MMM deck weirdness

[PNWBXer]

Anyone else have a problem with their mower deck that has one wheel lower than the three others and one of your leveling bolts maxed out on the high setting to be able to level the rest of the mower properly. My front right wheel is one hole different than the rest. This works when I level the deck....and when It's off the tractor (like pictured) ...all four wheels roll level. Strange. Maybe I just have a bent deck....and it was like this before I put the mulch kit on.

As far as the leveling bolts....I've thought about maybe buying a longer bolt to replace the current one....which would allow more adjustments. As of now, the only way to get perfectly level is what's shown. The Front adjustments are basically maxed out forward as well. The result is that I can't raise the front of the mower deck because the rear left adjustment is maxed....and it wouldn't be level.

The book says that my cut height # adjustment correlates to a slightly higher cut height. So a "2" on the round dial equates to a 2.25 inch cut. When I level my deck...it shows a cut height of 1.75 inch. Again, I wouldn't be able to adjust it higher because i'm maxed out on the left rear bolt.

Maybe my rear links are uneven? Going to be honest I've never tried adjusting the rear link.....I assuming the only adjustment is to keep it from going to high. Would an adjustment fix my leveling bolt issue?

 

[tinkerwitheverything]

My right wheel on my deck touchess the ground as well. I can tell you what the problem is. The right side of yours looks bent backwards a bit. I've had this happen a few times. The right side front has no support to keep the deck from bending back when you strike a object. I have lots of stones and stumps , sometimes I catch the right side on either one of those. What I usually end up doing is take a farm jack and place it in the opening and jack it back into place.Of course you have to go a little further to allow spring back of the metal. Try not to hit anything on that side.
What I've done recently was to make a rod that bolts into that area to see if that would keep it from getting bent backwards.

 

[Mikesorange]

I have the 60 inch MMM. While cutting tall grass a week ago with the anti-scalp rollers set for a 4 inch cutting height, I hit something with the right front anti-scalp wheel which caused the front of the deck bend inward from a 90 degree angle to nearly a 45 degree angle. As the previous post describes, I used a hydraulic jack to bend the deck back to the proper position. I was surprised at how easily the deck bent and will need to be more careful with my mowing, particularly at the 4 inch cutting height where the anti-scalp wheels exert maximum leverage on the front of the mower deck.

 

[skeets]

Good lord how fast were you going??

 

[Mikesorange]

Low gear with appropriate RPMs to get PTO up to speed, but it doesn't take too much of a hole to catch the anti-scalp wheel and particularly when fully extended will put a lot of leveraged force on the front corner of the mower deck.

 

[PNWBXer]

The Deck is new....less than 20 hours on it and it's always been like that.

 

[PNWBXer]

My right wheel on my deck touchess the ground as well. I can tell you what the problem is. The right side of yours looks bent backwards a bit. I've had this happen a few times. The right side front has no support to keep the deck from bending back when you strike a object. I have lots of stones and stumps , sometimes I catch the right side on either one of those. What I usually end up doing is take a farm jack and place it in the opening and jack it back into place.Of course you have to go a little further to allow spring back of the metal. Try not to hit anything on that side.
What I've done recently was to make a rod that bolts into that area to see if that would keep it from getting bent backwards.

I cant do that because I have the mulch kit in there. I don't think installing the kit bend that wall "more". It was wonky (think of a 4 leg chair that sits uneven on the ground) when all of the scalp rollers where set to the same height.

What about leveling bolts? Are yours pretty much even or are they off like mine? Does your blade height match up to your setting knob?

 

[beex]

wow, those newer decks look weaker than the older decks, take a look at my 2010 fine cut 54” deck, they don’t make this deck anymore for the bx, but the top on the discharge side has extra steel welded on at the anti-scalp mounts , and you can see how substantial the ant-scalper amounts are,

and you can see it has extra re-enforcing steel welded to the leading edge test the new decks don’t have. this deck isn’t going to bend.

I can also see looking into the discharge shoot of the new deck, it doesn’t have the baffling this fine cut deck has, which is more steel welded in the bottom, quite disappointing

 

[beex]

here is a pic of the baffling, gives much better cut , and also more strength to the deck, you can see the outer deck and inner baffles are welded together, next to the anti scalp wheels. too bad this deck is gone, that new deck looks more like a box store consumer grade deck

 

[beex]

here is a better pic of the scalp wheel mount, you can see what I’m talking about, also notice on the first pick the old deck has a more substantial gear box, and bigger pulleys, and spindles look different too. The old MMM deck is a commercial grade deck, this new deck looks like something JD puts on the X series

Other changes on the tractor itself I’m not too happy with either. The rear frame structure for the rops mount and 3pt top link mount look not as good, the fender pan unit has less metal in it, there is a front frame structure they deleted with the new hood, the new front guard is week, the old guard could take a hit any place on it. not liking the direction Kubota is heading with the bx series. glad I got the 60 series when I did.

 

[tinkerwitheverything]

What about leveling bolts? Are yours pretty much even or are they off like mine? Does your blade height match up to your setting knob?
[/QUOTE]
My leveling bolts are pretty much even. The height doesn't match what the knob says but thats not a problem for me. I have mine set at 2 3/4 and just leave it there all the time. I do believe my blades are around the 2 1/4 from grd.

 

[tinkerwitheverything]

here is a better pic of the scalp wheel mount, you can see what I’m talking about

View attachment 44672

Thanks for this pic. Now I think I'll make something like this on mine. Just going to have to make it so that it won't interfere with the discharge chute or the grass catcher chute.

 

[tinkerwitheverything]

This had slipped my mind. But when I first bought mine things didn't work right either. I couldn't seem to ever get it adjusted right. What I ended up doing was to cut a piece of 1/2" pipe and spread it open and then closed it and welded it onto the right side front mount [ sitting on the seat right side} where it hooks up on the mower. Then things worked and adjusted properly. Not sure if stuff wasn't lined up and welded perfectly from factory. What I did fixed my issue. Hope this helps you figure out what is wrong with yours??