[Frank1541]

The deck is done and mounted on my 2364i. Ignore the weird yellow color in the photo. Just an artifact from the shrinking process. You may notice the small metal plated added to the caster.

Every front caster assembly I could find had been bent. The shaft itself did not bend. Instead the top where the shaft attached became bowed up. I removed the old shaft and found a 325 steel bolt at McMaster that matched the cub bolt. I had it welded on and then had them add a small plate across the front of the assembly to help resist bending in the future.

Now the weird part. With the new idler pulleys on the mule drive the belt is much tighter then before. Both idler pulleys are at least 3/4 of an inch further to the rear. With the old deck and pulleys the pulleys were right where they were supposed to be using the same PTO drive belt.

If the paint stays on, the deck should be good for another 30 years.