62D MMM blues :(

[TNTractor1]

Well, I am loving my 2520, however, after 30 hours I have had one of the rear support arms on my 62D deck come loose, drag the ground and get completely bent up. Happened once about 2 weeks ago. The dealer replaced the arm no problem. Well today I start mowing again and after about 45 minutes of fine mowing, I look back and see where something is dragging and digging into the ground... sure enough, same exact thing happened again. I am suspecting that maybe I am mowing over uneven ground and it is putting pressure on the arm and somehow the pin comes out? Dealer is going to pick up the tractor next week. I am beginning to wonder if a rear finishing mower would be better for me. My land is somewhat hilly with a couple of spots where the slope changes kind of quick. Any one else experience this issue? With only 30 hours on the tractor, do you think the dealer would trade my 62D for a rear mount mower? It's getting frustrating and I am falling behind on my mowing. I don't know what I should do... Pictures below of the latest damage.

 

[glc24]

Hey TN
What year is your 2520?
Your linkage is a heck of a lot different than mine.
I even use hairpins (easier to get pulled out) instead of cotter pins and never had that kind of issue.


Greg

 

[PCABE5]

Greg what's different on yours? My linkage looks like the op's.

 

[glc24]

I don't know PCABE,maybe I'm not seeing it,but my lower brackets look totally different than his. Being yours is new,did they change them?

Greg

 

[TNTractor1]

Mine is a 2011 model I was told... Bought it in March

 

[glc24]

Interesting,both of you guys have 2011 models and it seems they (JD) changed the lower bracket configuration.

Greg

 

[TNTractor1]

I just wish I knew what, if anything I am doing wrong while mowing. Something is causing the cotter pin to either fall out or break off which results in the bolt sliding out which results in the support arm falling and getting mangled... or is it getting mangled first resulting in the failure. I think the mangled bar happens last because I am not hitting objects or being rough when I mow. Needless to say, I am not a fan of those tiny cotter pins right now.

 

[PossumHound]

Both lift mechanisms look similar to my old JD 650. I had exactly the same problem with the JD issued pin locks so I switched to the linchpin type shown below. Its exactly the same design as those used to secure an implement to the draft arms on a 3ph but small enough to fit the smaller pins holding your deck lift arms. Tractor Supply or similar will have them. Also, I seem to remember my setup had washers between the linchpin and liftarm. Couldn't hurt?

Sorry you've had this unfortunate start to your ownership.Good luck with a fix!

PH

 

[glc24]

I just wish I knew what, if anything I am doing wrong while mowing. Something is causing the cotter pin to either fall out or break off which results in the bolt sliding out which results in the support arm falling and getting mangled... or is it getting mangled first resulting in the failure. I think the mangled bar happens last because I am not hitting objects or being rough when I mow. Needless to say, I am not a fan of those tiny cotter pins right now.

The mower deck linkage for my 2520 was a mess from the factory. The cotter pins were far too small,and there was alot of play in all the arms/pin connections. I replaced every cotter pin with nice beefy hairpins. If I have any mishaps from the hairpins being knocked off,I'll change to the linchpin. As PossumHound mentioned,it ends being a nice rigid setup,if you take up all the "free space" with washers.:thumbsup:

Greg

 

[PCABE5]

I don't know PCABE,maybe I'm not seeing it,but my lower brackets look totally different than his. Being yours is new,did they change them?

Greg

Greg I was wrong.:ashamed: I was looking at the anodized piece that bent and you were looking at the lift linkage on the 3pt. My bracket looks just like yours. TNT has different brackets, his are straight verses the offset we have. Just look at the space between the tires that he has.

With that much different in brackets the deck must have changed as well. There is no way TNT's 3pt brackets would work on my deck.

 

[TNTractor1]

Thanks, once the dealer fixes it again, I will go to TSC and get sone new pins to replace the cotters... great idea

 

[sldva00]

... I replaced every cotter pin with nice beefy hairpins...

This is what I did to mine also. My attachment arm got bent up the same way within 10hrs of use last year (2010 year model). My land is flat but bumpy. It does have a slight grade for drainage. I also mow the small ditch that is in front of my property. The slope is not too bad.

 

[pdp11]

I have independent lift on my 2520, so the linkage looks different. Mine is held together with split wire rings, just like the one that is on the pin for your drawbar. That seems to prevent any possibility of the pins coming out, and I've never had a problem.

 

[mjncad]

Mine is held together with split wire rings, just like the one that is on the pin for your drawbar. That seems to prevent any possibility of the pins coming out, and I've never had a problem.

McMaster-Carr www.mcmaster.com calls them cotter-rings and if the dealer doesn't carry them, they are an alternate source. They work great.

Another possibility is a double-hairpin. It sort of looks like a bow-tie for lack of a better description. I've only seen them at the Deere dealer for Big Box Mart class lawn tractors; but there may be heavier ones for all I know.

 

[jakdeere]

I had the same issues with my uncles 2720. The rear lift are looked like a twin to yours. The tractor only had 10 hours on it so the dealer fixed it but, said he not fix it if this happened again. GLC 24 is right get the heaviest hair pins that will fit in there with a washer behind it and make sure your deck is adjusted properly. If they installed your mmm on a friday afternoon they probably just threw it on.

 

[bz1]

If it helps I can tell you that the brackets shown by GLC4 are exactly like my 2008 JD2520 tractor. Me new 2011 tractor has the same brackets as TNT. I know both my new tractor and deck are 2011 models. I'm only guessing but I think they changed them because of clearance problems when you install chains. On my old tractor with the bent brackets I had to set the tires to wide position so the bracket would clear my tire chains. Back in 2008 JD did not offer any tire chains for the 2520 tractor. Now they do offer chains, and conveniently the bracket has been made straight to allowing for chain clearance. The deck has not changed. If you were to check TNT's setup you would find that the forward (black) draft links for the deck now have an extra bend in them to reach inward to line up with the straight bracket while GLC4's linkages are straight. The width of the attachment points on the deck are exactly the same for my 2008 deck versus my 2011 deck. I carefully noted these differences between my 2008 machine and my 2011 machine. I had this same problem with my 2008 setup when I first got it and I found it was more caused by incorrect installation of the cotter pins. And of course as others have said there needs to be washers behind each cotter pin. The cotter pins need to be installed with both legs bent all the way around against the round pin. If you don't bend them all the way or you only bend one leg they will catch on something and be ripped out. Also the correct washers need to be used. They need to have holes the right size so they fit somewhat close to the pin. I totally eliminated this problem on my 2008 and a previous machine by making sure I had the correct washers and installing the largest cotters that fit in the holes and bending both legs all the way around. I ran that setup for 13 years on two previous machines and never had another cotter come loose even while spending lots of time driving through thick brush while cutting firewood. My personal observation is that none of the pins you guys are talking about will hold as good as the proper sized cotter pin that is properly installed. The only thing better would be to use professional grade lock wire and install it correctly.

 

[PCABE5]

If it helps I can tell you that the brackets shown by GLC4 are exactly like my 2008 JD2520 tractor. Me new 2011 tractor has the same brackets as TNT. I know both my new tractor and deck are 2011 models. I'm only guessing but I think they changed them because of clearance problems when you install chains. On my old tractor with the bent brackets I had to set the tires to wide position so the bracket would clear my tire chains. Back in 2008 JD did not offer any tire chains for the 2520 tractor. Now they do offer chains, and conveniently the bracket has been made straight to allowing for chain clearance. The deck has not changed. If you were to check TNT's setup you would find that the forward (black) draft links for the deck now have an extra bend in them to reach inward to line up with the straight bracket while GLC4's linkages are straight. The width of the attachment points on the deck are exactly the same for my 2008 deck versus my 2011 deck. I carefully noted these differences between my 2008 machine and my 2011 machine. I had this same problem with my 2008 setup when I first got it and I found it was more caused by incorrect installation of the cotter pins. And of course as others have said there needs to be washers behind each cotter pin. The cotter pins need to be installed with both legs bent all the way around against the round pin. If you don't bend them all the way or you only bend one leg they will catch on something and be ripped out. Also the correct washers need to be used. They need to have holes the right size so they fit somewhat close to the pin. I totally eliminated this problem on my 2008 and a previous machine by making sure I had the correct washers and installing the largest cotters that fit in the holes and bending both legs all the way around. I ran that setup for 13 years on two previous machines and never had another cotter come loose even while spending lots of time driving through thick brush while cutting firewood. My personal observation is that none of the pins you guys are talking about will hold as good as the proper sized cotter pin that is properly installed. The only thing better would be to use professional grade lock wire and install it correctly.

BZ1 thanks for noting your '08 and '11 observations and the detailed difference between the two MMM lifts :thumbsup:. Nice to see JD made some engineering changes for the better.

 

[Kep]

I bought mine in Mar of 2011 and the deck from the dealer wasn't installed right. When I took the deck off one of the cotter pins wasn't spread and the other was missing. They didn't fit very well so the first thing I did was replace all the cotter pins with larger hair pins then spent some time setting the deck up right. It hasn't given me any more trouble all year.

 

[glc24]

My personal observation is that none of the pins you guys are talking about will hold as good as the proper sized cotter pin that is properly installed.

Hey bz,
This is very true.

I try to keep a keen eye on everything. I have expected a problem by now,but so far,everything has been good. The reason for the pins,is I take the linkage off frequently. I just don't like it under there when I'm in the woods.
Now that I have my "lockup kit",I may start leaving it on,and I'll change out the hairpins for proper fitting cotters.:thumbsup:

Back in 2008 JD did not offer any tire chains for the 2520 tractor. Now they do offer chains, and conveniently the bracket has been made straight to allowing for chain clearance.

I really don't know how close they would be to my linkage because it has to come off for my snow plow sub frame. If it were on I'd bet it would be really close.

Greg

 

[TNTractor1]

Wow, thanks for all the great info. The dealer is going to fix it this week and I am going to tell them to bend the cotter pins all the way back and wrap around the bolt. Even with that, I will inspect it all once I get the tractor back and possibly replace with thicker pins.