Mowing 60" Mower Questions

[TheBigHeadKid]

60\" Mower Questions

I just started using my brand spanking new 60" mower and I have a few questions.

1) What is the best position for the QA plate to reduce rattling. There seems to be too much slop between the plates and they rattle terrible.

2) I searched through past posting and tried to find your recommendations for high temp grease for the spindle bearings. Could not find, please repost grease recommendation.

3) I have read all the posting on OEM wheels and the solid wheels. I have not had a problem yet, but I am confused why they have not converted all new mowers to the solid?

4) As a new PT user I have not tested this yet. When you are in float mode, is both the raise cylinders and the tilt cylinders floating or just the raise cylinders?

5) Has anyone ever tried putting the caster type wheel on the back of the mower. Take the same mounting brackets and caster arrangement and add it to the back of the deck at an angle?

Thanks for the help....

Dave

 

[MuncyBob]

Re: 60\" Mower Questions

My QA plate rattles a fair bit too and not sure what you can do about that...I wear a headset when mowing so that solved it for me. The float position is in regards to the lift arms...deck just "floats" along the ground. I do try to remember to have the deck "even"...this would be what you are referring to the "tilt"?? Before starting out use the control arm to make the deck as parallel to the ground as possible. I have been using Valvoline synthetic grease(can't recall the exact brand name now)...I think any grease suitable for high speed will do though. I do give eachof the 3 grease fittings under the deck a few pumps before each job.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: 60\" Mower Questions

The mower rattles a lot. Ours has for going on four years. The more uneven the ground, the more it rattles.

Before I start mowing I give each spindle a few shots of high speed grease. Power Trac says to do the deck after every 8 hours of mowing. I find it easier to do it every time I mow just so I don't have to keep track of mowing time. I bought a tub of it at the local auto parts store and a grease gun to go with it. I use regular grease in the other fittings on the tractor.

I then drive the tractor onto the level driveway and put the mower in float. Then adjust the dump/curl function of the joystick so that the main hangar bar of the mower is centered in its travel. That allows for maximum travel of the mower deck over hills.

The float position works on the lift function only.

Solid VS inflated tires:
Our yard is table-top flat in most places, so it isn't much of a problem, but when I hit bumps, the solids really bounce whereas the air tires provide some shock absorbing to the deck. The faster you go, the more pronounced this becomes. The advantage is... solid tires never go flat. I tend to switch between the two several times a year. When an air tire goes flat, I just throw on the solid. It only takes 30 seconds, and since the whole assembly is interchangeable with my brush hog and snow plow, I actually have two sets of inflatables and one set of solids. When I run out of tires, I clean them up, re-inflate them and start over. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I've thought about casters on the rear, but think they might hit the drive wheels. Really haven't looked too close.