917.273353 deck rebuild?

bertsmobile1 said:

Each blade has to overlap the other to get a complete cut.
To do this either then blades have to be timed so they don not hit each other or the spindles must be off set front back or they will hit each other.

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Bert- I never have heard of overlapping blades. You can't keep belt driven blades in time. No sorry, that's not right. There is a 1/8" gap between my 2 blade Zero, which is how I check then for running true etc.

7394 said:

Bert- I never have heard of overlapping blades. You can't keep belt driven blades in time. No sorry, that's not right. There is a 1/8" gap between my 2 blade Zero, which is how I check then for running true etc.

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Your ZTR may not have timed blades, but that doesn't make it impossible. Cub Cadet and John Deere have been using timed decks for several years and I believe Toro used them on a few models as well. They used a toothed belt to keep the blades in time.

I wouldn't want to own one though!

...And it makes me wonder why don't they use a motorcycle style chain driven spindles?

Several reasons I can think of:

-Mower decks are exposed to lots of sand. When you have a rubber belt on metal pulleys, sand will wear both, but the belt will take most of the wear. With a metal chain on metal sprockets, the sand would wear both your sprocket and chain evenly, forcing you to replace both.

-A rubber belt can stretch under stress when the blades are engaged. A metal chain will stretch as well, but it will stay stretched.

-Chain and sprockets are probably more expensive than belt and pulleys.

-A chain driven deck would be VERY noisy.

-A toothed belt will slip, break or jump teeth if you hit something. Sure, the blades may hit each other, but at least the engine has good chances of surviving undamaged. If you hit something with a chain driven deck, you will break your chain, maybe your sprockets, and you might bend your crankshaft as well.

-You would need a fixed deck in order for chain drive to work. With a chain setup, your sprockets have to be in line (or close to in line) with each other.

I've meant double belt deck design. One belt is just for the spindles and doesn't go up or down and the other one (off the double pulley) goes to PTO. So, replace the "stationary" belt and pulleys with chain and sprockets, cover it all up with plastic or metal cover (no dust gets in) poke a hole so that the shaft could go up thru the cover and install a regular belt pulley there from which a belt goes to a PTO.

The subject of blade off set on a 2 blade mower decks makes one think, how many people use one all of their lives wondering why their tractor deck doesn't set 90° to the tractor and direction of travel.:laughing:

Ahhh...to H E L L with all them decks!!! I just wish that Harley Davidson make mowers!!!

Jack17 said:

Ahhh...to H E L L with all them decks!!! I just wish that Harley Davidson make mowers!!!

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So do I
They would have never changed for 50 years which would make fixing them really easy :laughing::laughing::laughing:

7394 said:

Bert- I never have heard of overlapping blades. You can't keep belt driven blades in time. No sorry, that's not right. There is a 1/8" gap between my 2 blade Zero, which is how I check then for running true etc.

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Either I have not expressed myself clearly enough or you have not understood what was posted.
If you check the length of the blades on a 42" deck they will be somewhere between 21.25" to 22" long.
Now if your cut is 42" and the total blade length is between 42.5" & 44" then the blades must overlap.
In fact this is shown in all the owners manuals.
One blade is offset foreward so as you drive foreward the back blade overlaps the area already cut by the front blade.
THIS IS OVERLAP AND EVERY MULTI BLADE DECK HAS IT,

Stand on your mower and look directly down at your deck you will see one side ( usually left ) is further forward than the other side.

AS for timed blades, been around from the very beginning of multiblade decks.
Uses a timed belt with teeth, like on the cam shaft of your car, and pulleys with teeth .
The Husqvarna Rider Pro range which gives a cut quality equivalent to a drum mower all have timed blades with each blade at 90 deg to its neighbour.
The Stiga ZTR also has the same system and the Stiga articulated mowers both came with optional timed blades.

Timed blades are not particularly popular with most USA owners because of their obsession with lego land (striped ) lawns

And that's because every "good" lawn in America should look just like a Football Field on Super Bowl Sunday. If I could come up with a little robotic spray painting machine that would link up with your smart phone and paint using eco-friendly paint different team logos and signs on their lawns I'd be a Millionaire! :thumbsup: