Finally got to try my RM-425 deck

[Dave85zxt 0]

After months of rebuilding, fabricating and asking questions here, I finally got to try my RM-425 deck on my 856. I had to custom fab a lift bar and weld in an offset on the center bar of the latch but otherwise things went smooth during fit up. I decided to break it in this Friday. I found a section behind my grandma's barns that hasn't been cut all year and figured this would be a good place to really test it out. The grass was about knee high. I managed to cut the outline of the area that I intended to cut but pretty much toasted the main PTO belt in the process. It didn't last too long after that. The main problem was that the discharge kept getting clogged and stalling out the deck. It probably would have been fine if I didn't have to take such a heavy first cut. I decided to convert to a double belt setup anyways. I spent Saturday setting that up and got back to cutting today. I am really glad I decided on the double belt setup. The belts didn't slip at all. I only have one issue yet to resolve. This deck seems to cut really low. I adjust the linkage to push the rear wheels down as far as possible but it still seems to cut low on the highest setting. I wonder if the larger tractors of the same year had the latch sit higher?