Ordered a hydraulic jack today (I own one, but it's still in my other house....),so tomorrow the work starts. Have to remove at least one rear wheel, because of the mower-deck-lift extension to that same shaft the buckles are on. I also had a look at a 2320 today, and saw 2 things:
- the arms the buckles are attached to seemed to be made of one piece instead of 2 on my 2305
- the eyes were in the right direction, and probably even more in the middle than the eyes on the 2305
If anybody could get me a part number for that one piece (with 2 eyes), I would appreciate it! I don't see it in the part catalog.... Picture enclosed (it's the part 23 attaches to, and axle 27 goes through). I figure it should also fit the 2305, and since the eyes are a bit further away from the arms.
I will also remove the lower lift arms and get a second hole drilled in both arms to attach the sway chain also further back.
When reinstalling I'll see if installing them vertically will also help.
Everybody thanks very much for bearing with me. I'll post some pictures of the end result when finished. Hopefully next week.

See that in the JD parts picture of the 2320 the eyes are also in the right direction, as opposite to the JD 2305 parts picture.... strange.