lifting a lawn tractor with a fork lift

[Mosey]

I was at Walmart yesterday and saw a guy lifting and moving a lawn tractor with a fork lift. He went up to it from the side, put the forks right under the mower deck, and lifted it by the mower deck. I'm thinking that can't be a good thing, since the mower deck is not designed for that. Am I right or wrong?

 

[beenthere]

Doesn't look good, but I suspect the mower decks on most quality tractors (not the cheap ones) should be stiff enough to take lifting with forks. Forks are wide (6") and flat and would lift from several contact points under a deck. I son't think I would trust anything that Walmart sells to have a very heavy duty deck, but could be wrong. My Deere is built heavy enough to take the challenge.

I think if I would ever get straddle of a log (likely wouldn't happen) that would cause my lawn tractor to teeter-totter over the log, I think my deck would not be harmed nor would the tractor. On the other hand, I would not lift the tractor by placing a jack under any point of the deck and trying to lift the tractor.

 

[chrisjbell]

That doesn't sound like a good idea to me. I've got a JD, also, and while the mower deck is pretty hefty it is only held on by a couple of arms and the front bracket. I'd worry about the pullys getting crushed on the top. The JD deck would probably be OK, but I'd be pretty upset at anyone who tried that stunt with my tractor /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif.

And I'd think that anything you'd pick up at Wally World wouldn't be built quite as tough as a JD. Now, putting the forks under the tires would probably work OK...forks are adjustable and I'll bet most lifts can go wide enough to support a tractor by the wheels.

Anyway, sounds like a bad idea to me, too.