Mowing 301 Mower Deck Fire and Build Date

[Altair 4]

I had an interesting weekend - after about an hour of mowing on my 2160 with the 48" three blade deck, I got a strange vibration. I stopped and expected to see a on-the-verge-of-breaking PTO belt.

What I found was totally different. The double pulley had self-destructed and was just sitting on the hex cap screw with the bearings completely destroyed. The PTO belt had somehow ended up tangled around the center mower blade under the deck. And the grass clippings that had collected during the previous hour were smoldering and erupting into small flames on the top of the deck.

I quickly drove to the side of the house with the hose connection and doused the the whole thing. I then pulled the deck out and figured I'd order the parts today from work, but I don't know the build date of my deck - the double pulley and hardware have two sets of parts, depending on the date. Can anyone tell me where the build date is (I didn't see it on the model/serial number plate). And can you tell me how to decode it? Cub Cadet's parts page shows dates like H140.

 

[q man]

What a streak of bad luck. If you have the model number and serial number of the mower deck some one at Cub Cadet customer service should be able to give you the build date. Or if there is a dealer near you they will be able to help. Or you could take the failed parts to a dealer and they will be able to match them with new. The operator's manual if you have it, may have a stamp with the model and serial numbers plus month and year of manufactor. While you are working on the deck it might pay to check the other two spindles to make sure they are okay.

Good Luck

 

[Altair 4]

What a streak of bad luck. If you have the model number and serial number of the mower deck some one at Cub Cadet customer service should be able to give you the build date. Or if there is a dealer near you they will be able to help. Or you could take the failed parts to a dealer and they will be able to match them with new. The operator's manual if you have it, may have a stamp with the model and serial numbers plus month and year of manufactor. While you are working on the deck it might pay to check the other two spindles to make sure they are okay.

Good Luck

It was actually kinda funny, in a way. I wished someone had video of my expression when I popped the hood and saw smoke and then when I peered under the mower at the top of the deck. There was just a little voice in the back of my head saying, "ya know, you should just let this burn to the ground...".

The blade spindles look and feel good. That double pulley doesn't have a grease fitting. I guess it just gave up the ghost. The new parts look like they might have a grease fitting, but I'm still in need of the build date.

I'll take your advice and give the dealer a call and see what they can tell me. Thanks for your response.

 

[Altair 4]

Update: I stopped at my local Cub dealer. They have no idea on how to check the build date of the deck.

Called Cub Cadet directly. They were more helpful in that they essentially told me it doesn't matter what the build date is, because I'll need to replace the entire double pulley with a new version ($60), that has greaseable bearings. This means that I need to replace the spindle bolt, a few snap clips and washers, a couple of bearing assemblies ($30), and the idler pivot arm ($60) that the whole thing rests on. $180 in ordered parts and I should be back in the saddle in about a week.

I'm going to change out the blades with a set that I bought last year while I have the thing out from under the tractor.

 

[Altair 4]

Update:

I got the whole thing back together last night (took longer than I thought as the two bearings were on back-order and arrived about five days after the first part of my parts order) although I needed to buy one extra grease fitting at the local Cub dealer. I thought I would either reuse the original grease fitting in the idler arm, or use a zerk fitting from the local auto parts store. Turned out that these are press-in fittings, not screw-in like I expected. I used a vise to press the the one into the idler arm, but had to use a drift to install the one in the double pulley. What a PITA.

I should be up and mowing this evening, and then I'm going to grease everything again just to make sure everything's nicely lubed. Thanks for the help, everyone!