deck not cutting properly after sharpening blades

[beenthere]

Yep,that spring issue is likely the culprit.If it can be removed with little effort,it's not doing its job.All the decks I've seen probably take 20-50 lbs of force to remove or install.Never worked on a Deere deck though.

Same with the Deere decks.

 

[meb9796]

I believe the idler spring is ok. I went to my local dealer last week and compared mine to one of their's and it seemed the same.

I finally got around to measuring the deck height and the front is over an inch higher than the front. Didn't someone say it was supposed to be a 1/4"?? Would this mess it up??

 

[tmajor]

The "spring" isn't the issue. It's the pivot of the idler/tensioner pulley. If it's frozen fast, so that it won't pivot, you wouldn't have a clue anything is wrong, if you didn't know, it is supposed to move.

 

[meb9796]

The idler pulley moves fine, and is not stuck. Just checked the manual, and going to go adjust the deck.

 

[John_in_TN]

"the front is over an inch higher than the front" ???

Rotate one outside blade so that one end points straight to the front (obviously, the other end will point to the rear). The front tip of the blade should be 1/4" lower than its rear tip.

Repeat the above process on the other outside blade - making sure the front is 1/4" lower than the rear and ALSO make sure it is the same height (above the ground) as the first blade.

End result should be deck level side to side and tilted so the blades tips are a 1/4" lower at the front.

Also regarding the idler: the pulley should spin freely on its shaft and the arm that it is attached to MUST move freely on its pivot point so the spring can cause the pulley to apply pressure to the belt.

 

[tmajor]

Also regarding the idler: the pulley should spin freely on its shaft and the arm that it is attached to MUST move freely on its pivot point so the spring can cause the pulley to apply pressure to the belt.

I'm afraid, the OP is missing the "pivoting" factor of the idler pulley BRACKET, which does tension the belt, as you point out. I believe, he may be confusing, the "spinning of the pulley", with the "pivoting" of the mounting bracket (not the same). ??

I can identify with this, as it happened to me. The frozen arm/bracket acted like a fixed mounting .. not pivoting.

 

[John_in_TN]

I agree tmajor - sorry I intended point out that I was just reinterating the point you had already made, but I got in hurry and forgot to include that.

 

[Rhoderman]

Is the front hanger for the deck on upside down, or somehow incorrect?
It should not be 1" high in the front, and that will cause it to cut bad.
Don't trust that someone else put it back together correctly.

 

[locknut]

Here's a link to a page that shows belt removal on a 48C deck.Says nothing about relieving spring tension on an idler pulley,says to loosen two sheaves.It shows a spring though.This setup looks foreign to me compared to the ones I've worked on.It also mentions blade brake settings/adjustments too.

Service Mower

 

[John_in_TN]

I believe you will find that link you posted is for a 48C on one of the newer model mowers (probably an LT series), and quite different from the 48C used on the OP's GT.