160 deck adjustment 38" deck manual transmission

[bjr]

Lookin' for any and all comments and any help as I'm just shootin' in the dark trying to bring this ol' girl back to life. I'm tryin' to help the neighbor get his "new to him" 160 mowing again. It's one of those "running when parked 6yrs ago machines". So far we've replaced the battery, air filter, fuel lines, fuel filter, sharpened blades, greased the spindles deck and steering and replaced the deck belt and had to order "new carburetor" from Tulsa Engine Warehouse. In the near future it will need a pair of new blades and new front tires as well. We had the deck out and back in, but now we can't figure out how to adjust the deck height? I was thinking there would be some kind of knob with numbers for height setting, but I'm not seeing anything. The other Issue was when we briefly got the engine to run on the old carburetor the PTO would not stay engaged. I looked under the seat and someone had cut off switch connectors and wire nutted the three wires together. Just to test, I removed the wire nut and wire nutted the wires separately, so exposed ends wouldn't short out to something, and the PTO worked. I'm assuming there's a relay that is a normally on (power to turn off) some where on the machine. I'll have to see if I can order a switch for it to get some safety back on the mower. This mower is truly a escapee from the scrape pile, and my neighbor fell in "love with it". So it's gonna cost "Dollars" to fix all of the "Issues", but, like Jackie Gleason used to say "And Away We Go". bjr

 

[tude]

I also own a 1986 160 mower. I use it as my primary mower at my future retirement property. The engine kept dying when engaging the PTO last week. The seat switch's plastic clips that hold it into the frame had broken off as the plastic deteriorated with age. I bought a replacement switch (part number AM104403) at my local John Deere dealer for $9.95.
You can find cheaper prices online. The deck height control has a plastic plate with the different height settings in 1/2 inch increments. The handle needs to be in the locked in fully up position prior to changing the decks cutting height.