315-8 dial height knob

[Jake.DiGregorio 1]

Hi everyone I'm new to the wheel horse community. So this might be a dumb question. But I just got a 2004 315-8 with a 42' deck. Do I need to worry about the dial height knob on the mower or do I just adjust the height with the wheels on the deck? 

[JoeM 7,710]

I just used the deck wheels on the mower and let it float.

 

[peter lena 8,113]

@Jake.DiGregorio  , you talking about the screw thru knob ? look on any related , on line site , maybe a member will give you a shout , BTW , the paint conditition on that unit is just begging for a oil lubrication rub down . all that black plastic , use 303  vinyl restorer . get a clean soft cloth , penetrating oil of your choice , and gently rubdown every painted serface . let it sit a day , and do it again . that paint will come to life , also use that 303  VINYL ON YOUR SEAT . think of it as an opportunity , pete 

[8ntruck 6,445]

to the forum.

 

You are correct.  The mowing deck height is controlled by the gage wheels on the deck.  The knob next to the lift lever adjusts a down stop that is used for other implements - most commonly the front snow blade.

 

The only dumb question around here is the one you don't ask.  There are a bunch of good folks here on the forum.  Between them all, I think they have broken and repaired just about everything on a Wheel Horse that can be broken and repaired.  The best part is, somebody, or several somebodies, will join the discussion with good tips and advice.

 

There should be an owner's manual for your tractor available for download in the documentation section of the forum.

 

Enjoy your Horse!

Edited July 21, 2023 by 8ntruck

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 10,533]

 

[ri702bill 7,398]

Jake - Welcome! That knob is used to adjust the down height - extremely useful for plowing snow onto the grass - set it to skim and the grass does not get beat up...

 

[Handy Don 10,705]

Welcome to the forum, Jake.

[Jake.DiGregorio 1]

Hey everyone thank you all for the advice and the link to the owners manual. I'm sorry for such a late response. So the only other question I got (for now) is the lift lever will just got up a little bit and fall all the way down. Is there a way to adjust that? I have the deck wheels on the third slot if that means anything? I can post some pictures in a few minutes. Again thanks for all the advice it's very much appreciated. 

[Handy Don 10,705]

Your lift lever is correct.

It latches at the full up position (with the button at the top to release it) and it has no stops until reaching the knob-controlled low limit. This is actually a feature as it permits continual manual adjustment of height for various implements between those positions.

Mowers are height-adjusted via the mechanism on the deck.

[Rick3478 377]

That knob sets the lower limit on implement excursion.  Mowing height is normally controlled by the gauge wheels.  But if you mow over any voids, like where a tree root rotted out for example, it's not desirable for the deck to drop and scalp the ground.  So set the knob a little bit lower than your mowing height, and it will catch the deck before it hits the ground and float it right over the holes.

[ineedanother 1,366]

hey @Jake.DiGregorio not a dumb question at all and I would add to the above to say that your machine is highly capable of tilling and more, which is one of the times when that adjustment is very useful. It will control the depth of your ground engaging attachments, such as a tiller or Brinley plow. 

[John c 70]

I adjust mine to cut higher than the deck wheels will allow

[SylvanLakeWH 24,250]

[Gasaholic 183]

On 7/21/2023 at 7:28 AM, Jake.DiGregorio said:

Hi everyone I'm new to the wheel horse community. So this might be a dumb question.

There are no stupid questions. Only stupid answers.   Or as previously mentioned - Only dumb question is the one that isn't asked.  

 

One of the first things I was taught when I went to work for someone (Still in high school):  "If you don't know, ASK." 

 

And later on in my multi-faceted career, I also learned: Question everything.  Even when you are taught something by the factory service school, it does not mean the instructor is correct. Many times I asked myself "Why?" and went on a deeper dive into the intricacies of things (Carburetor operation, ignition & electrical theory, Computer programming, and more) and found out for myself that what I had been taught by others over the years was often technically incorrect.. So, don't necessarily take every answer for being correct. - Some may be based on mis-information, or guesswork (We all know what ASSUME does...)  and others may be based on things as simple as "everybody else does it this way"   - That's what I love about active forums like this - you may get several answers and most may agree or supplement one another. (Nothing really beats hands-on experience!) 

 

Everyone else has pretty much covered the purpose of dial-a-height, so I really don't have anything much more to add (Other than it can be helpful when hooking up big heavy mower decks on uneven terrain by holding the lift arm pin in place to hook into the deck linkage while you manipulate the deck with 2 hands!) 

[Lee1977 6,274]

I'm not sure what you mean about lift lever. It is used to put the mower deck in transport poistion. It should come all the way up and latch. If not it could be the the chain to the lift bar is adjusted to short this will cause the deck to hit before thr lever is all the way up.  There are rubber stop attach to the deck that should just toutch the bottom of the foot pads when the lift lever latches. You should go to the manuals section and cjheck out the deck manual . the decks haven't change much since the late 70"s  so finding good information on 42" or 48" decks will not be hard to find.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Lee1977

[Rick3478 377]

20 minutes ago, Lee1977 said:

I'm not sure what you mean about lift lever. It is used to put the mower deck in transport poistion. It should come all the way up and latch. If not it could be the the chain to the lift bar is adjusted to short this will cause the deck to hit before thr lever is all the way up.  There are rubber stop attach to the deck that should just toutch the bottom of the foot pads when the lift lever latches. You should go to the manuals section and cjheck out the deck manual . the decks haven't change since the late 70"s  so finding good information on 42" or 48" decks will not be hard to find.

 

In my experience, the rubber stops make the deck tilt forward at too much angle and prevent from raising as high as I would like.  I have removed the bumpers from my decks and adjust to pull the yoke up against the steering shaft.

 

[Gasaholic 183]

21 minutes ago, Rick3478 said:

 

In my experience, the rubber stops make the deck tilt forward at too much angle and prevent from raising as high as I would like.  I have removed the bumpers from my decks and adjust to pull the yoke up against the steering shaft.

 

Huh? I'm confused.. sounds bass-ackwards to me.. If the bumper stops are hitting the footrest and causing deck to tilt forward (as in front roller getting lower?) Something's definitely not right if it is the standard wheel horse tach-a-matic system with full floating deck. Bumper stops should just touch, as mentioned, and if they hit, in my experience, it tends to pull the forward edge of the deck UP... and in either case, things ain't correct. (linkage wear, bent deck brackets, etc)   If deck isn't raising as high as you'd like then either you're trying to get deck higher than it was designed for, or your deck or linkages have some sort of problem. 

 

as I recall when we set up new machines, deck adjusted on level surface and lift lever pulls it up til the bumpers *just* kiss the footrest (Adjusted by the eye bolt & chain where it hooks into the rockshaft of the lift lever itself), the deck was pretty much level, and front blade tip had about 5 or 6 inches clearance to the floor (based on my hand spread, pinky on floor, thumb just touching blade tip)  Anything other than that meant there was wear in the linkages, or the deck or linkage brackets were bent (We'd see that sometimes when owners were careless about loading their tractor on truck with ramps, and catch blade bolt/nut on edge of truck tailgate or a ramp bolt or something, and bent the deck where linkage brackets bolted to it.. or sometimes bent the deck where spindle housing bolted to it... or both)  

[Rick3478 377]

On 8/6/2023 at 11:07 AM, Gasaholic said:

Huh? I'm confused.. sounds bass-ackwards to me.. If the bumper stops are hitting the footrest and causing deck to tilt forward (as in front roller getting lower?) Something's definitely not right if it is the standard wheel horse tach-a-matic system with full floating deck. Bumper stops should just touch, as mentioned, and if they hit, in my experience, it tends to pull the forward edge of the deck UP... and in either case, things ain't correct. (linkage wear, bent deck brackets, etc)   If deck isn't raising as high as you'd like then either you're trying to get deck higher than it was designed for, or your deck or linkages have some sort of problem.

 

I might review the angle if I get time.  It's been a long time since I did it, but I remember when they were new getting high-centered and snagging decks on tree roots and other stuff a lot.  Looking under, it was obvious that the bumpers were restricting movement, and removing them gave me the ability to shorten up the chain and lift the deck more.  So yes I'm getting the deck higher than it was designed for, and it works much better for me that way.  The only good thing I could see that the bumpers do is give something soft to hit so the deck doesn't go "clunk", but the amount of room they took up created a worse problem.  I suppose I could experiment with shortening them up, but total deletion worked with little effort.

[Jake.DiGregorio 1]

Hey everyone sorry for such a late response..  work has been non stop. But thank you everyone for the advice. Most forums are nothing but rude and ignorant people. But you guys are all helpful. Again thank you. 

 

 

Ps.. I'm sure I'll have more questions lol