Mowing 62D mower on 2320 wont cut higher than 3"
- Thread starter Victory Pete
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beenthere
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Put larger tires on to get more height. 
Does it come up against the frame at its present adjustment?
Does it come up against the frame at its present adjustment?
Last edited:
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Victory Pete
Silver Member
No, there is about 3 inches clearance to the frame, the manual says to adjust until there is only 1/16". there is definitely something wrong here, and I think it is in the design. I am working on a "Work Around".
VP
KennyG
Elite Member
More info please. If there is a gap between the mower "uplimit" tab and the frame when the mower is in the full up lock position, why don't you adjust it?
All you have to do is adjust the two lift mechanism turnbuckles until you get to within 1/16 of the frame. Then you should have the full range. For what it's worth, mine won't mow at the advertised 6 inch height unless you have it in the locked up position, but it does have a reasonable range when adjusted correctly. (Note: I figured it out and adjusted it myself after the dealer couldn't get it right in two tries.)
All you have to do is adjust the two lift mechanism turnbuckles until you get to within 1/16 of the frame. Then you should have the full range. For what it's worth, mine won't mow at the advertised 6 inch height unless you have it in the locked up position, but it does have a reasonable range when adjusted correctly. (Note: I figured it out and adjusted it myself after the dealer couldn't get it right in two tries.)
shortthrow50
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I had the same issue with my 3520 with 72 inch deck. I pulled out the manual and looked a few things over and noticed the dealer did a crappy job setting the deck up. The lift was adjusted wayyyy incorrectly. I had to take up a lot of slack and now the deck lifts up several inches higher and comes within an 1/8 of an inch of hitting the stops. Thats where it is supposed to be according to my manual. Maybe you have the same issue. Look at your mower deck manual. Takes about 10 minutes to correct the issue if this is your problem
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Victory Pete
Silver Member
I wish it was that simple for me, the 2720 is an altogether different set up, I looked under one today at the dealers to compare. Mine is obviously a design flaw, there are many discrepancies in the manual. What is funny is I drilled 2 holes in the link that goes to the 3 point hitch for more options and now there are tradeoffs, I can get the stop to reach the frame, but again the highest I can get the mower dial to get to is still about 3", also at the extreme end of the dial, height is in 1" increments , so I cannot go down to 2 1/2". I need to get 2 1/2" at the center of the knob travel, like on my previous 2305. We noticed on the parts website that the link I had modified was previously adjustable with a threaded yoke, it has been replaced with the solid one like I got on my new 2320. It seems they did this because too many people were trying to do what I am trying to do, JD engineering with another "Lemon design". I ordered another link and I am going to have a machine shop put some threads and a coupling on it so I can fine tune this "Compromised Situation". I had to do similiar mods to my 2305 as well, very annoying for such an expensive tractor.
VP
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Victory Pete
Silver Member
Before I adjusted my links length, there was a 4" gap, now there is a small gap, mower is set right for travel, but the highest I can get the dial knob to go is again about 3 ". There is an obvious compromise between high travel setting (Where it just hits the frame) and a lower cutting height in the middle of the dial. Do you have the 3 point hitch link with the threaded yoke?
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KennyG
Elite Member
I have the independent lift kit, but I think the adjustment is the same. On mine, there is a pretty big gap between the lock setting and the highest mowing setting. If I remember correctly, the highest setting cuts a little over 3" and to get a 6" height you have to lock it up. I mow with the setting in either the highest setting or the next to highest. The areas I mow are pretty uneven and I like to leave the grass fairly high. To use the lower settings on mine you would need a smooth lawn and like to mow short (which a lot of people seem to like).
It sounds like yours may be set up the way it's supposed to be. If you look at the cams on the height setting knob, you'll see that there are very large gaps between the highest settings.
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Victory Pete
Silver Member
I am going to try a "Compromise today" but something is clearly wrong. When you have yours all the way up, how much clearance is between the stop and the frame. The manual says there should be 1/16". Also does your independent lift drop over time when you leave it all the way up. I had that on my 2305 and it would drop after a few minutes.
VP
jd670
Gold Member
This is starting to bother me. I've been reading alot of comments about the mower deck lifting mechanism on the 2000 series tractors. There is obviously a problem in design or something. The system on my 3320 works just fine. We pay top dollar to buy JD tractors for something like this to happen. It's the little things that will cause people to buy elsewhere. I know there are some JD dealers that read this forum. Maybe even some reps. I say to JD take care of these guys. Design a better system and give them the fix for free.
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Victory Pete
Silver Member
Exactly, I have ordered another 3 PH link, I am going to have a machine shop add threads and a coupling (Like the original part was, it is now replaced with the solid, non adjustable one). Also I am getting 2 new threaded hanger yokes. The problem now is I cant raise them because the excess threaded part is bottoming out on the lift arms, once I cut some off I will be able to get about an inch more height so when my cutting height reads "High" it will be more than 3". I hope the dealer realizes this is all "warrarty" parts. I am redesigning their system so it will operate as stated in their own manual!
VP
PS I will post pictures later when I get the parts and start the modifications.
KennyG
Elite Member
I have adjusted my deck so the uplimit tab is just 1/16 from the frame. At that point (at least with the independent lift kit), you get all the adjustment you can get. It can't get any higher in the lock position without hitting the frame and it will lower to the point the bottom of the deck is about to hit the ground.
The problem I see with the system is that the range between the top two cam positions (the lock up and the highest mower setting) is pretty large. I need to actually measure this when I get a chance, but as I remember, with the deck locked up, you would mow at 6" or better (and I do that for weed trimming), but at the highest actual mower setting you are less than 4". It seems like it could be designed for a more flexible range, but it works OK for me.
As far as the independent lift leaking down, I think it is intended to do that. That's why there is a lock up position. The independent lift is not a position control like the 3 point lift.
When I first got the system and found it was mowing too low, the dealer mechanic tried to tell me to use the independent lift to set the mower height. I insisted it was adjusted wrong and, after two mechanics looked at it and said it was right, I figured it out myself and set the mower lift adjustment correctly.
My take is that JD made a questionable choice on the spacing of the cam settings for this system (which I think is unique to the 2305 and 2320) but otherwise it's a pretty well designed system.
The problem I see with the system is that the range between the top two cam positions (the lock up and the highest mower setting) is pretty large. I need to actually measure this when I get a chance, but as I remember, with the deck locked up, you would mow at 6" or better (and I do that for weed trimming), but at the highest actual mower setting you are less than 4". It seems like it could be designed for a more flexible range, but it works OK for me.
As far as the independent lift leaking down, I think it is intended to do that. That's why there is a lock up position. The independent lift is not a position control like the 3 point lift.
When I first got the system and found it was mowing too low, the dealer mechanic tried to tell me to use the independent lift to set the mower height. I insisted it was adjusted wrong and, after two mechanics looked at it and said it was right, I figured it out myself and set the mower lift adjustment correctly.
My take is that JD made a questionable choice on the spacing of the cam settings for this system (which I think is unique to the 2305 and 2320) but otherwise it's a pretty well designed system.
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Victory Pete
Silver Member
So can you get it to hit the frame in the lock position?
What year is your 2320?. Something is quite different with mine. I cant get any higher than 3" and I am at least 3" away from hitting the frame. The only way I could hit the frame was after I drilled a new hole and shortened the 3 PH link. Then the highest I could get the mower knob was a little more than 3". Something is very wrong.
VP
KennyG
Elite Member
My 2320 is a 2010. Although I'm not completely familiar with the 3 point hitch lift arrangement, you might want to confirm with the dealer that you have the correct installation kit. When I bought mine, delivery was delayed because the dealer thought he had the independent lift installation kit but when he started to install it it was for a 2520 or 2720, not a 2320. It would make sense that the installation kit for a larger tractor would have a longer 3 point hitch linkage and not be able to fully raise the deck on the smaller tractor.
This is just a wild guess, but it's worth checking on.
This is just a wild guess, but it's worth checking on.
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Victory Pete
Silver Member
I just set up the mower like it was when I started. I am cutting at 2 1/2". The deck is about 3" from the frame when all the way up. I am almost at the highest settting on the mower dial. I cut the grass. I noticed some height differences between adjacent passes, they leave obvious lines. It is due to the ground being uneven. When I set the anti scalping wheels to the recommended height I noticed they were a bit higher than I had with other mower decks. I think this is what is doing this, I adjusted them lower and they just barely touch my cement floor. I will try next time and see if this helps. They do have bearings with grease fitting so I think they can take the load.
VP
VP
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Victory Pete
Silver Member
The link in question came with the tractor, Do you know what happen to yours? Do you know if yours was threaded?
VP
PS Good point about parts getting mixed up, it happens all the time!
KennyG
Elite Member
Since I have the independent lift, installed by the dealer, instead of the 3PH lift, I don't know if there ever was any hardware for the 3PH lift. If there was, I never saw it. In previous discussions on this issue, both the 3PH and Independent Lift folks have all been able to adjust the linkages so the lock up position is against the frame, so yours should do that if it has the right parts.
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Victory Pete
Silver Member
Nope, cant do it unless I "Shorten" my nonadjustable link rod by using the new hole I drilled, but then that causes other problems, iif it were threaded (Like they used to be) I could dial in the right amount. Also my turn buckles are also all the way up and the threaded part is hitting the lift arms, something is wrong here!
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shortthrow50
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- 2012 John Deere 3520 Deluxe Cab
It is normal for your deck to lower or leak down on its own. 3x20 does it too. Nature of the lift cylider setup they use
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Victory Pete
Silver Member
Right, I had independent lift on my 2305, because it only has one hose to the cylinder it can only go up under power, there is not another hose to send it back down or keep it up while the motor is running. So it drifts down after you lift it. They put a washer with a tiny hole in the line that causes the deck to drop with time, the hole is small enough to make the deck drop very slowly, but it is still large enough for the pressurized fluid to go through. My dealer said I would hate the independent lift because you had to constantly hold up the deck while mowing, apparently they didnt put in the washer! It does come in a somewhat large bag and is hard to see.
VP
