Woods mower digging into my hills...

[Gary S.]

lift chains are loose, about 1/2' difference in height from side to side of mower.

[MikeEyre74]

Mine are also in the middle of 3 set of adjustment holes, like yours are. Mine are showing only a couple of inches off the cement however. I am changing them up now, to the next higher setting.

Why do you have your toe guards on backwards?

[MikeEyre74]

I know it's not really a solution, but I sold my Woods 59 and bought one of these (the proceeds from the mower deck didn't even cover the sales tax). I use the 3 hours I save in mowing time each week to enjoy my old tractors in other ways that don't involve gouging up my yard.

You are going to laugh at me when I tell you this, but, knowing that you have saved yourself three hours of mowing, I can see where you are coming from. I used to have a similar machine, just a walk behind style, not a zero turn rider. I used to be able to mow my lawn in 14 minutes. The problem was… I don’t like mowing the lawn, and I hated it. Every minute of it was agonizing.

Then, I found tractors. I had never ridden a tractor, worked on a tractor, or had anything to do with them… but a friend of mine had one when I went over to his house for the first time and I got to play with his out in the cornfield. It was a life-changing moment. Since that time, many years ago, I have been obsessed with them. So, I went out and bought one… And my mowing times have increased ever since. But now, I love mowing the lawn, and I can’t wait for the grass to get tall again every time I do it.

It takes me over half an hour now, and I mow on the slowest speed just to drag it out more. But I love every minute of Wheel time.

[Gary S.]

Why do you have your toe guards on backwards?

Whats a toe guard? however it's set up is how it was when we got it back in the 80's

[Urbish]

I know it's not really a solution, but I sold my Woods 59 and bought one of these (the proceeds from the mower deck didn't even cover the sales tax). I use the 3 hours I save in mowing time each week to enjoy my old tractors in other ways that don't involve gouging up my yard.

You are going to laugh at me when I tell you this, but, knowing that you have saved yourself three hours of mowing, I can see where you are coming from. I used to have a similar machine, just a walk behind style, not a zero turn rider. I used to be able to mow my lawn in 14 minutes. The problem was… I don’t like mowing the lawn, and I hated it. Every minute of it was agonizing.

Then, I found tractors. I had never ridden a tractor, worked on a tractor, or had anything to do with them… but a friend of mine had one when I went over to his house for the first time and I got to play with his out in the cornfield. It was a life-changing moment. Since that time, many years ago, I have been obsessed with them. So, I went out and bought one… And my mowing times have increased ever since. But now, I love mowing the lawn, and I can’t wait for the grass to get tall again every time I do it.

It takes me over half an hour now, and I mow on the slowest speed just to drag it out more. But I love every minute of Wheel time.

Hah! Nothing wrong with that. I actually really did enjoy mowing with my Cub and my Farmall B, but I'm at that phase of my life (and my kids are at the right age) that I don't have enough time on a continual basis. Something had to give. Some day I will really regret selling my mower decks. Life will slow down and so will I. I have no doubt my old tractors will still be running... and l bet this zero turn will be long gone by then.

[john2189]

Takes me 3 hours to mow mine,I love it, I put on my Bose headphones and listen to my music

[MikeEyre74]

Why do you have your toe guards on backwards?

Whats a toe guard? however it's set up is how it was when we got it back in the 80's

Those Bolt on pieces in front of the deck? Those are supposed to be flipped around and face the other direction… You have them pointed outwards. Practically, I’m not sure what the difference is, but they are on backwards.

[MikeEyre74]

So ready for the good news? I moved the side skids up to their highest setting, then went out and tackled the neighbors yard which is pretty much identical to mine as we live on the same side of the road… In places where I have dug the skids in in the past, it did not do so this time. Additionally, no scalping of the lawn occurred. I could not be more pleased, but I am also amazed that moving the skids up just one inch has made such a drastic difference. I’ll have to back up these results on my own yard, but I am still waiting for the grass to grow back…

[Waif]

If you weren't so far away , I'd let you do some mowing here.

Congrats though.
Getting dialed in is part of the fun. (More so from a distance sometimes...)

[Gary S.]

Those Bolt on pieces in front of the deck? Those are supposed to be flipped around and face the other direction… You have them pointed outwards. Practically, I’m not sure what the difference is, but they are on backwards.

Funny thing is dad was always wondering why the castor wheels were so close to the deck,the holes for the shafts are wallowed out,we just thought they were worn out. I'll flip it over and try it out. Glad you might have yours worked out,keep an eye on those skid mounting bolts they do seem to vibrate loose often. They are good mowers but slow,it takes me two hours to cut what I have but I'd rather cut than plow snow.

[Nelson 634]

Just a suggestion. How about a Bull Nose on the front. Could be made from flat steel or even rod. Or maybe an old spring tooth.
Rough drawing on Gary's Pic.

[outdoors4evr]

As you can see in the thread above, I am also not willing to give up my tractor seat time. That's why I bought a used tow-behind offset mower and modified my mower deck. This setup does work well in wide open spaces and I can just barely finish the 3.25 acres in an hour and 15 minutes.
- The tow behind definitely eats more fuel per hour than the 184.

I love the pictures you all post and how you help fellow forum members with finding and fixing issues that members probably would never know were issues.

[Scrivet]

Those Bolt on pieces in front of the deck? Those are supposed to be flipped around and face the other direction… You have them pointed outwards. Practically, I’m not sure what the difference is, but they are on backwards.

Funny thing is dad was always wondering why the castor wheels were so close to the deck,the holes for the shafts are wallowed out,we just thought they were worn out. I'll flip it over and try it out. Glad you might have yours worked out,keep an eye on those skid mounting bolts they do seem to vibrate loose often. They are good mowers but slow,it takes me two hours to cut what I have but I'd rather cut than plow snow.

Mike, I believe you are mixing toe guards and a front shield. I believe toe guards are on later decks and are only on the outside ends of the front of the deck. A front shield is one piece and goes all the way across. A front shield bolts to a flat front deck and kicks forward. The toe guards angle back and under the deck and mount to a rolled or stamped front edge on the deck.

From the color of the deck and mainly the style of pulley shields, that is an older deck than 1980 and for it, I believe, the front shield is mounted correctly. The holes for the caster shafts and the axle shaft for the casters should be round and not wallowed out. Any wear in either place gets the caster closer to the shield and there's not much room to start with.

[BigBill]

With my int154 the center blade seems to scalp sometimes. Rolling the lawn in the springtime when the ground is soft does help even it out. I raised my deck height too.