Need advice on how to raise 42" deck on 1995 MTD LT

[AcadGrad81]

I'll disclaim havng much mechanical skill and I have basic hand tools and a flat concrete slab garage to work in. My LT's operating manual is mum on how to raise the deck beyond the max cutting setting while still keeping the ability to disengage the blades with a slack belt.

That said, I'd like to raise my deck on a relic 1995 MTD Yard Machines lawn tractor with a 14.5 HP engine, 42" deck and 6-speed transaxle. Perhaps I need to adjust the belt tension, but my highest mowing setting right now (where the belt is fully tight) is two slots down from the "straight up" blades disengaged position. At two slots, down, I'm only at 2.5 inches of cutting height and I'd like to be at 3.5 or 4.0 inches or so.

At my current configuration, when I try to disengage the blades completely, the forward position of my deck grazes the engine pulley, causing intermittent sparks, and the blades still turn slowly. The first slot down acts like a partial disengagement of the blades and the cutting height at that spot would be 3.0 inches but the belt is not tight enough to drive the blades at full speed.

Looking at the deck lifting mechanism, there are no higher rear holes available on the hangers. The front hangers have higher holes available. If I raise the front, I'll need that much distance and more for the rear as I want to be able to pitch my deck down by 1/4" in the front.

What should I do next after making sure my tires are inflated properly? I don't think I should lower my anti-scalp wheels, as I don't believe they are designed to bear the full weight of the deck all of the time, correct? I don't think I could jury-rig a roller to support the deck like a Simplicity, as I don't have welding equipment or ability, and I'm hurting for space between the deck and right rear wheel since my twin blades are offset and the deck is shaped somewhat like a parallelogram.

A bit off of my topic, but I am interested in mounting a striping device on my old LT once I get the deck height challenge figured out. With the lack of space noted above, I think I'm consigned to mounting a roller or a flap on pivoting arms just behind the rear wheels. If anyone has tried to dress up a pig and put a striping system on a MTD/Huskee/Troy-Bilt with offset twin blades, I'd be interested to know how you did it. I am planning to have the striper cover the space between the inner sidewalls of the rear tires since they already leave their own stripes. I have a piece of truck mud flap available and found a 21 inch steel conveyor roller in a scrap yard this week, so depending on time or dough for mounting hardware, I could probably pick either method and be satisfied.

Thanks in advance.

 

[KennyV]

You are going to find it quite challenging if not imposable to find the space between the top of the pulleys and the bottom of that rider... The belt driven deck dose not lend itself to very much modification, any ware or bent bracket will prevent things from hanging were they originally fit... you may be past the practical limit of adjustment without reworking the deck suspension system... There is not enough room to do very many things:frown: ...
Your right the anti scalp rollers are not going to support the deck, they have no bearings...
Wish there was an easy answer but I can't come up with one. :ashamed:KennyV

PS.. Also the deck is not designed to have anything added like wheels for support. The deck support system is intended to hang the deck and the LT can not push OR pull the deck, it has to hang from and travel with the rest...

 

[AcadGrad81]

You are going to find it quite challenging if not imposable to find the space between the top of the pulleys and the bottom of that rider... The belt driven deck dose not lend itself to very much modification, any ware or bent bracket will prevent things from hanging were they originally fit... you may be past the practical limit of adjustment without reworking the deck suspension system... There is not enough room to do very many things:frown: ...

Would you recommend against drilling new holes on the rear hangers since there are higher holes on the front hangers? On the right rear hanger there is one hole above the bottom one that holds the deck now, but that one is occupied by the belt disengagement rod. What I would propose do is to leave the rod where it is and drill a new hole slightly above it and another hole at the same height on the left side. That's probably the only thing I can think to do that would keep the original design intact.

The only other thing I can think of is to possibly tighten the belt a bit with the lever at the first notch below the top one (blade disengage) so the blades would turn full speed there. This would give me a 3.0 inch cutting height, but the drawback with that is that I might not be able to stop the blades if I need to, short of shutting down the machine.

Thanks again for any advice that you can give.

 

[KennyV]

You are kind of in a pickle because everything is sort of balanced with no clear solution that will address your height and belt drive concerns... you can try but as you noted before, the front of the deck is where the crass gets cut, so the rear must be at least 1/4 inch higher than the front.
When making the new holes having the deck hang level left to right may become a problem with the belt drive pulling, you don't have much to loose trying it ... but I would not get my hopes up... KennyV

 

[jross]

How about bigger tires?

 

[BKBrown]

How about bigger tires?

I was just about to say that -- expensive, but would raise the cutting height without major work underneath. ??????

 

[KennyV]

To put larger tires or wheels on this you will need to remove the mower deck .... and leave it off. There is no room for tires and deck. KennyV:frown:

 

[jross]

To put larger tires or wheels on this you will need to remove the mower deck .... and leave it off. There is no room for tires and deck. KennyV:frown:

Agreed. What if spacers and longer wheel bolts were made to push the new tires out? I am always seeing how mowers were adapted for modification s like bigger tires, duallies, etc in Farm Show Magazine. One would have to be creative of course.

 

[BKBrown]

Maybe the easiest thing would be to find a mower that will cut higher and either sell yours or trade it in ???

 

[KennyV]

spacers and longer wheel bolts made to push the new tires out?

you would not want to do that on this LT... the spindles and axles do not have bearings, they have common bushings and will not take the stress that would place on them...:frown: KennyV