Grading Z-force 44 blade pulley grese zerks??

[MesquiteMan]

I bought a z-force 44 a couple of months ago largely due to you guys influence. I have been maintaining it like clock work and have come across something that I don't think is quite right.

The manual shows the count for blade pulley grease zerks as 3. I assume that is one for each blade. For the life of me I can not find one for the center blade pulley. I pulled the deck out from under the machine and noticed the nut on the center pulley has a threaded hole in it where I assume a zerk should have been installed? It is in the same place where the zerks are located on the other pulleys.

Am I right to assume a zerk should have been installed there and was just missed at the factory? If so, is this something I can just pick up at the local autoparts store and how would I know what to ask for?

 

[gamble77]

Thats correct, there is suppose to be one right on top of that nut with a 90 degree bend.

 

[MesquiteMan]

Gamble77,

Do you know if they would have those at NAPA? If you remember, I bought my ZF44 at Blowes since the nearest dealer is 60 or so miles away. I guess this should be covered under warranty but it is not worth the hassle unless it is not available locally.

Also, while I have you, when I pulled the deck from under the mower and had it sitting on flat concrete I noticed that the 4 deck wheels do not all contact the floor. In other words, one wheel is slightly higher than the rest and causes the deck to rock. They are all in the same relative holes so that is not the problem. Is this normal and if not, is it a problem? I don't really see that it would be since those wheels don't actually roll on the ground. THanks for all the great help and information you provide on this forum. I just wish we had a dealer such as yourself in my community that I could have bought from.

 

[gamble77]

Yeah the zerk should be available at any hardware/car parts store. About that deck I'm not sure. I can't remember us having a deck off that didn't sit flat on all four rollers but then again I can't ever remember actually checking them for that either! The deck should be mostly level though, I mean if there is not that much of a difference than the tolerance levels should be OK...kind of hard to say without seeing how bad it is. Hope this helps.

 

[celtic]

help, while talking of the zforce 44, i have removed my belt and deck for cleanup and install of new blades, now when i put it all back together and pull the tensioner rod to tighten the belt, the pulley is allowed too far over and therefore the belt is rubbing itself. i do not remember seeing the tensioner spring so stretched, what am i doing wrong?