Man, what a nightmare this turned out to be. Removing the fender deck is supposed to be a 5-minute job. Took me more like 2 hours, not including research. When I got it off, and I moved the fuel tank out of the way, I had very poor access to the cylinder and hoses, but it was enough to make the job possible.
To get the deck off my 430, you have to remove the shift lever in the floor. The engineering is unbelievably stupid. The shift knob protrudes through a small hole too narrow for a wrench, and the hex on the lever is BELOW the deck. I had to turn it about a tenth of a turn at a time. The person who designed this must have been trying to get fired, because no one can be that dumb and still breathe. I feel like welding a T-handle to it. I slathered the nut and threads with anti-seize, and I left the lever finger-tight so I would be able to get it off next time.
The annoying seat switch (bypassed with a cable tie) has a huge connector on it, and you have to feed it through a tiny hole in the deck with one hand, while holding the deck up with the other. Otherwise, the switch wires tie the deck to the tractor.
A good engineer would have used a boat-type kill switch that attaches to a cord and bracelet. Before I killed the switch, I had to restart the tractor every time I got off to pick up a stick.
The taillight lamps have to be pulled out of their housings in order to remove the deck. Pushing them back in is nearly impossible. I greased them, and I still had to wrestle with each one for over 5 minutes. For $9200, Deere could have put disconnects in the wires, or they could have used sockets that screw in, like, oh, every major vehicle manufacturer.
I don't know why my lawnmower needs taillights anyway.
The deck and seat must weigh 60 pounds, and when you lift the assembly, you have zero leverage. Like lifting an ironing board with a fat child sitting on the far end. It's a wonder I managed it.
The new cylinder is in, however. Hope it lasts a while.
