Mower deck

[SONNY]

Travis!!! I think ya made a typo!--you posted a 60" deck cutting 60'!! LOL! thanks; sonny

[travlitt]

Travis!!! I think ya made a typo!--you posted a 60" deck cutting 60'!! LOL! thanks; sonny

You are right..typo..I fixed it..
T

[SONNY]

just teasing!!!! snowing and near zero outside does strange things to a guy! LOL!---I knew what you intended to say!
the blades do not have turn at 10,000 rpms if your not running 45 mph ground speed!---all they gotta do is turn at reasonable rate to cut!---in fact high suction blades can be run slower and still do great cutting job!---At that is the way I picture it! thanks; sonny

[almikyska13]

Mowing season is here so I thought id bring this thread back. What about a separate vertical shaft engine mounted on the deck somehow with a belt to spin the blades, then just pull the blade/ motor combo behind the tractor or 3 point it. Then you don't have to worry about the speed/power of the lo boy. Sure then you have two engines to fuel but since you don't have to have the tractor at full throttle fully loaded you will burn less. Just an idea.

[staninlowerAL]

DR Power Equipment: 10.5 to 20 hp

[travlitt]

[quote="travlitt"]I have a this new 60" mower deck that was built to run on a ZTR mower.





I would like to modify it so it would work under my cub cadet Lo boy 154.
Can this be done?

Yes, it can.I have completed the rebuild of my 154 and modified the ZTR deck to fit and work under the 154. I will have to change the 10" drive pully to an 8" pulley.

[Larry B]

I work on a lot of mowers and I believe even if you change the blades you won't really get the result you are looking for. That ZTR deck will have a very hard time cutting properly with slower spindle speed. All commercial mower mfgrs say to only mow at full throttle. If it were me I would find an engine and electric clutch off a used riding mower and make a tow behind mower. If that 154's engine is the least bit down on power it will struggle with any mowing with a 60" deck. I have a 184 with a good engine and it with the 60"deck it struggles on slightly tall or damp grass. Of course my 36hp ferris mows faster than my 184 runs in 3rd gear. Love my 184 but it got retired from mowing duty.

[travlitt]

I didn't expect it to perform like a ZTR. However, it does perform much better than the original 60" deck.

I had this new ZTR 60" deck and I wanted to replace the old original worn out factory deck.

It would cost too much to rebuild the old one. I had all of the original pulleys, so why not.

As other posters thought it couldn't be done, cost too much, wouldn't work, have to run the deck flat side forward, lots of reasons it wouldn't work.

Bottom line it was not a big problem, just took some planning, some steel, and a welder.

Looking forward to my next impossible project..

Have a great day.

Travis
Texas USA

[outdoors4evr]

Travis,
I like the creativity and the "can do" attitude taken with your project. I am also glad that you have found a way to recycle a zero turn deck and put your 154 back to work. Tractors (and owners) seem much happier when they are being used regularly.

[Woodchuck]

Travis, glad to hear it is working well. It seemed that several people thought the tractor would not have enough horsepower to run a high lift deck. I thought you could make it work at least as well as an original deck for the tractor. They weren't taking into account that if the blades turned half the speed they ran on the zero turn mower it would take only 1/4th the horsepower to move the air that it originally did. And, though the blades are turning slower the ground speed of the Cub is much lower than that of a zero turn mower. Sounds like it would be a perfect match to me. I am glad you proved it would work out!