New 3100 center Hydro lift problem.

[ayeray]

I recently traded my 3204 for a new 3100 & slightly larger 50" deck. Have had to return it to the dealer three times now to get problems fixed.

The 1st had to do with the tires. The 3100 was ordered with sealer to be installed in all 4 tires; It was delivered with antifreeze ( thats right!) in the tires. The dealer told me he thought I wanted the extra weight of liquid in the tires. He came and got the 3100 and returned it with air but no sealer in the tires. He thereafter sent me 3 16oz. bottles of sealer. Upon reading the label, I found that this was enough to do the front tires only, so I did them myself and bought enough Slime (64 oz.) to do the rear tires also.

The 2nd is more serious. The mechanism of the deck lift and mowing height adjustment seems to have some kind of design flaw or the wrong parts were used in production. The lift shaft assembly has an L-bracket welded to the left hand lift arm which is supposed to contact the downstop arm when the deck is lowered. The 1st time this failed, the L-bracket, which had only 3 tiny spotwelds holding it on, sheared off. This allowed the deck to drop so far that both the threaded height adj. shaft was bent and the height indicator was sheared off as well. The dealer took it back to his shop and replaced the 3 damaged parts. It was returned yesterday.

I inspected the repairs while the guy was still here and we found that the new lift shaft asm. L-bracket ,while thoroughly welded to the LH lift arm, still did not make adequate contact with the Downstop arm and would slip down behind the downstop arm at any height setting above 1-2 inches. So back it went. They were nice enough to bring my traded-in 3204 so I have been able to keep up with my mowing.

Has anyone out there experienced a similar problem with a Hydraulic deck lift tractor?? I've owned 2 3204s previously since 03 and never experienced anything like this.

 

[jdkalb]

I Bought a new GT-3100 last year. It would sometimes make a crunching noise when loweing the deck. One day the deck would not raise at all. I found a piece of metal laying on the deck. It was a small shaft about an inch long with a flat piece of metal welded on the end. Looked sort of like a T. It had small broken welds on the shaft end that looked like only a small portion of the weld had been holding.

The dealer took it in and they welded the piece back on. The shaft is welded in a hole and they welded it completly around the hole. I have not had any trouble since.

 

[ayeray]

I Bought a new GT-3100 last year. It would sometimes make a crunching noise when loweing the deck. One day the deck would not raise at all. I found a piece of metal laying on the deck. It was a small shaft about an inch long with a flat piece of metal welded on the end. Looked sort of like a T. It had small broken welds on the shaft end that looked like only a small portion of the weld had been holding.

The dealer took it in and they welded the piece back on. The shaft is welded in a hole and they welded it completly around the hole. I have not had any trouble since.

I finally got the chance to compare the 3100 and 3204 lift linkages side by side. They are virtually the same. Many of the part #s match. We matched the orientation of the 3204 on the 3100. Also, it was necessary to use a thick washer to shim the main lift shaft over to the left to get the parts to clear each other correctly. Now the 3100 lift is working beautifully.