Picked up a GT54 324 deck!
 

Really good condition for $125. Just needs an idler pulley.

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:beerchug:

Nice score. :beerchug:

Way to go!:beerchug:

Nice deck. Congrats!:beerchug:

Well, I got it home and I went right to work on the idler. I noticed it has been painted before and the paint is starting to peel in places, so the only right thing to do now since I was going to pull out the spindles and clean the old grease out and put new in is to do a complete tear down and repaint. I've seen a few of those projects on here, and I'm sure I can do it. So I'll keep running the GT48 while I rehab the GT54.

Good for you, you got very lucky there, been looking myself for a while.

The 54" deck is a nice deck.

I'd give $100 (and have) for every 54" deck I find just to have it. More for a nice one. Best deck CC made for a CC in my opinion.

I've bought enough of those decks to convert all my 46" mowers over to the 48"/54".

If it's solid, you got a good deal. Hang on to the 48".

I plan to keep the 48". :beerchug:

I have a chance to pick up one of these for $100. Were these originally designed for the cyclops series but will work on earlier CCC models?

They were designed for Cyclops with the 6" PTO and the high front axle.

What Mike said. :beerchug:

:Morning: Good looking deck. I just bought a 1864 with a 54'' deck. The person I bought it from, told me the spindle bearing were shot, so he knocked a 100 of the price and gave me all the bearings and seals. The PO, not the person I bought it from, evidently did not know what a grease gun was for. So I into a complete rebuild. :American Flag 1:

My 48" that came with my first tractor I thought had bad bearings but turned out to be a stuck idler. Same problem on my new 54", but I think one of the bearings feels a little "noisy" when I turn the spindle so I'm going to pull them apart and look around, clean out the grease and put new in.. possibly bearings if they need it.

Tear down day is here:

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The rust really isn't bad at all. It looked a lot worse before I peeled back the paint.

I just realized that my spare 42" that I'm going to tear down to make room to store my 48" when the 54" is ready, has the same spindles as these do. I also have an LT deck with three blades that has the same spindles as well. I have all kinds of spares now.

More progress this weekend. I didn't get a picture of it completely stripped, but two cans of "premium stripper" spray lifted the original paint and the brushed on paint over top right down to the metal. I wire brush wheeled and cleaned up the rust spots. There is some minor pitting but nothing I'm too concerned with to fix before painting. I'm just protecting the metal, not looking for show quality here.

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Looks good to me.:beerchug:

Any thoughs on if the caster wheel assemblies might work on a c50 deck? - looking for something to make it follow the conture of the ground. Better than what is already on it.
Thanks-pete

Couldn't tell ya.

Progress is slower than I like. But things are coming together. One of the front deck wheel spindle holder (not sure of the name) had the bolt twist off in the top that goes through the support beam. I tried to drill it out and it went badly. So that needs replaced. Other than that here's where I am now. Attachment 85291
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Looking good.

Looks really good! You will really appreciate the work your going to when thats all put together! Like others have mentioned, they are amazing decks.

I hope it works better than my 48" does. I haven't taken time to look at the blade situation on it because it's on the tractor and being used but it clogs up a lot in grass that it should be able to handle with ease. I removed the finger guard because that was a point of clogging, I had to stop occasionally and pull the grass out, but it didn't help. It clogs up in the left blade area and every time I stop the blades a big clump of chopped grass falls out. The blades seem sharp and cut clean, so I'm not sure what's going on with it. It seems like there isn't enough lift or something to blow the grass clippings out the exit. I'm planning on tearing that one down next after the 54" is on. :bigthink:

First cut with the new 54" deck yesterday, that's an awesome deck! I'm very happy with it. :beer2:

Here it is all together now:

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Great work there. I bet it moves really nice.