Questions on PTO and deck hangers

[JR Scout]

First- On my 185 I replaced the cup and all of the PTO guts. Now it will self engage (with the handle down)after maybe 30-60 seconds. I'll pull the handle up to match the engagement, and then when I push it back down to disengage, the deck will briefly slow down until almost stopped, but then speed back up to normal operating speed. Using layman's terms, I'm guessing that the gap that is supposed to exist in the clutch to allow it to compress and expand is not enough once things heat up. I still have all of the old wavy ring spacers from before the rebuild. Would something as simple as adding one of those back in provide the expansion space needed to keep it disengaged?

Second- Can a decent set of deck hangers be made with chain, angle iron, and fasteners? I have the solid slider arms, but can't figure for the life of me how to get the deck level. Right now there is at least about a 2" difference side to side. Can't find the cause for the misalignment, but it takes a fistful of washers to space the arms close enough to the prevent slop where they connect to the deck. Hoping using chain will solve this.

[mozer71]

Chain as mounting has worked but you are missing a lot of the capabilities. The rocker shaft has arms at both sides and you can see various location points and some are retention to slip (on unequal surface ). I think you need to go to ground zero about this. The 185 is similar to the 154. The deck support relies upon two arms attached at the rear. These flat iron/ steel arms are also bent in the vertical plane as we see them. These should match well fair equal as they support more than the mowing deck. They also support the snow blade. ( you can plow snow without removing the deck).
The rock shaft linkage is quite strange, yet not strange here. Consider how they did it. The linkage allowed the deck to be raised to max and still be parallel to the surface while mowing. Active control very neat.

[mozer71]

I haven't addressed the PTO linkage yet. It still works after 10 years service but I Know. Will be after I've replaced the brake pedal with dual brakes, the PTO pulley and bearings. Then it is the time it will fail . Wait a minute, I'm not berating this wonderful tractor/ mower. While I use it more as a mower, it has to be a tractor in order to climb, navigate in and around trees.
I guess you will figure out the deck linkage to your satisfaction. It is amazing what one little hydraulic cylinder can do. It can bend the deck if the "stopper" doesn't stop it.
Thinking back, those longer braces were bent in a strange way and the deck required a lot of straightening .

[JR Scout]

Thanks for the input on the mounting. One of the arms is almost completely straight, while the other has a very slight bend in it. Maybe that 1/4" or so difference is magnified through the pivots and linkages to develop into the couple of inches difference at the deck. I'll get the arms matching exactly and see if that improves it.