GR2120 squealing hydraulic deck lift, my solution

[PHILIP8N]

Many people have complained about a hydraulic squeal when lifting their deck, mine does it too. The squeal happens cold or hot, but mine is more pronounced when hot, and also more pronounced when at high idle. There really is not that much noise as the deck it being lifted, but when deck hits upper stops, it is pretty loud. My main issue is the lift lever will not return to neutral center position once the deck hits the upper limit. The lever stays locked in the lift mode, and the squeal is really loud. My solution was to add a spring so the lift lever would return to neutral center position. With this solution, the spring only extends when lifting, there is no effect on the control lever when in center neutral position, or when lowering the deck. The parts I used all came from McMaster-Carr, an easy to use internet industrial warehouse. Zinc-plated eye nut is part number 3112T31. Stainless steel spring is 94135K31. Stainless steel truss head screw is 91770A537. Installation is straight forward from the pictures. Drill a hole, paint hole, bend one end of spring open a little bit to attach to eye nut, remove spring clip from lift control lever to attach other end of spring, insert screw to eyelet with loc-tite, trim plastic cover with dremel to clear screw. Works great! I have 2 springs and many screws left over. Send me personal e-mail with self addressed postage paid return package and you can have them for free. Philip.

 

[Pete6114]

Thanks for the writeup and pics. I had the same issue with the sticking lever. When i took it back to have them look at the squeal, i let them know about the sticking lever too. They lowered the RPM to 3000, from 3200. Was told that 3000 is what it's supposed to be, according to the service manual. Not squealing anymore and the lever dont stick now. I'll keep your mod in mind for possible future use.

 

[kcender]

Good points from both members.My lever returns to neutral on it's own so I don't think that is my problem.As for the RPM's I will notch my throttle back the next time I encounter the squeal.If it helps I will contact the dealer about checking the throttle adjustment.