Mower decks explained?

[dave1310]

I have three decks with three different problems (one won't fully disengage, one slips in even moderate grass, and one won't engage though it has new spring and belt). Looking at the moving parts of the deck engagement mechanism, they all three have the right parts moving at the right time.
So, I obviously don't understand how the mechanisms work. There are thousands of videos and articles on how engines work. Are there videos on how the decks work? Not how to repair a specific problem but an overview of how the mechanism performs the engagement \disengagement process.

 

[ILENGINE]

Your issue may be dependent on the make and model of your mower and deck. Without the mower model number we are just guessing what brands this could be without considering what configuration of engagement and deck design was used on your model

 

[OldDiyer]

You came to the right place for help as the people here seem to always are willing to help. As to what your problems are they all seem to be BELT issues. Won't disengage long belt, slips in tall grass stretched, won't engage to long. I'm no expert at this stuff just thinking of the things I have read on this site. Others may have different things to also look into.

 

[StarTech]

Although decks are simple looking a lot engineering goes into them. For us the repair these decks we got years of experience. Where belts are either too short or too long. Most after market parts are just will fit. Doesn't mean they are the right parts. I had so much trouble belts that I had to purchase a v-belt measuring tool just to prove myself that what I was seeing and experiencing was cause incorrect length belts. One of my belt suppliers was A&I and their belts were coming in up to either 2" short or too long. They got pissed once I started having to send pickup ticket via UPS which meant they were losing money having to refund me my purchase price for every incorrect belt.

Finally I landed two OEM distributors and that resolve the belt issues. Stens, Rotary, and PIX belts are usually fairly close to OEM spec but even the OEM can have bad sizes once in a blue moon. So I perfer to use OEM belts here.

Then there are mechanical issues cause by worn parts. Again takes a lot of experience to know what you are looking at. Customers are bad about removing belt retainers and then complain about all the deck problems they have.

Now with that out of the way. We do need to know specifics such make and model of the mowers on which the deck are on and which decks they are using. We will probably be asking a lot of questions.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Sounds very much like you have manual PTO's on those decks
Despite every owners manual showing to oil all of the moving parts daily, no one ever does it
So pivot holes flog out oval tension arms wear on the bushes so they go out of alignment springs cut through ther mounts and drop off contolr wire stretch etc etc etc

I could write around 40,000 words which would cover most decks but you would not read them and I am lazy
So withut the make & model numbers of your mower we are just urinating into a very strong wind & I hae to do my own laundry so that ain't going to happen .

 

[StarTech]

Of course Bert we need at least one day off to get back to somewhere near sane again...Just got in a Z930M that customer just decided he was going to fix his own electrical problem. Now it is up to me to put it back together just to get to where it was before he did his number on it. Looking over the place for that nerve tonic...as I scream at teh top of my lungs at the stupidity and then charge the customer extra for the pain he caused me.

Oh BTW I did laundry two days ago so I am good for a week but do got house cleaning to do today.