ZTS 7500

[TractorGuy]

I am rebuilding the deck on my ZTS 7500. I purchased this mower used a couple of years ago and it has never mowed to my liking. I tried adjusting the deck height and level early on but I may have been compensating for a bad bearing. The outer spindles are covered by plastic guards so you can't see the pulleys. I am going to leave those off since they also prevent from being able to clean the debris from around them. It started scalping a streak and I removed the covers to find one of the upper bearings was completely gone. I ordered all new bearings, upper housings, one lower housing, idlers, and belts from various ebay vendors. I thought it was interesting you can't buy an assembled spindle assembly. You have to buy all the parts and put them together. This is not a bad thing because it probably saves cost. All the spindle shafts were in good condition so those will be reused.

The deck itself is in pretty good condition but it had several areas where there was surface rust under the finish. Been chipping the finish off of those spots and sanding to promote adhesion of the new paint. I'm anxious to get all new stuff on this and readjust it per the manual.

I also ordered a mulch kit from Sears. Sears showed the mulch kit for 85 bucks when I bought it and I thought that was too much since it's just some bent metal pieces so I didn't order it at first. It doesn't even come with mulching type blades. Turns out I shot myself in the foot on that decision because it changed status from too much to not available. Now it shows available for 140 bucks and I bit the bullet and ordered it. Thing I hate about Sears is they will show something in stock, charge you as soon as you order, then take forever to confirm shipping. I hope they don't end up canceling the order on that. It's not something I couldn't make myself but I think the bends look compound enough a factory setup should look and perform better than what I might make.

These take some getting used to for operating smoothly. I was tearing up the ground on every turn to start with. It has cut my mowing time in half from the old lawn tractor I was using.

The engine and mower has been pretty reliable so far. The only engine repair was the needle valve started sticking closed last year and I was having to pull the fuel line and blow it open every time I wanted to mow. I ordered a new needle valve and managed to get it installed without pulling the carb. It is poorly designed as far as maintenance is concerned. It has guards all around the engine. I dread having to adjust the valves. It looks like I will have to tear half the frame apart to get the valve covers off.

 

[TractorGuy]

Got this all back together. Mows MUCH better. Still waiting on the mulch kit and new belts to arrive. The right blade is about 3/8" higher than the center when the tips are aligned but I don't think I can see that in the finish. Center and left blades line up perfect. I cut the knee high Bahia over my drain field and if I slow down it cuts without leaving any streaks. Wide open it left a little I had to run back over. Most of the yard won't be that big of a challenge.

 

[TractorGuy]

Real unhappy with Sears. The last few transactions with them have left a sour taste but this is the preverbial straw.

They listed the mulch kit for this mower as "in stock" and it still shows that at Sears Parts Direct. They charged my card as soon as the order was placed but never showed a shipping date. 5 days after I called and told them to cancel or provide tracking. Was told the order could not be canceled and no tracking available. Today, 9 days after order placed, I get an email telling me the part is no longer available and the order will be canceled. So Sears will have had my money for 10 to 12 days for nothing.