ZD28 Mower Deck Suspension

[davemskinner]

Greetings All,

On my zero turn mower (ZD28) one side of the mower deck is lower than the other by about the thickness of the locking nut.

I have checked bolt length, looked for missing bushings or bolt pads, worn pins, and even a twisted lift shaft.

Everything checks out. Any ideas?

Dave

 

[meanjean]

Deflate the tires on the high side!

Did you run into something?

 

[davemskinner]

Thanks for the reply MeanJean.

I bought the machine used from a lawn service. It was hard used. However, it only had 1800 hrs on it when I got it. I would not be surprised if someone did hit something but I can't find anything out of whack. Everything looks fine.

I compensated by removing the lock nuts on the low side and tightening the adjusting bolts all the way in. It cuts really well now but the deck is obviously not level with the machine! I ran out of time to work on it. I need to start taking a bunch of measurements to figure this one out. It sure has me stumped.

 

[davemskinner]

Still hoping for input...

 

[davemskinner]

The easy thing would be a bent anti-scalp roller wheel bracket or maybe an odd sized guage wheel that a previous well intentioned owner put on.

There is a schwack of linkage, bracketry, shafts and eccentrics that raise and lower that deck. One crash into a concrete curb edge and that architecture is going to get out of wack.

Look for cracks in the paint, stress marks, binding linkages, worn shafts, missing bushings and if all else fails, I'd be going with meanjeans quick and easy/down and dirty repair: adjust the air pressure and jettison the cold beer from the beverage holder. That should just about level things out!

Here's where you need to start looking:

View attachment 3651

Thanks Vic. Your input is ALWAYS appreciated! At this point, I have been able to just get it leveled by dropping the high side by 1/2" and removing the locknuts on the low side. Now, about that beer... my wife drives the mower. While I drink the beer!!!