Mowing BX2200 Mower Deck Trouble

[JWR]

This is my daughter's BX2200D with a 60" MMM. I bought it used four or five years ago and it has been a good machine (as is my own BX2200 just like it except for tires.)

The Problem: The deck will not raise and lower normally. Hydraulic lift worked fine for years. Now the deck will not lower. It drops no more than 1" (no where near normal cutting height) but raises to about where it always has. Total travel High to Low no more than an inch. It cut fine yesterday as well as one round today on a different property. Since then, I cannot get it to lower at all and no idea what if anything I did after that first round around the property. Neither the drop rate knob nor the cutting height adjustment knob will turn AT ALL. Both seem frozen in place.

• I have looked at the suspension linkage and can see no difference between it and my machine.
• Have looked underneath from every possible angle and cannot see anything out of place.
• The lift linkage [1" rod going left-right thru the chassis with levers welded on the outer ends] rotates to the high position normally but while lowering only rotates for downward deck dropping a very small amount and stops. The threaded rod going to the rear with two locked nuts on it is 'normal' in the fully raised position but has 4 or 5 inches of unused slack along the rod when the hydraulics are lowered as much as possible. The lift arms on the 3pt raise and lower normally.

So what is going on? Seen this before ? How do I get access to the cam-like mechanism that sets cutting height? My assumption is that is the root of the problem.
What bugs me is that it was just fine all day yesterday and the first cutting round today and then a few minutes later I could not lower the deck.

 

[diesel85]

My troubleshooting would be first remove the deck then carefully examining the linkage.

You should be able to push the MMM linkage up by hand a freely rotate the cut height adjustment knob without the deck attached.

If still doesn't work, the pawl assembly might have come apart and wedged itself. This requires minimally removing the floor pan to re-assemble.

I've had mine apart many many years ago for something similar.

OR the MMM linkage itself is missing pieces or bent if it doesn't want to raise easily by hand.

Advice: Do not force the dial a cut knob! It will break.

 

[JWR]

My troubleshooting would be first remove the deck then carefully examining the linkage.

You should be able to push the MMM linkage up by hand a freely rotate the cut height adjustment knob without the deck attached.

If still doesn't work, the pawl assembly might have come apart and wedged itself. This requires minimally removing the floor pan to re-assemble.

I've had mine apart many many years ago for something similar.

OR the MMM linkage itself is missing pieces or bent if it doesn't want to raise easily by hand.

Advice: Do not force the dial a cut knob! It will break.

Yeah, I know. I forced the cutting height knob when I first got the machine not knowing the hydraulics had to be up. Broken knob result of course. So to get in to the pawl assembly (which I had called a cam) you have to remove the floor pan in front of the seat ?

 

[diesel85]

Yes, to get to the pawl/cam assembly, you'll need to remove the floor pan.

If you are a little guy like me, you can unbolt it, and prop/tie the floor pan up enough to work under it.

I just had my floor pan up, and it's not bad:

1. Remove seat. (just a clip)
2. Remove treadle. (two bolts)
3. Remove dial-a-cut knob and 3pt lowering control knob by pulling.
4. Remove all 3 lever knobs on the right hand side (MFWD/3PT/L-N-H Selector) by pulling.
5. Remove right hand side plastic lever housing (3 small flat head screws).
6. Remove front operator screen.
7. Remove battery (two bolts for terminals, and two bolts for the battery holder).
8. Remove battery compartment floor pan (two bolts).
9. Remove or prop up floor pan (8 bolts [2 up front, 4 on floor under the rubber, 2 for seat spring and safety switches]).

(When you are putting the tractor back together, make sure when you are putting the screws in for the plastic lever housing that you turn the screws until they engage the previous threading (reverse then forward!)! They are SMALL screws, and you do not want to risk the chance of cross threading or cutting new threads into the plastic. I remember a while back, the first time I took it apart, I was like, how are these little tiny screws holding this massive thing on.)

When you go to work on the cam, it's a pretty simple setup. When the 3 lift arms go down, whatever setting the cam is at, only allows for the linkage to drop down so far by using a piece of metal to rest on the pawl/cam.

You can test this by rotating the cam starting from top, and going thru each level. Remember: Each time you move it, use your hand to lift on the LH mower link until you can turn the knob. It's very light, you can use one hand on the knob and one to push the linkage up. See if it functions appropriately. If it doesn't the cam/pawl might be broke or the little bracket might be messed up (rare!). Or you might the lucky card, and the bottom bolt just needs to be tightened.

Having the floor pan up allows you to fully inspect everything and be able to access the cam a LOT easier.

 

[JWR]

That's a lot of surgery. But probably where this is headed. Thanks for both posts.

 

[JWR]

An update: I gave it one more try yesterday and jacked the front of the deck up with a scissors jack to the point of lifting the tractor off the ground. Then "lowered" the deck using hydraulics which did, surprisingly, lower the rear of the deck to 'normal' cutting height. Then removed the jack and sure enough the deck was down where it belongs for normal cutting. When fully raised again using the hydraulics it was the same problem all over again -- stuck and would not fully lower. At no point would the knobs turn. They remain frozen. Being old and lazy I took it to a very close/nearby tractor dealer (run out of business by John Deere and returning to business as a service-only shop). I expect they will go through the process described above in post #4 by diesel85. More later when this is finally solved.

 

[diesel85]

Interesting. The only other thing it can be, is the linkages itself aren't collapsing correctly to take the pressure off the dial-a-cut. It's works sort of like an accordion.

Without looking at the machine, it's tough to tell.

 

[JWR]

Interesting. The only other thing it can be, is the linkages itself aren't collapsing correctly to take the pressure off the dial-a-cut. It's works sort of like an accordion.

Without looking at the machine, it's tough to tell.

I know what you are saying. I looked for that but could not see such a problem. I have so much trouble getting down and under things these days I decided to just let the mechanics debug it.

 

[Grandad4]

The mower deck is raised/lowered by the 3 point lift arms at the back of the tractor. Do they go up/down when you move the control? If they are moving but the deck isn't, then something is wrong with the mower deck linkages. If they do not move (or try to move), maybe it's a problem in the 3 point setup, not the deck.

 

[JWR]

The mower deck is raised/lowered by the 3 point lift arms at the back of the tractor. Do they go up/down when you move the control? If they are moving but the deck isn't, then something is wrong with the mower deck linkages. If they do not move (or try to move), maybe it's a problem in the 3 point setup, not the deck.

Yes, the 3pt goes up and down just fine. diesel85 understands the situation thoroughly. See his list in post #4. That's what I would be going through except that I decided to take it to a local repair shop to do it instead of me.