Mower deck smoking
 

I got my 44a mower deck on the 1200 for the first time today. It took a lot more effort than I anticipated to get it mounted and aligned!

Anyhow, it was working great until after about an hour of mowing I started hearing a whining sound and then white smoke started coming out of the top of the deck. With the cover over the spindles and pulleys I couldn't see what it looked like inside. I reached under the deck and the nut on one of the blades was loose. I tightened it up

I had not greased the spindles prior to use. I'm going to do that and try it again. I'd rather not take it apart again if I don't need to (though I am betting the chances are slim). Any suggestions on what might be the problem?

Your gonna have to take it apart. The good news is since you have it leveled and adjusted, it should go back on easy. Not greasing first is not good, whining and smoking is not good. Remove the deck and pull the top cover, take the deck belt off and spin each spindle and the tensioner pulley separately. Listen for the grumbling of a bad bearing. If your really really lucky, the loose blade was making noise and you had a small brush fire under the cover from old dry grass. If your lucky, the tensioner pulley bearing took a dump or the tensioner arm wore out and the pulley is rubbing the underside of the cover. If it's a spindle......you'll remember the grease next time. The cost of a new replacement will make you plotz. :bigeyes:

Bill

Yup, I agree. :ThumbsUp:

If you remove the PTO belt you should be able to remove the cover without removing the deck from the tractor. Once you have the cover off remove the deck belt and give everything a spin as recommended above.

I pulled off the cover and belt as suggested to test. Two were fine but the right hand one made a clunking sound and wouldn't spin all the way around without a little coaxing. So I'm thinking it's bad and needs to be replaced.

However, I then packed them all with grease and after a few rotations the bad one starting spinning ok. Still a tiny bit of noise but barely noticeable.

I reconnected the belt and ran the mower for a few seconds and it sounded pretty good. Granted, I have only run this mower once before so I'm not 100% sure what 'good' sounds like, but there was no whining or smoking. I need to finish the rest of the lawn so figure I'll try it Saturday as-is.

For a replacement, it appears I need part #IH-ST745 or # 759-3479P, is that right? Any suggestions on where to look for the best price?