MTD Pro Z2554 not cutting thoroughly

   / MTD Pro Z2554 not cutting thoroughly #1  

The kid

Elite Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2012
Messages
4,132
Location
Middle Tennessee
Tractor
1965 135 gasser, 1967 135 diesel
I sharpen the blades at least once a season. Not the easiest to remove, but not the hardest. I was having to run over my yard twice just to knock down some strays. So I decided it was time to resharpen the blades. What I found was the sheetmetal that creates a circular swirl to each blade was crushed back against the frame on one side. This would give irregular air flow causing the glass not to be pulled up correctly and cut, leaving ragged high grass in the mowers wake.

I tore it all down and removed the badly damages bracket. Got out my trustly ballpin hammer and anvil to began to beat it back into shape. I got it pretty close to original. The bottom was getting in sad shape. Got the angle grinder out and took it to shiny metal and cleaned and hand sanded to the crevises and crannies. Gave it coat of self etching primer. I had some left over Massey Ferguson paint and the color was close enough for being on the bottom. I had about a half quart left of enamel and added a few onces of hardener to it. So it had to be used in 24 hours. I gave the deck a hefty two coats and within an hour the paint was dry to the touch, but not fully cured. It should make future cleanups a breeze. Here's a few pictures of what I did.

The first picture is my mower with the refurbished deck back on it. I installed a new deck drive belt while I was at it. The next pictures is how the deck now looks before I mounted the blades, rollers removed. This paint will cure out really hard and should last a long time. I hope to get the back five acres cut this week.:thumbsup: -robert
 
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   / MTD Pro Z2554 not cutting thoroughly #2  
Nice work. Best wishes in regards to mowing the "back five acres". BTW, did your area get a lot of rain on Sunday and Monday? I have relatives in East Tennessee and they received a lot of rain. The County next to them had a lot of flooding.
 
   / MTD Pro Z2554 not cutting thoroughly
  • Thread Starter
#3  
creekbend said:
Nice work. Best wishes in regards to mowing the "back five acres". BTW, did your area get a lot of rain on Sunday and Monday? I have relatives in East Tennessee and they received a lot of rain. The County next to them had a lot of flooding.

Yes sir, we sure have. We got another lighting storm just day before yesterday. Knocked out the AC here. Luckily it was only a starting capacitor. Last week lightning hit our transformer and blew the fuse. Only minor damage to a couple pieces of electronics.

I got the mower out tonight to try it out and cut that high grass like butter. Where the mower passed over it looked like carpet. So that bit of sheetmetal work and sharpening sure made it cut like a new mower. Bad thing around here is the humidity. The grass stays wet and I sweat bullets running the string mower. I've got to get back to work on my 135 when my last few pieces come in from Texas.
 
 
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