I have a craftsman 22" push mower that i bought 2 years ago. last week i noticed the blade was hitting the left side of the deck when i would go over bumpy parts of my yard. So today i went and bought a new blade thinking that maybe the blade was bent. After putting on the new blade i started it up and it still does it. I had also noticed that the deck seems to flex alot, more than what i think it should. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance
I had one of those things for a while. I did indeed feel like the factory blade was hitting the deck when it would flex. I got soat the thing, I cut a 1/2" off of each end of the blade with my plasma torch, rebalanced it, and stuck it back on:ashamed:. That fixed the clearance issue, but what a bunch of stuff to go through just because the designers wouldn't actually test what they've done in the real world. "If it clears on the Solidworks CAD program, it MUST be right." Yeah, sure..:tongue:
Make sure the deck isn't broken or cracked where the engine mounts to it, that could cause a problem, if not and it is only hitting the deck in one spot apply force with a hammer (beat it up) and bend that portion back out, unless it is a cast deck, if you went a shorter blade it will cut down how close it will trim afterwards. sears and other cheap mowers are made of the thinest metal possible and flex quite easily.
yea i noticed that the deck is made of some pretty thin metal... almost like stamped sheet metal. It's odd because it was fine until last week... Under the deck on the right side i can fit my finger in between the side of the deck and the blade. But on the right side i cant. I looked underneath and nothing looked broken or cracked. the slightest little bump or twist and it will hit the left side. All the engine bolts on the bottom of the deck are tight and it doesnt look like anything is missing... It's almost like something got tweeked or twisted... moved somehow...?
Yes, as long as the mounting pattern for the blade is the same, I don't see any problem with installing a factory shorter blade. As to blade balancers, True Value Hardware stores, amongst a host of others, sells a blade balancing level. It looks like a Chinaman's coulee hat sitting on a small stand. A rod sticks up from the stand to the underside of the hat, and the hat balances on the rod. The "hat" has several different sizing ring that a blade can rest on. When the blade is parallel to the level surface that the tool is sitting on, the blade is balanced. It is kind of like a teeter-totter. Cost: about $6.50
at the thing, I cut a 1/2" off of each end of the blade with my plasma torch, rebalanced it, and stuck it back on:ashamed:. That fixed the clearance issue, but what a bunch of stuff to go through just because the designers wouldn't actually test what they've done in the real world.