YTS 3000 still scalping yard! ARRGGHH!!

bertsmobile1 said:

It is a matter of leverage.
By grabbing the blades you get a big mechanical advantage and that does make a difference.
You can not check the housings by grabbing the pulleys.
Even "professionals" like myself can miss a cracked spindle housing and many of them will look fine , untill you put a load on them when they open up.
This is why you have to pull the deck and put some serious weight on the blades to check properly.
Expect all the bolts to break off when you try & remove them.
Aftermarket spindle housings come with new bolts, Originals don't.
Check the prices , usually a complete housing + spindle + bearings is only a few $ more than the bare housing and worth doing the whole lot in one hit.
Nice clean deck by the way, nice to see some one who looks after their mower.

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I already got spindle and pulley off and a new spindle on the way. This is what I ordered:



Loosening the bolts on the spindle was not as hard as I expected. I didn't even have to use any PB Blaster. The trouble was getting the pulley off. I ended up tilting the deck on it's side, putting the blade back on then sticking some screwdrivers through the holes in the spindle against the blade so it wouldn't move.

While blowing off my driveway, I take my leaf blower and blow off the top of the deck, engine, etc. before putting it in my yard barn.

Edit:

I see what you mean know about no grass buildup under the deck. I didn't notice that. I don't know why but grass doesn't seem to stick to the underside of my decks like it does on my father's. It maybe the type of grass I have (zoysia grass?).

A couple of years ago, the mount with screw that holds/adjusts the deck broke and I welded it back on. So I may have removed all the grass then.

Whenever I fix my father's mower or sharpen the blades there is about an inch of buildup on the underside. I have to use a paint scraper to remove it.

BlazNT said:

Pictures do not always tell the whole story. Blades do not look bent when stacked on each other. If you have a bench or hand held grinder sharpen the blades.

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So if the blades don't appear to be bent stacked, how's the best way to know if they are bent? I laid each blade against my garage floor, and they were straight. I even took a level and laid it against each blade and each was straight.

What are you seeing that I am not?

The photo you enclosed with the end of the blade circled, was with the blade mounted to the spindle with the broken ears.

Sorry for the confusion. I am agreeing with you they are not bent.

Looking at that pic of the underside, I can see it's got some perspective error, so it's not like you can draw a square on it and expect it to be accurate, but I dood it anyway! I rotated the entire image counterclockwise till the housing lip near the wheels appeared "level". Next I made a couple short lines in green, kinda sighting along the planes of the tire tread and along the rim.

I used the shift key on the wheel to the left side of the pic to restrain the lines to strictly horizontal and vertical. They appear to align well with the rim and tread. But on the right side of the pic, that wheel seems badly tilted outwards on the tread and perhaps the housing corner is bent as well, which would have the effect of lifting that wheel higher off the ground. You could lay a straightedge or board across the housing in various directions for an eyeball reference to things.

Probably the wheel won't matter as much once the spindle is back to spec. A little leverage with an old "Crescent" wrench will tweak the wheel or housing closer to true.
-Ed

Compact7 said:

Looking at that pic of the underside, I can see it's got some perspective error, so it's not like you can draw a square on it and expect it to be accurate, but I dood it anyway! I rotated the entire image counterclockwise till the housing lip near the wheels appeared "level". Next I made a couple short lines in green, kinda sighting along the planes of the tire tread and along the rim.

I used the shift key on the wheel to the left side of the pic to restrain the lines to strictly horizontal and vertical. They appear to align well with the rim and tread. But on the right side of the pic, that wheel seems badly tilted outwards on the tread and perhaps the housing corner is bent as well, which would have the effect of lifting that wheel higher off the ground. You could lay a straightedge or board across the housing in various directions for an eyeball reference to things.

Probably the wheel won't matter as much once the spindle is back to spec. A little leverage with an old "Crescent" wrench will tweak the wheel or housing closer to true.
-Ed

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Yes the first thing I noticed was the deck wheels were a bit wobbly/worn and when the deck was on flat ground, the wheels on one side was touching the ground but the other side was not. That was my initial question if worn or loose deck wheels would have anything to do with scalping the yard. The first thing I did was try to tighten the nuts on the deck wheels but I'm out of adjustment and two of them are still wobbly.

I tried leveling the deck by adjusting the large screw that supports the rear of the deck but it didn't seem to make any difference when it came to scalping the yard.

UPDATE:

I got the broken spindle on and went on a test mow. Everything seems find now. Someone told me those deck wheels are there to prevent scalping when making turns and doesn't serve any purpose when going in a straight line. I'll know for sure when I mow my yard again.

If the yard is being scalped going around turns, I'll replace the wheels.