416-8 42in cutting deck

[Tony in Australia 2 15]

Hi team, Tony in Australia

Question - has anyone tried to increase the blade speed by increasing the center pully size, to give a better cut?

On my 416-8, when I raise the cut on the deck, the deck hits the back wheels. Is there a way to move the deck foreward 1/2 in?

[lynnmor 6,762]

The center pulley would need to be smaller to increase blade speed.  Are you sure that the belt is in the correct pulley on the PTO?   I do agree that the blade speed seems slow on these decks.

 

I would review how the deck is connected and the adjustments, there shouldn't be a problem.

[oliver2-44 8,837]

What size deck are you using?

Modern decks, especially on zero turns are designed to operated at higher blade tip speeds than the all the older decks were designed to. (per industry standards)  As Lynmore said verify which PO pulley you are on.  Also this Quality of Cut manuel might help you review adjustments.  

 1985 wheelhorse quality of cut manual.pdf

 

Tell us more about your tractor. what size front and rear tires are you using?

The original rear tires were 23x0.5-12.  If you're running larger rear tires that could be part of the reason its hitting the rear tires. 

You could move the mid-attachamatic forward a little, but might need a shorter belt and would need to verify it would not hit the front tires, especially when raised.  You would also need to watch how this affects the lift arm raising the deck. 

 

Note: I just mounted a 42" deck on my C-160 that I got with another tractor.  I gave it a quick run and immediately saw it was blowing grass out the front and giving a ragged cut.  It was to high in the front, so I leveled it per the manual with the front about a 1/8"-1/4" high.  it made a lot of difference.

 

 

Edited October 12, 2021 by oliver2-44

[Handy Don 10,567]

1 hour ago, oliver2-44 said:

leveled it per the manual with the front about a 1/8"-1/4" high

On my first WH with a 42" RD deck I was disappointed with the quality of the cut until I learned how to get it leveled (front to back). I also found the gauge wheel shaft had been torqued so the deck was side-to-side crooked as well (I've never seen this again--still curious about how the PO did it). Realigning that ¾" shaft took two of us with big wrenches, cheater bars, and an 8' carpenter level. Yielded the best cut my lawn had ever seen.

Edited October 12, 2021 by Handy Don

[Tony in Australia 2 15]

Thanks team for the as always very quick replies. 

 

Lynnmor, I check the fitment and it is as per the manual. It's not a bad cut just it seems push some of my grass rather cut. Some of my grass is real tuff so faster would be better if the spindles can handle the speed. 

 

Oliver and Don, thanks for the cut manal I'll go through that in depth. The tyres are the original 23x0.5x12 so I guessing it must be something else. It looks as if the deck is bit high at the rear not square to the frame. Looks like it might of taken a hard knock on one side, no real evidence it but looks off center.

 

Guy's  I'll rip it apart, change out the blades and see what I can find.  I can live with the slower blade speed and I might treat the grass to remove the tuff stuff. Pictures to follow soon. Cheers and thanks again

 

 

[John c 50]

Lynnmor says....Are you sure that the belt is in the correct pulley on the PTO?

 

Which one is correct for mower deck ? 

 

You see I finally got around to needing my 314-8 to cut grass a few months ago plus I needed a project so I overhauled the deck and hung it on the tractor. I've had the machine for probably 10yrs and always just used it to pull with so this is the first time I've cut with a 314, before this I had a 310 with a 37in deck. Once I cut with it I thought the same thing, blade speed seems kinda slow, but I'm used to a late model ZTR. 

 

Later this year I've still got some fine tuning to do with the deck mounting and such. I was going to experiment with the PTO pullys

[ronhatch 405]

Tony,  I've thought about speeding up my mower decks for years, But with my older WH 42' SD deck, it's difficult because of what is called the 'Double D" bore in the pulleys. I did buy a double 3 1/2" center pulley with a Double D bore from a 36" deck, but there was a space between the upper and lower pulleys. So, I need to get a local machine shop to do some modifications for me, just haven't done it yet.   BUT you maybe interested in some of my other modifications that defiantly improve the performance of the deck.

Added a full length roller which required me to move the deck forward about an 1".  You can see the original unused hole in the bar and the new anchor point that's right in front of the foot rest.  Opened up the discharge opening by about 4" for less clumping and a better distribution of grass clippings. (picture was taken before I welded in the pie shaped patch). Added a full length SS front baffle that is about 1" lower then the front of the deck so the grass don't blow out the front. And finally modified the height adjustment so there a 10 position rather then just 5.