Deck Conversion WH 520 48" to XI

[JoeM 7,871]

Spent a few afternoons refurbishing a deck from a 520. This was one of those jobs that went into extra innings. There was way more wrong than anticipated. 

 

Got the thing done and was looking at one in the shop from a xi , kind of making a comparison. I started wondering if there was anyway to make a adapter (bolt on) that would allow using the WH decks on the Toro XI machine.

XI Decks are pretty getting scarce and if you find good one they can be pricey.

The decks are very similar but have different rigging to attach and lift.

 

Wider front mount and spring loaded U clips to lift.

 

A few measurements and some pieces from the boneyard, came up with this first attempt. Worked okay but when the deck lifted, The front dipped and the rigging was just about touching the front pulley.

Flipped over the lift bars and got clearance but the bars hit the frame when lifted. The original bars are curved and it was looking like new straight ones are needed.  

 

Found some used flat bar and fab up some straight bars and it worked pretty well. 

 

I left the smaller input 520 pulley on the deck and put a tach on the spindle, BTS was just under 18000 FPM. 

The original 48" deck belt from the xi was the right size and worked. Saving the cost of a special belt.

 

Might try this bad boy out in the spring.

 

Front bolted on attachment 

 

 

New straight line bars with bolt on lifting clips

 

 

Rear wheel clearance is good (better than the XI decks)

 

 

 

 

[JoeM 7,871]

Got some more pics today. 

 

Parts shown, just remove the top rigging and replace with the one that fits the xi. 

 

What worked out was it could be put back easily. 

 

[peter lena 8,588]

@JoeM  good work on that , don't have any 48,s , but have detailed just about every area on my 42 r/d decks . went after  the basics first , sloppy linkage, belt bouncing,  spindles . pto drives . depending on interest and issue , draws you in . once i started correcting areas , the smooth quieter running started to show. then detailed the pto belt mule drive noise area  . noise was mainly bearing lubrication failure , hi temp lucas grease , stopped that , also dialed in the pto lever set up , very sloppy original set up , added 3/8 " of washers, at start point , next to battery . added heim joint at front end of push rod . works like butter . worked out so well , did it on all 3 horses , very often i use the OPPORTUNITY OF FAILURE , TO IMPROVE THINGS , see that in your work , pete