J-Series Mid mount mower

jacob59 · Jul 29, 2014

Hey Geoff when my deck is in the fully up position it clears the underside of the tractor including the cruise control and parking brake components. Not by much though.
If this helps when my deck is fully raised there is 2 3/4 inch distance from the top of the mower belt cover and the bottom of the step on the left side of the tractor.
Jack

Silverside · Jul 30, 2014

Thanks all. Yes, I had one too many zeros in my break-in time. Its not 500 its only 50. And yes you're right, the LS owners manual does not indicate a break in time. My dealer only mentioned the required break-in period for the first 50 hours when he dropped off the unit but did not furnish the engine owners manual. Interestingly enough, Mitsubishi does require a 50 hour break-in for the S3 series industrial engines. I have found a few different versions of the S3L manual (engine on the J2023H) and they all have a short paragraph that states, "Break-in the engine: To break in new engines or overhauled engines, operate the engine at a speed lower than the rated speed in a light load condition during the first 50 hours of operation. Operating new engines or overhauled engines in a severe condition during the break-in period shortens the service life of the engine."

Jack, The top of the gearbox is directly hitting the cruise control linkage when the deck is raised. I talked to my dealer today and it turns out the cruise control is a separately boxed kit that is delivered with the tractor to the dealer and they must install it. It is not factory installed. I am having my dealer stop by to take a look at it and make any adjustments needed. I am not going to mess with it right now as its under warranty. They did indicate that the unit they have in the showroom works fine so I think its just an adjustment issue.

Thanks again everyone. I am liking the tractor so far. It seems pretty durable and with proper maintenance should give me years of trouble free operation. I hope you all feel the same way.

Silverside · Jul 30, 2014

Antlers, I noticed you were in my part of the world. Where did you get your J2023H?

antlers125 · Jul 30, 2014

Hey Silverside,

Believe or not I drove to Waterbury Ct. to get it. I found an excellent Dealer that would work w/me on repairs plus I saved around $2k.

Silverside said:
Antlers, I noticed you were in my part of the world. Where did you get your J2023H?

Silverside · Aug 3, 2014

Did you ever talk to the guys at Weaver Turf Power in Lancaster, PA? They are a bit closer...

Kenn1320 · Sep 5, 2014

My tractor bogs when in high gear going up hills or cutting tall grass. I run mine at 2000rpms max. I'm here posting cause I just had my mower deck fail and I'm under 100hrs. The center blade has somehow shifted and the blade hits the deck(radially). I have a suspicion the spindle shifted or the bearing went out, no warning. I will remove the deck and inspect shortly.

Silverside · Sep 6, 2014

Mine bogs down in high gear also. Occasional drop in RPM in low gear in high grass but nothing I would call unusual. Apparently, the high gear on these units requires quite a bit of hydraulic flow. I had the same comment to the dealer and he said that its designed to cut in low gear not high. I generally cut in high but feather the hydro pedal. Hills and high grass get low gear. I always keep the RPM while cutting at 2400 RPM. No load is just above 2500. 2000 seems too low to me. In general, the grass flow path in the deck is not a high volume design. Its provides a pretty nice and even cut but can't get rid of the grass quickly enough when it's high. The higher the RPM the better it does. I used to cut the grass with a Kubota GF1800 and it could really throw it out and didn't get bogged down as much.

Your situation is most unfortunate, sorry to hear it. I removed my deck about 15 hours ago (30 hours) and made sure to grease the center spindle because its nearly impossible to get a grease gun to with the deck installed. The manual calls for the spindles to be greased every 24 hours. Mine definitely needed some lube. I also made sure to lube everything labeled for grease or oil on the maintenance diagram.

That being said...I am not sure why your blade would have deflected that much, even if it was low on grease. The only problem that I ever had with blade alignment was on a small John Deere garden tractor. The blade hit a stump and bent the deck around the spindle mount as it was the weakest point. Let us know what you find out when you get the deck off.

ozley · Sep 7, 2014

Kenn1320 said:
My tractor bogs when in high gear going up hills or cutting tall grass. I run mine at 2000rpms max. I'm here posting cause I just had my mower deck fail and I'm under 100hrs. The center blade has somehow shifted and the blade hits the deck(radially). I have a suspicion the spindle shifted or the bearing went out, no warning. I will remove the deck and inspect shortly.

What to you guys call high grass?

Kenn1320 · Sep 7, 2014

Good news guys, turns out I hit an exposed root and dented the deck. It doesn't take much, cause I put a heavy duty crescent wrench on it and straightened it out. Sorry if I scared anybody, I thought the issue was more serious. Pic is orientated so left side of pic is front of deck.