Archive through July 29, 2012

[kshultz]

I have a mowing question. I've been mowing with my 982 for awhile now and it seems that when I get into taller thick grass it doesn't mow good from what it looks like the center blade. (It has the 50" deck.)I've sharpened the blades and it has new belts. I would think if the belts were slipping it would be the two outside blades not cutting, but it's always the center one.
This drives me bannanas because it seems my 7hp Cub Cadets do a better job in deep stuff. I am prolly going a little faster but geez 19.9 Onan! Come-on!

The pic doesn't show it very well. Any thoughts on what's up?

 

[digger]

Shultzie,
Quit trying to mow over those blue arrows!

 

[hydroharry]

Shultzie - those 19.9 horses in that Onan can only eat the grass so fast. I suspect you're not letting them open their mouth quite right so their front teeth aren't aligning to get a nice bite!!!! My suggestion is to check the leveling of the deck. I suspect the front is a little high. You can't just eyeball the deck itself (and I think the 50" decks were a little prone to twisting the shell). You have to lay on the ground/floor (or maybe in your case, the carpet) and measure the front and back height of each blade. Good luck. I know it can be expensive to keep those 19.9 horses feed. And as for what Charlie said, hey you can double your seat time if you offset and send those horses back over the blue arrows. Double cutting always looks great - you might even try changing direction 90degrees, or you can even try the Zig-Zag method, but then you'd need a pouch for the grass.

(under edit - check the Dave Kirk link for a tach. He's mostly into single cylinders, but maybe it works for twins as well.

 

[kshultz]

Charlie,
Yeah, maybe that's the trouble.
Hey, can somebody tell me where I can get a nice little tachometer for my 982? I'm sure someone is gonna ask what RPM I'm running.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Shultzie;

TACH

 

[dfrisk]

SHLUTZIE - that strip of grass that's not mowed as low as the rest is where the left side of the center blade spins towards the frt of the tractor. The deck housing knocks the grass down forward, and the blades don't create enough suction to stand it back up straight. The forward movement of the mower also tends to bend the grass down when the blade tries to cut it. Plus the left blade is throwing grass on top of that grass too while you're moving forward.

Mowing slower, and at full throttle helps because it gives the blades more time to clear clippings & stand the grass up.

Jim Diederichs posted a couple months ago about his neighbor who drilled large holes thru the deck skin under the belt cover to let more air under the deck so it created more suction to stand the grass up. You have to have air flow to create suction. I haven't tried that yet, still trying to figure out how many and how big of holes to cut, but I think it would help eliminate that strip of grass not mowed low enough.

The 50C decks pull fairly easy, you will know when a belt gets loose... BT-DT... LOTS of blue smoke from burning rubber. If you run your blades too long, too many sharpenings you will get little strips of grass that sneek between the inside blade of the turn and center blade because the harpening has moved the cutting edge back farther. I normally try to mow going fairly straight, that way I get many more sharpenings.

 

[whecht]

Started tearing down the 108 last night to change the shifter fork when I get it. Boy this is going to be a job!

 

[bpientka]

Just started to look at the used 42" plow I pick up a few weeks ago. I really need to do a little work on all pivot points. Basically 30+ years of movement has enlarged every hole. I think there are a number of ways to fix this. I figured someone else has solved this problem and wanted to see if anyone had suggestions?

Options I have come up with:
I could replace the pivots rod with large dia rods and drill as needed.
I could drill slightly larger and weld in DOM tubing as bushings.
I could try to weld the holes smaller and redrill.

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks,

Bernie

 

[kshultz]

Guys,
That kinda makes sense about the front roller laying it down but I would think it should still work. Also it does work fine when I slow down, but I think it's just too slow.
Please keep the suggestions coming.
Thanks.
Kraig,
That tach says it's for single cylinder Kolhers. Would it still work fine with the twin Onan?

 

[hydroharry]

Brian W - after I posted about the Service Manual for the Engine I went and looked in the manuals link and there is no copy/link to an IH Engine Service Manual for the QL units. Not sure why Charlie doesn't have one. It's alot easier to use than the actual Kohler service manual. The IH version is specific to the Cub Cadet tractor version of Kohler engines, and the Kohler manual covers all their various units, making it sometimes hard to decifer. Anyway, I did notice the "QL Operator Manual" has a section on adjusting the carb. Check it out thru the Manuals link (if you don't have a copy) and I'm certain you'll see it's quite easy to do - may take a little longer the 1st time, but you'll figure it out.