help with G5200 belly mower

skunkhome · Oct 22, 2008

I recently purchased a G5200H for $450. I am pretty pleased with the tractor in general but the mower is giving me fits. There is more scalping going on there than at the Little Big Horn.

I have tried leveling the 44 in mower using the manual and it is some better but it seems to have a front down attitude and I can't seem to get it to lift the front very much with the manual lift. Could it be that the front links are too long? the turnbuckles on the lift links are all the way tight and it still will not pick up the mower much in front.

RiverV · Oct 24, 2008

I'm at work now so I can't go look at mine but it looks like the front rollers may be set too low. If I remember correct my front rollers are not up as high. Don't remember if there a couple of different sets of holes to adjust or not.

To get the front to pick up higher try to shorten the front lift links buy turning the long nuts on each side. Mine are pretty snug when the deck is down. Remember to tighten the locking nuts or the links will come apart. Don't ask me how I know.

My center lift links are turned all the way up as yours are. Look underneath at the center lift links and at the ends of each you will see a square block with a hole that has the rod passing through. The threaded end at the top is welded to this block. This part is a weak point in the lift. I keep a couple of spare ones on hand. Broke one this year.

I'll look at how my deck is set up this weekend. Hope this helps a little

Dave..

skunkhome · Oct 26, 2008

Dave, thanks for the reply. You are confirming what I suspected about the front links but could find no reference to them in the owners manual. My front rollers are setting on the middle holes but the right roller drags the ground even when the deck is raised. Looking forward to your measurements...the left hand link has been welded on one end, so I must remove from tractor to make adjustment.

RiverV · Oct 27, 2008

My left and right rollers are set in the middle position. The center anti scalp roller does not touch level ground when the deck is down. Your deck looks different than mine. I bought my tractor new and it came with a RC44-G deck. What model is that on your tractor? It looks a lot taller than mine. My parts manual only lists the RC44-G but they may have changed to another deck at some point.

Dave..

skunkhome · Oct 27, 2008

I am told it was a shop built deck based on the RC-44G... that could be my problem. Were You able to measure the distance between the pins on the front links?

RiverV · Oct 28, 2008

Sorry, I forgot to measure that. I'll do that tonight. Who ever made the deck did a nice job.
My deck is pretty much rotted out, I'm looking for another.

Another thought. When I replaced the center lift rod end this summer. First I screwed the long nut part way in then started to thread into the other end. I could not get that side to raise up all the way because the nut would hit the end of the threads on one end. Started over, threaded one end in 1 turn to get started then started the other end. Problem solved.

Dave..

RiverV · Oct 29, 2008

The distance pin to pin on my front links is 14 1/2" as I have them adjusted. I measured how tall my deck is, it's 6" measured at the front edge of the discharge chute.

Dave..

skunkhome · Oct 30, 2008

thanks, I'll put that info to use right away

skunkhome · Oct 30, 2008

wow! mine measure 15" pin to pin (I knew they looked like they should be shorter). and my mower is 7" deep at the front of the chute. don't know if that last dimension makes any difference.