GT54 deck

[sblunier]

Looks like the 44" decks on my tractors may be taking a second seat to this little gem....

GT 54 deck off of an 1864.

It needs a little TLC, but from what I hear these things are one heck of a deck......we'll soon see!!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Steve, that deck looks like a nice starting point for your Blungineering™ deck "tweaks". Please keep us posted as to what you come up with.

 

[speterson]

Steve,
One thing I forgot to mention about these newer decks is that some if not all of the tractors they came with had a larger pulley on the front pto clutch. I got a parts 1863 tractor that had a good clutch on it and I put the armature on my 782. The one on the 782 had a bearing that was about shot. The larger pulley is about six inches in diameter where it seems like the stock pully measured just under 4.5 inches. The newer armature bolted right onto the stock coil. I didn't calculate the speed difference in the stock pulley and the larger pulley, but I'd guess it spins the deck at least a thousand rpm's faster. I have been really happy with its cutting performance, especially with gator blades.

 

[sblunier]

I managed to get my new GT54 deck shoved under 782 #2 today, but not without a bit of a fight.

The subframe (off of an 1864) was beat up a little and tweaked here and there, so it took some straightening.

I had to swap off the mule drive for a 44/50 model, as the larger diameter shaft for the idler pulleys interfered with the QA hooks/bail.

I had to raid my spare parts to find the correct combination of lift links. The links off of the 1864 were WAY too long, so a straight adjustable link off of a 149 subframe and an offset fixed link off of an 82 series subframe corrected the height (after a bunch of trial and error).

Front tire clearance is still a tiny problem on the front right at full steering lock, but rolling the front lip of the deck back a little more should help that.

I need about a 2" shorter belt, but was able to make the one off of the 582/44" work with a make-shift tightener.

After a bunch of trial fitting, a VERY rough leveling job (not good at all, much more work to be done there), and a quicky sharpening of the beat up blades I took it out for a test.......

WOW, will it mow!!!!! Letting it ride directly on the gauge wheels with no help from the tractor produced a great cut (even with worn out blades), and it really sent the grass flying.

I'm looking forward to devoting some more time to the set up and tuning on this deck, fixing some cracks and general abuse damage, and getting some white paint on it, because I think it's a keeper!!!!

(but I have to work on a few other projects before vacation, so it won't be back on the front burner until Aug.)

 

[kmcconaughey]

Steve, how did you get that under the 782? It doesn't look like it will slide under. Did you have to drive over it or hoist the 782 up? Good to see you have it functional, can't wait to see the final Blungineering™ changes.