Adapting a 42" SD deck to a C-195

[8ntruck 6,993]

The 48" deck that came with my C-195 is as much of a project as the tractor.  So, having a 42" SD deck and a 42"RD deck, I figured that I could hang one of them on the C-195.  It just happens that the RD deck is currently installed on my 14-8, so the SD deck got elected for C-195 duty.  The 42" deck is a 5-1010-8 from about 1973.  I am assuming that the 48" deck is a 05-48SY01 from about 1982.

 

As a first pass, I hoped that the famous Wheel Horse parts interchangeably would allow the 42" SD deck to latch right on to the mid Tach-a-Mayic mount, leaving only figuring out what drive belt I would need.  No such luck.  With the lift pin in the slot in the lifting bar, the mid hitch attachment bar was about 1 1/2" behind the mid hitch.  Not even close to being able to latch up.

 

At this point, I looked up the accessory list for the C-195.  The only decks on the list are the 48" deck and the 60" deck.  OK, I'm in uncharted waters here.

 

Took another look at the lift bar on the 42" deck and noticed a hole behind the lift slot that is normally used.  The tape measure said that the hole was in about the needed position.  Slid the deck back under the C-195, put the lift pin in the round hole, and was able to get the hitch bar latched up in the mid hitch.  Only problem is that the lift linkage went into a bind when I tried to lift the deck.   About then, my retired engineer's brain kicked in and said that in a linkage with two links moving on two different centers, there would only be two points where the linkages would intersect (the quadratic equations even popped into view for my mind's eye). 

 

A quick look at the 48" lift bar revealed a nice long lifting slot.  Back to the Wheel Horse interchangeable parts theory.  The bar on the top of the stack is from the 42" deck, the bottom bar is from the 48" deck:

 

 

Looks like the solution!  But wait a minute!  The 'tail' on the lift bar that connects to the leveling linkage from the gage wheel shaft is not in the same place on the two decks.  OK, the famous Wheel Horse parts interchangeability does not apply to lift bars from these two decks.

 

Time to go medieval on the lift bar from the 42" deck.  A bit of time spent with a tape measure, center punch, 1/2" drill, SawsAll, and a couple of hand files resulted in this:

 

 

Again 42" lift bar on top, 48" lift bar on the bottom.  Reassemble the lift bar back on the deck, then a trial fit on the C-195:

 

 

Success!  A 99" by 1/2" belt works fine.  The only other minor item is that the gage wheels contact the rear tires and prevent the deck from getting to fully raised transport position.  I think that can be solved with the addition of 1" spacers behind the gage wheels.  I need to dig through my stash of miscellaneous materials to see if I have something suitable.  I'll add pictures when I figure something out here.

 

After a couple of test mowings to confirm all is OK, I'll disassemble and paint the relevant parts. 

[peter lena 8,589]

@8ntruck nice recovery , get some grease on those movement areas , aerosol red grease on related linkage areas , only if you want to ,  pete 

[8ntruck 6,993]

3 hours ago, peter lena said:

@8ntruck nice recovery , get some grease on those movement areas , aerosol red grease on related linkage areas , only if you want to ,  pete 

Yup.  That is planned in the disassemble, clean, paint, and reassemble phase.