Cleaning my mower deck

[Hambone]

<font color="red"> </font> See, you thought the hooks would bend, did'nt you ?

I was worried when you were talking about lifting up the mower to clean under the deck, and I saw a swimming pool in the background /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Mrwurm]

Ah, great idea ! Dip the mower in the pool and then hang to drip dry. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Brilliant ! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[DieselD]

You could get a backhoe, dig a pit like the Oil change places.
and work from underneath.
Danny /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[JeffreyG]

The key to your method is having a FEL.

With my old 42" lawn tractor, the deck doesn't come off easy, so I reach my hand underneath and grab the gunk best I can. Sometimes I use car ramps, sometimes not.

But with my new 54" JD I'm waiting to get delivered, my plan is take the deck off and clean. I'll see how easy that is. Supposed to be quick detatch. And the deck wheels rotate so it should slide out ok. Plus, since I plan on using a front blade for playing around, I should get used to taking the deck off and putting it back on.

Anyway, that's my plan.

 

[WVBill]

I've used several methods with my 42" lawn tractor: Reaching underneath, car ramps and picking up the front wheels with the FEL on my tractor.

Now I've rigged up a light duty chain hoist from Northern Tools in the overhead of my garage. I lay out a tarp, roll the nose of the lawn tractor up to the chain hoist and raise it up to about a 30 degree angle. Put a short 6 x 6 block under the front for safety then reach under and scrape off the crud onto the tarp.

 

[scotd1]

I had a JD 430 L&G for 18 years and I now have a JD X595 and that's how I service my decks also. Works great and is fast if you have the FEL handy. I use jack stands if I need to get under there myself to change blades and etc. I don't have the fancy hooks like you do /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif but it does work great and if someone has a better way to do it, I would like to hear about it. Removing the deck is a little more involved than I would like even though it's not a big deal.
I have thought about welding up a steeper ramp to drive up onto that would put the tractor up at about a 45 degree angle or maybe a little more. If I can get my hands on some good steel grid (like they use on cat walks, etc) I may attempt to make a special ramp. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif