Deck wheels to the outside?

[MikeEyre74]

On my 185, having the deck wheels in the middle and skids on the outside has proven to be nothing but trouble. Is there any reason why I couldn’t put the two wheels on the front of the deck on the outside front edges instead?

[MikeEyre74]

Oh man, swing and a miss!

[mozer71]

We need take account of the front axle's pivot. If your land is flat, the idea would work as it has for millions smaller mowers. Land I have, is slanted and there are ruts (which are actually drainage paths) . The best for me was the 3260 because it has no wheels at all. When your front axle pivots doesn't mean the rest of your tractor does that 5 feet out. So wheels further outward are going to twist or break something. Just my opinion, of course.

[mozer71]

Some of these "paths" are ditches. Raise deck and take it slow like a rodeo, get through it. Wheels would get hung up.
The 3260 deck has but one roller at front. It is supported by a heavy gauge nose piece. Even then, I have to pound or bend things back.
To the distant past, I have to respect the quality of steel used for these decks.

[mozer71]

More to that. That steel is prone to rust by rain or snow melting. It is too bad that is goes away that way. Mine was really screwed so I bent it back in shape, replaced bolts and removed most underside rust. Coated it with industrial type sealer. But that isn't going to last forever, either. The main thing is a deck sitting on ground or close to it. Earth takes it back .

[BigBill]

I had deck wheels on the outside rear part of my 3260 deck as a test. It worked next I need to bolt them on. They miss the rear wheels.

[MikeEyre74]

I have a 3160 deck and the front rollers don’t touch the ground at all. I guess I would have to check the clearance to the front tires but, it doesn’t LOOK like a problem and that’s sorta why I’m asking. To see if it’s been done already to save me the effort of trying if it’s a known failure.

[mozer71]

Totally understandable. My 3260 has all the linkages on the rock shaft's arms, plus the other rear and front support links. I certainly don't want to get it hung up on anything. Different lawns, different reasons and perfectly fine.

[mozer71]

Front rollers are not "supposed to" touch the ground but.. There is always something popping out, something. So much better to have even one front roller riding over the obstruction instead of the deck ripped out. You know. These are actually 4 cylinder water cooled tractors so they can certainly damage a mere deck getting in the way of a hidden log or tree stump.

[mozer71]

Mine is suspended using the rock shaft arms. There are trailing bars and front bars to position but let's forget that now. I thought it was rather complicated how the rock shaft arms really work. I thought it was a puzzle and still do. Some shoulder bolts are fixed and some are sliding mode, to move up during deck impact. If a person just used regular bolts, it would be all seized up. Most I've seen, have chains or one link suspending it. I figured this was my first Tractor kind of tractor and original deck and linkage. Discover how it worked.

[outdoors4evr]

I have my mower deck wheels moved to the outside.
The left side can pivot 360 degrees without contacting the front tractor tire.
The right side had to be limited so it could only turn 90 degrees. I welded a small piece of steel on the bottom side of the arm so that it contacts the A frame off the axle support. This keeps it from spinning all the way around.

To mount the wheels, I bolted a piece of angle iron to the deck. I then filled tires with air to spec, parked on concrete, but a 1/2" piece of plywood under the deck wheel and then marked and drilled holes in the angle iron to mount. I then bolted the wheels to the angle iron. 1/2" keeps the wheels off the ground while mowing, but do keep the deck level when the ground is uneven. I'll try to take a couple of pics.

I have improved cutting performance when mowing across a hillside (not a steep one). The deck no longer mows the downhill side shorter than the uphill side.

[MikeEyre74]

Do you have an IH deck? My 3160 won't let the castor wheels rotate much more than 45-60 degrees as it is from the factor. There's stops installed that prevent it from doing so... I guess a full rotation to hit the front tires wouldn't be an issue for me as it is.

[outdoors4evr]

Got some pics. Sorry I didn't do any cleaning before hand. She looks like she's been working.
Left side

Right side

[outdoors4evr]

Coupe more pics of the right side.

[MikeEyre74]

OK, you must have a newer deck than mine, because mine doesn’t look like that… But mine already has quarter inch angle iron built-in to the edges, I can literally take the wheels out of the center and put them to the outside, I think, and not have to fabricate or weld anything. It’s almost like they designed it that way… But I am not sure that they did? If it works for you, perhaps it will work for me.