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Hi Troops,
I finally cleaned the mower deck and collection blower today, did it over the pit in my shop, check out the pics. Took 5 gallons of dried grass off the deck and the blower, changed the hydraulic oil and filter, would have put on a new clutch too, but Scag dealer will have them back in stock tomorrow.
The clutch is showing a slowly decreasing coil resistance and now down to 2.2 Ohms, should be 2.8-3.2 Ohms. Amperage draw has gotten too high so the clutch has got to go!!!
The small green LED on the panel is a Signal Dynamics charging system voltage indicator, check them out on their website. Notice the throttle lever stop plate as the new engine doesn't need as much throttle lever movement.
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile:

Good to see the pit. Is that allowed by local code or an older installation? Does the tractor do the boog-a-loo to place itself? Good stuff. That may be cheaper than a $1500 auto lift. You gotta watch for flammable vapors settling in the pit and singeing MadMackie?:laughing:

Hi motorman,
Older installation before the town had any ridged building codes. I put the machine across the pit and then remove enough covers to get the job done. There is no electrical power in the pit. Years back I was replacing a gas tank in a customers truck and the tank was so rusty that it started leaking what little fuel was left in it and that was the only time that I had a gasoline fume problem.
Most garages don't have enough vertical clearance for a lift and mine doesn't. In 1969 when we built the house lifts were not available like they are now. I do have extra high and wide doors and when I had F350 and F450 Ford duallies they fit thru with no problem.
Bought a new clutch for the Tiger Cub today so it will be back on the pit in a straight on position tomorrow to swap out the clutch, well maybe, I just may run the original clutch for a while and monitor the coil resistance.
Later
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile:

Mad Mackie said:

Hi Troops,
I finally cleaned the mower deck and collection blower today, did it over the pit in my shop, check out the pics. Took 5 gallons of dried grass off the deck and the blower, changed the hydraulic oil and filter, would have put on a new clutch too, but Scag dealer will have them back in stock tomorrow.
The clutch is showing a slowly decreasing coil resistance and now down to 2.2 Ohms, should be 2.8-3.2 Ohms. Amperage draw has gotten too high so the clutch has got to go!!!
The small green LED on the panel is a Signal Dynamics charging system voltage indicator, check them out on their website. Notice the throttle lever stop plate as the new engine doesn't need as much throttle lever movement.
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile:

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So what year is that Scag so that I can word my compliment regarding your care of your machines appropriately:0)

And yeah, nice idea with that pit(wish I had one in my garage). my father-in-law's got one of the hydraulic lifts and uses it to stack his 1971 Chevelle SS396 on top of his 1958 Ford Fairlane(hide-a-top) as well as doing maintenance. Unfortunately, when I had my 24 x 50 garage built I wasn't "thinking" and it just has 8' ceilings. Guess I'm stuck with using a hydraulic jack and working on my back:0)

I bought the Tiger cub in Aug of 2008. It stays in my cargo trailer in season and in a shed off season.
Good machine, but it took me 100 hours to get used to a ZTR and almost sold it. Now I am into ZTRs and would not be without one as it has saved me time doing customers lawns. The collection blower is off in the pics, but I use collection about 90% of the time. I only do collection for customers where I can dispose of the clippings and pine needles on their property or nearby.
Mad Mackie in CT

Mad Mackie said:

I bought the Tiger cub in Aug of 2008. It stays in my cargo trailer in season and in a shed off season.
Good machine, but it took me 100 hours to get used to a ZTR and almost sold it. Now I am into ZTRs and would not be without one as it has saved me time doing customers lawns. The collection blower is off in the pics, but I use collection about 90% of the time. I only do collection for customers where I can dispose of the clippings and pine needles on their property or nearby.
Mad Mackie in CT

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That definitely looks very good for a 5-yr-old ZTR!!! I guess when you mow commercially, you not only are taking care of your livelihood, but it's advantageous to gain new customers(and retain existing customers) if you keep your equipment looking clean and "professional" instead of looking abused. I tried using a "lawnsweeper" with my previous Craftsman lawn tractor(it was a nice 48" one with a built-in dethatcher on the front at the hitch that you could engage/disengage). But it was soooooo heavy and hard to empty when it got full and, not having a composter or other way to dispose of the clippings on my property, my wife really complained about the huge piles of clippings at the back of our yard against the tree-line. I ended up putting a mulch kit on the lawn tractor and it did a pretty decent job of dealing with the clippings. Just bought one for my new Gravely which hasn't had any problems leaving clippings until TN had the mildest/wettest July and August on record and the grass is growing super-fast and super-thick. I hope it solves the problem of having to mow over the windrows of clippings "several times" to disperse them where they aren't noticable.

Mad Mackie said:

Hi Troops,
I finally cleaned the mower deck and collection blower today, did it over the pit in my shop, check out the pics. Took 5 gallons of dried grass off the deck and the blower, changed the hydraulic oil and filter, would have put on a new clutch too, but Scag dealer will have them back in stock tomorrow.
The clutch is showing a slowly decreasing coil resistance and now down to 2.2 Ohms, should be 2.8-3.2 Ohms. Amperage draw has gotten too high so the clutch has got to go!!!
The small green LED on the panel is a Signal Dynamics charging system voltage indicator, check them out on their website. Notice the throttle lever stop plate as the new engine doesn't need as much throttle lever movement.
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile:

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Whats the Green LED for?

The green LED is the indicator for the Signal Dynamics charging system monitor. It has different colors to indicate what the electrical system voltage is. Steady green indicates system voltage is 12.9-15.2 VDC, flashing green indicates 15.3 VDC or higher, steady amber indicates 12.8-12.9 VDC, steady red indicates 12.1-12.6 VDC, flashing indicates below 12 VDC.
I have been looking for a small weatherproof digital voltmeter, surface mount, but haven't found one yet. Not many places to mount a voltmeter on my machine. I prefer voltmeters to ammeters on these type of machines/charging systems.

Mad Mackie said:

Hi Troops,

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HA! We share the same dirty oil collection jug. Mine came from Plainville Drive-in and it was used in the snack bar. I got 2, 5 gallon containers. The second one I haven't used as of yet because I figured the first one would have split open long ago....

nice pit. I wanted one and I couldn't do it.

Are they high lift or the super high lift blades?

The blades in the pics are direct aftermarket replacements for the stock Scag blades. I just scrapped this set which I had re-sharpened last spring. I think that they are the extra high lift type and used on the Velocity Plus decks. I have experimented with Oregon blades that are used on the older Scag Advantage decks and I have found them to last longer and re-sharpen more times. My deck is a 48" and the Oregon blade that I'm now using is a 91-620 Oregon part number. They don't have as much lift as the Velocity Plus blades, but I've seen no difference in the performance, but I do use the collection system most of the time.
Today I installed new Oregon blades, inspected the machine, checked the gap on the clutch which is within limits, replaced the fan and bearings in the collection blower, replaced the blower V belt, syphoned the fuel from both tanks, ran the engine out of gas and removed the battery. This past season was an exceptionally dry one and I only put 95 hours on it. This past spring I started with a new Briggs 30 HP Commercial Turf Series engine which now has 95 hours on it. I'm very pleased with the performance of this new Briggs engine and the Cyclonic Air Filtration System. The original 26 HP Briggs ELS engine suffered from lean running due to air leakage between the carb and the plastic intake manifold, the new Briggs engine has a cast aluminum intake manifold and the Cyclonic Air Filtration System, both of which will contribute to longer engine life, at least I hope so!!!
Not looking forward to snow, but I'm ready for it with my Ingersoll 4018 GT!!!
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile: