aligning deck

14 years ago

Have a Cub LTV1046,which has the same deck set up as my old TSC,so normally have no trouble aligning height. After my son used the mower,it now cuts lower on left side.(must have bumped something with deck. Cant see anything bent or out of line,so tried adjusting the deck and ran out of adjustment.(about 1/4 less on the low side,left) side) If I adjust the lifting arm on the lower hole,it makes it too high,so tried drilling new hole in lifting arm between between high and low hole and helped some,but not enough. So to get the deck level,I turned the adjustment(ratchet wheel )backwards,which gave me an extra 1/4 adjustment each way. Naturally its a little harder to adjust this way. The lifting arms are not bent. Any help on finding whats wrong. Cuts ok now(although has never cut as smooth as old 3 bladed TSC(,but figure something has to be bent.

Thanks for any help

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Comments (4)

rcbe
14 years ago
was front/rear tire psi checked/OK and matched side to side before deck leveling started and was leveling done on a flat surface? Were all measurements made from underside of blade tip cutting area?
mownie
14 years ago
Pay close attention to what rcbe is referring to regarding "blade tip".
If something was run over or hit that might have tilted the mounting plane of the blade spindle.............you could have a deep cutting area on one side of the blade orbit and a high cut on the opposite side of blade orbit.
The deck sheet metal skirt around the edge may be even but it is the spindle mounting area out of kilter that causes the problem.
If the spindle mounting area is bent, one blade tip will always be higher than the opposite blade tip when you check them with the blade in one spot. If you rotate the blade 180 degrees the measurements stay the same.
If a spindle SHAFT gets bent, one blade tip is high and the opposite tip is low, and if you rotate the blade 180 degrees, the high and low tips exchange places.
Long story short is that your blades must be parallel to the level surface or you will see a problem cut.
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ollieduke
Original Author
14 years ago
Mownie and rcbe,you were both right. The spindle had some plastic hot wire wrapped between it and the blade,which I paid no attention. I checked the blade level to make sure the front was a tilted about 1/4 inch(book instructions)lower than the back. After it still not cutting right,I rechecked the tilt of the blade and removed the hot wire from the spindle and noticed the tilt was different than before,so I then checked the level of the blade instead of the tilt and found about 1/4 difference and with the wire removed,noticed the spindle shaft was at a slight angle. By this time it was late yesterday and didnt remove the deck. The bottom bearing was cocked a bit and just looked like it wasnt pressed in flush. Although the blades are ok,it must have hit pretty hard to un seat the bearing. Will take the spindle off and check and hope it didnt crack it. Was going to up date the problem this morning and tell what I found,but you two already had the problem solved yesterday. Thanks a lot for all the help you give us dummies on the web.
ollieduke
Original Author
14 years ago
Cant blame my son for the trouble,as the top bearing was in pieces and the bottom one was on its way. Checked the other spindle and it had a very small amount of play,so checked it and the 2 bearings were dry and going bad. First spindles going bad that I couldn't hear. They have a grease fitting and are using sealed bearings and also had an i/8 hole drilled completely thru it opposite the grease fitting.(which was stopped up with dirt) The only way the grease fittings would help was if the grease became thin and some how leaked thru the bottom sealed bearing. This seems to be normal for the low end mowers,I guess they are doing a snow job to make us believe the spindles are like the high ends one,where the grease fitting actually work. In the past had thought about removing the upper seal on the bottom bearing and then then the grease would help,but figured the spindle would let dirt in. So I replaced all 4 bearings (lucky bearing services in hub were still ok) and its cutting good again. So trying to outsmart the designers of the spindles who like to resell them every 3 years,I will replace the bearings every 2 years,as Nappa stocks the bearings and are only $5 each. Any idea why the extra hole in the spindle? Thanks