deck.   My neighbor has a Husqvarna GT 48 LXSI with a fabricated deck.  It's fully baffled, and has antiscalp wheels already.  It has a double pulley on one side which could be swapped to the center.  Seems like a much better starting point.  The Exmark deck that @kpinnc used is probably a better choice as well.  The deck is fully baffled and the spindles have grease fittings unlike mine.  I do think my belt tensioner setup is superior however.

Edited September 6, 2021 by Bill D

[kpinnc 12,049]

9 minutes ago, Bill D said:

Seems like a much better starting point.  The Exmark deck that @kpinnc used is probably a better choice as well.  The spindles have grease fittings unlike mine.  I do think my belt tensioner setup is superior however.

 

Oddly enough, my spindles have grease fittings on sealed bearings. The complete spindles are cheaper than bearings alone, so I didn't remove the seals.  I didn't realize that your deck didn't have baffles. 

 

Don't give up on it. When you get it completed, it will last forever, and does an awesome job.

 

...and I want to see that tensioner. I don't see any pics that clearly show it.

[Bill D 1,921]

14 minutes ago, kpinnc said:

 

Oddly enough, my spindles have grease fittings on sealed bearings. The complete spindles are cheaper than bearings alone, so I didn't remove the seals.  I didn't realize that your deck didn't have baffles. 

 

Don't give up on it. When you get it completed, it will last forever, and does an awesome job.

 

...and I want to see that tensioner. I don't see any pics that clearly show it.

Here is the only picture I have that shows the tensioner.  It's slightly modified from it's original form.  It uses a J hook bolt to tighten the belt.  I will take a better picture in the future.

[kpinnc 12,049]

Yep, that's definitely better than mine. I used a WH one, which is fine except it is very limited on movement.

 

If you decide to put baffles under at least the left side, here is the best pic I have of mine. Maybe even a more direct shape like the front of a WH deck might be helpful? It would still be 3-4 inches back from the front.

Edited September 6, 2021 by kpinnc

[Lee1977 6,659]

6 hours ago, Bill D said:

Here is the only picture I have that shows the tensioner.  It's slightly modified from it's original form.  It uses a J hook bolt to tighten the belt.  I will take a better picture in the future.

You might want to use a longer j-bolt with a spring on the back side.

[Bill D 1,921]

2 hours ago, Lee1977 said:

You might want to use a longer j-bolt with a spring on the back side.

I see no reason to change it.  The stock setup came with a longer spacer between the arm and the idler pulley.  The original setup had the deck belt on top and the belt from the PTO on the bottom.  I just replaced the spacer with a shorter one and flipped the pulleys over.

[Bill D 1,921]

Here is a better picture of the deck belt tensioner and the underside of the deck after mowing wet grass.

[kpinnc 12,049]

Yep, you need some baffles! There is a video on YouTube where a guy cut the front off a Bobcat walk behind to make a bush hog. Now I understand how easy it was. That is actually what I had planned for mine a long while ago, but cutting out the baffles was too much. 

 

I think you can buy 3 foot long by 4 inch wide plate steel at TSC. 1/8 or even thinner will work. You could bend it and add baffles pretty easy. 

[Bill D 1,921]

21 minutes ago, kpinnc said:

Yep, you need some baffles! There is a video on YouTube where a guy cut the front off a Bobcat walk behind to make a bush hog. Now I understand how easy it was. That is actually what I had planned for mine a long while ago, but cutting out the baffles was too much. 

 

I think you can buy 3 foot long by 4 inch wide plate steel at TSC. 1/8 or even thinner will work. You could bend it and add baffles pretty easy. 

That was the plan.  I think regular blades would also help.

[Bill D 1,921]

Now that I know it will work under my tractor, I stripped the deck back down to fix a few issues.  I cut the nose off the deck and rewelded it.  I had to do this because the front tires were rubbing the deck when turning.  I decided to weld in only one small baffle on the non discharge side. I don't have a way to roll steel so this was the best I can do by hand.  I expect some air flow improvement, especially if I change from Gator blades to high lift blades.  Up next are anti scalping wheels for the front and a mount for my trac vac boot.  I'm debating on reinforcing the front edge.  Any one have an opinion on that.  There will be a center anti scalp wheel.

 

Edited September 11, 2021 by Bill D

[kpinnc 12,049]

Bill that looks great! I'm betting you won't have as much clippings now on the left side with that baffle in place.

 

So far as reinforcement, mine has a 1 x 1/4 flat bar welded around the front lip from one side to the other. Whether you need it or not really depends on how many roots or other obstructions you have to contend with.