After owning a 62D deck for at least 10 years I am still having problems with the front gauge wheels putting trenches in my yard. The wheels simply do not have enough castor on them so they fail to rotate toward the rear and end up gouging trenches in my yard. Anybody else have this issue or has a solution been found? When the deck was new lots of people on this forum had this complaint and my dealer did several things for me. He replaced the flat bottom wheels with rounded ones and he installed a zirk fitting into the wheel pivot. These fixes have never solved the problem. If I routinely take the wheel pivots apart and clean them so they rotate freely they will work to a limited degree for a short while but as soon as they dirty up a bit they fail to pivot again. I have come up with several temporary fixes that each have their own limitations. I'm getting so tired of this so I figured I'd see if anyone else has found a "permanent" fix. Do the newer decks have this problem? I recently talked to my dealer again and he said he has never heard of this complaint. Thanks.
Mowing Problems with front gauge wheels on 52D deck
- Thread starter bz1
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beenthere
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- Aug 16, 2001
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- Southern Wisconsin, USA
- Tractor
- JD_4x2_Gator, JD_4300, JD_425, JD_455 AWS, added JD_455, JD_110, JD_X485(sold)
Do you have some pics of the caster wheels? Is the caster wheel arm single sided or a yoke on both sides?
I just purchased a used 272 finishing deck for my 4300, and experienced the digging of the front caster wheel, and it was a bent arm. Changing it out to the same wheels, but a double sided yoke on both sides of the wheel. Hope that trails better.
I just purchased a used 272 finishing deck for my 4300, and experienced the digging of the front caster wheel, and it was a bent arm. Changing it out to the same wheels, but a double sided yoke on both sides of the wheel. Hope that trails better.
There is quite a bit of caster already on the front gauge wheel yokes, but there should also be a bridle on the vertical shaft with a tension spring to pull the yoke to straight ahead.
Set the deck on a flat level surface and see if the wheels are supporting the deck weight at all. Could be that the deck is sitting on the front and rear rollers.
Set the deck on a flat level surface and see if the wheels are supporting the deck weight at all. Could be that the deck is sitting on the front and rear rollers.
beenthere
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2001
- Messages
- 18,458
- Location
- Southern Wisconsin, USA
- Tractor
- JD_4x2_Gator, JD_4300, JD_425, JD_455 AWS, added JD_455, JD_110, JD_X485(sold)
Looking at jdparts, the front deck wheels show a yoke, and no springs to bridle the wheels pointing straight ahead.
However, the operating manual tells how this deck is to be carried by the tractor, and not lowered to run on the ground. The deck wheels are only for limiting scalping. That wasn't mentioned, so figure the deck may be set up wrong (and some dealers I'm aware of don't know that is how it is designed).
Once the deck is leveled out on a flat surface, the gauge wheels are to be set 1/4 to 1/2 inch above that surface.
And if something is bent, they won't caster very well.
However, the operating manual tells how this deck is to be carried by the tractor, and not lowered to run on the ground. The deck wheels are only for limiting scalping. That wasn't mentioned, so figure the deck may be set up wrong (and some dealers I'm aware of don't know that is how it is designed).
Once the deck is leveled out on a flat surface, the gauge wheels are to be set 1/4 to 1/2 inch above that surface.
And if something is bent, they won't caster very well.
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My deck has a 2 sided yoke just like the diagram posted by beenthere. There is nothing bent or broken. Actually, out of frustration, today I raised the front wheels as high as they will go and still have this problem. And even at their highest position they will hit the ground first before the bottom of the deck hits. I tested this on my concrete driveway today. With wheels as high as they will go I dropped the deck right down onto the concrete but wheels hit the concrete before the bottom edge of the deck. One of my wheels was sideways and it just stayed there dragging sideways on the concrete for about 10 feet before finally turning. There is simply not enough castor angle on the wheel yoke. I was mowing today, with the wheels at maximum height so they only touch the ground rarely when I hit an upslope in the yard. Since normally the wheels aren't touching the ground and I have them clean and well lubricated, they will randomly spin around. Several times I had the front wheel hit a high spot in the lawn while it was in a 90 degree position. They simply stay at 90 degrees and literally dig a trench in the ground. I just can't get them to turn while mowing. The wheels pivot very easily by hand. I personally believe they don't have enough castor angle on them. Maybe they fixed this on newer decks? In 10 years I've never been able to get mine to work correctly. I like ssvyb6 suggestion that a centering spring might help but I think when going around tight turns they would still dig up the sod because the would try to stray in the forward facing position. Today I came up with an idea that I'm going to try. Here is a pic. I installed a drag wire using a spring steel wire. The idea is that this wire touches the ground further rearward of the wheel and thus by dragging on the ground it will always keep the wheel pointed in whatever direction I am traveling. The pic was taken from a vantage point a little above the wheel so it isn't clear but the wire reached down about an inch below the bottom of the wheel.
This worked good today. I'll see how long it lasts.
This worked good today. I'll see how long it lasts.