62C mower deck problems

[wilnis]

Hi-I have a JDx595 with a 62C deck, great tractor but I'm having issues with the cutting quality. About 90 hours, starting 3rd season, and whenever I cut, I can see each of the three blades leaving a path at different heights. The deck is leveled front to rear and side to side, I put on new JD blades and still leave three different paths in my wake. I just bought gator blades, they cut great, but I still leave different level paths. My friendly JD dealer suggested a bent deck, I do have a rough 2.5-3 acre lawn but the deck is essentially new, and I don't remember hitting anything that stopped the blades or mower. I wondered about spindles but, again, essentially new deck that is supposed to be sturdy. I took off the "caps" on the spindles where the blades attach, found some grass and grease there and cleaned that out, and the blades are definitely all flat and are put on with no cant to them.
I cut grass at about 3.5", try to cut dry, sometimes it's pretty long, but I've always done that and don't remember getting such a poor cut in the past with this machine.
Question-any suggestions about what I can do as far a maintance, adjustments, different cutting styles, going slower, faster(probably not), changing spindles, or whatever. If I haven't given enough info, tell what you need to know. Thanks in advance. Bill

 

[MrJimi]

From reading your post, I think what your dealer is saying by being bent, he may mean warped like twisted ever so slightly and that would give your different cuts for each blade. Can you take your deck off and very slowly place it on a perfectly flat surface to see what touches first, second and so on and it could have happened from bumping a curb or tree or something like that. The way to fix it if thats the way it is, is to twist it the opposite way. Something like taking a flat cookie pan with both hands and twisting it

 

[wilnis]

MrJimi-Thanks for the quick reply. A warped deck is very interesting as I've noticed since I got the tractor that when it is "leveled", one the the front anti scalping wheels always has sat lower than the other and I've had to raise it to a hole that is always different than the one on the other side!
From a logistic point of view another question. I can do maintance wrenching and occasionally other more simple things, but how would I get it straightened if it is indeed warped? The JD dealer or is there some other way I could take the warp out of it with home tools?
Thanks again for the shrewd observation. Bill

 

[MrJimi]

MrJimi-Thanks for the quick reply. A warped deck is very interesting as I've noticed since I got the tractor that when it is "leveled", one the the front anti scalping wheels always has sat lower than the other and I've had to raise it to a hole that is always different than the one on the other side!
From a logistic point of view another question. I can do maintance wrenching and occasionally other more simple things, but how would I get it straightened if it is indeed warped? The JD dealer or is there some other way I could take the warp out of it with home tools?
Thanks again for the shrewd observation. Bill

Thanks for the kind words and maybe over 45 years doing paint and body work may have something to do with it
with your deck as level as you can get it, place a 4 X 4 or 2 X 4 under the low side and step on the opposite side BUT !! you have to be VERY careful that you don't go to far, it's a trial and error thing, better to do little at a time than all at once and if it will twist easy ? thats not a good thing
most of all take your time and little at a time and look for wrinkles in the top of your deck where it may of twisted
Keep in touch and you may not get it perfect but closer will be good

 

[wilnis]

MrJimi-Thanks again. Looks like a week end project coming up and I'll try your recommendation. I did search the forum for "warped deck" and find it is a problem others have faced with varying results with fixing, but if it gets a little better, that will be good. I'm a bit discouraged that a deck this big and allegedly sturdy would have this problem but I've read that some come shipped this way.
Thanks again for your help and advice. Bill

 

[MrJimi]

I think you could leave it mounted on mower without going thru all that remove crap, Bring it over and you and I can fix it in no time.
Lots of bigger decks have stiffners or braces or webs to make them stiffer
look a soda can for instance, an empty can is real strong and will hold a 150 pound person but one little dent and it wont
Do you have any body shop friends or one that you have dealt with, ask them about the problem and I really know that you can fix this at home and mounted just be careful and go easy and re-check it often

 

[unit40]

Deere improved the 62C deck this year with a stiffener braces. Most of the time, it happenes that people will mow a field, hit stubs and stumps, and actually bend the top of the deck that the mower spindles bolt to. Add to that any attaching linkages can get bent, including the frame. Attaching hardware wears out too. But three different cutting paths indicates spindle mounting surfaces have been bent out of whack....big whack. Remove the mower belt,Get under and see if when you turn the blades they meet each other at the same point, or turn them all front to rear and measure from the floor or the underside lip of the deck to the blade.

 

[MrJimi]

Bill, what happened with your deck
Jim

 

[RussellF]

Bill, what happened with your deck
Jim

What I have noticed with my 62C is that there is a compression pin on the shaft under the tractor when you raise the deck up it shears the pin because the lift is slightly more then the holes and over time the left side of the deck sags about a 1/2 to 1 inch. Check that pin