Mower decks

[Yosemite Sam]

I know that there are differences in mule drives and deck hangers depending on the application, which is a box that I'm not really sure I want to open right now.

What I do want to know/learn about is the decks themselves, my question is: Is there a list somewhere that tells what decks were available for each tractor, or perhaps what tractor will accept what deck? Either way it's all the same I guess. I've seen what I thought were much newer decks on older tractors and vice versa. The whole thing has me somewhat confused. The only thing I know for sure is if you take the number from the ID tag to the dealer he can look up parts for that deck.

[Matt G.]

In a nutshell:

Original:

38" timed deck, optional 38" cast end deck with adapter kit

70/100:

38/42" cast end decks. 70 can also use the original's timed deck with an adapter package. You can bolt any NF deck subframe and muledrive on.

71/1x2/3:

Same as 70/100, except for the original deck. Also had 48" 'pin-on' deck.

72/1x4/5 and 73/1x6/7:

Came with 38/42/48" stamped end decks with QA carriages. 70-123 decks can be bolted on.

86/1x8/9:

Same decks as previous series, obviously with different carriages and no cast-end decks. You can kludge together a subframe to put one on, but it's not ideal. 44" and 50" decks introduced towards the end of the series.

QL:

Came with 38A/44A/50A, decks that fit the previous series will also fit. Can use newer decks with change in pulleys and additional hole drilled in the carriage for one front hanger.

82 series:

38C/44C/50C...same decks as the 'A' decks with 5/8" pulleys. No reason to put anything older on these.

I'm not getting into the MTD decks...they go in all directions from here.

[thenrie]

Hope you don't mind me tagging on here. What are the differences between the "A" series decks and the "C" series, anything significant? I'm probably going to need to buy one for my 1650 in the spring.

[powerpooch]

it seems the c decks are the exact same as the a decks from his post. The one difference seems to be the c decks used a 5/8 belt while the a decks used a different belt size.
You would probably be able to use any a deck, the c deck you might just have to change the one pulley. You can probably take the pulley off of a bad deck and use it on the c decks.
This is just what I get from Matt G's post, I don't know for sure about any of this info.

[Matt G.]

The C deck has the right front (IIRC) hanger offset to the left a bit compared to the A deck. I think the C deck has the extra hole all the way to the right, so it'd be easier to convert a C-deck to an A deck than the other way around. To make an A deck into a C deck, you'd have to drill an extra hole in the front mount on the deck shell.

[SpringSpecial53]

I am getting in on this a little late, but I do have some mower deck questions also that seem pertinent. What is a "pin on" deck? Also i have noticed some differences from early to late on the stamped end decks used from the 104 to 108 (and their siblings) series of tractors. The earlier ones have rear wheels and rod runners, while the later ones seem to have no wheels and runners made from semi-round bar stock.

[thenrie]

Is the 5/8" pulley a different diameter or just a different width? I have seen mention of changing the speed of the blade rotation on older decks by changing a pulley, but couldn't figure out which pulley or what they meant by a "speed pulley".

[R Bedell]

To add to Matt's post...

There was the following
44/50 Series Deck - introduced for the 1x8/9 series Cubs with Mech PTO
44/50A Series Deck - introduced for the Q/L series Cubs with the Elec PTO
44C/50C Series Deck - introduced for the 82 series Cubs with Elec PTO & 5/8" Belt

There were a lot of conversion and retrofit kits out there to make older decks work on newer Cubs and vice versa.