[superkid778]

I removed my deck on my Yard Machine 600 series 42 inch deck. I rebuilt the spindles and sharpened the blades, but when I remounted the deck, I had a problem with everything lining up correctly. If I hook everything up, the chute side of the deck hits the rear tire. It looks like something got pushed back, but I cannot put my finger on it. I need some suggestions on where to start to fix this problem. Thank you again! Chris

[superkid778]

This is a picture of a hollow deck that has the same connections as mine...

[superkid778]

This is a better picture with the center bracket

[thebriggsdude]

Can't remember how mtds go back together... does it have tie rods (adjustable rods) holding the deck up and on?

[superkid778]

The deck mounts on fixed pivots... if you look at at the pics, you will see where the mounts are... that is what befuddles me... it is a simple disconnect and reconnect... it looks like it is too tilted to the right (chute side)... the front left is too close to the front tire and the right rear is touching the rear tire... when the deck is all the way up, it looks fine, but when you drop it to engage the blades, it goes too far back and touches the tire...

[thebriggsdude]

So they aren't adjustable? Hmm, that is weird... when the deck is down, check for anything that may be hitting the deck and maybe twisting it out of position.

[JJMMPR3]

Superkid you seem to have the same mower as me, I noticed in your previous post you took the engine pulley off. I need to take my off... any suggestions?

Thanks

[superkid778]

I never removed the engine pulley. The deck comes off easily. My problem was the deck was shifted back and hitting the back right tire, almost twisted a little bit. Everything looked like it was lining up right, but it wasn't. One day last week, I took it apart again (for the 4th time) and re-aseembled it.
This time, by the grace of God, it lined up perfectly. I could not tell you what I did differently, it just worked. Even the belt, which had way too much slack in it, now had perfect tension. As far taking the pulley off, I think you can just use an impact gun for the nut on bottom and slide the pulley off the shaft. My mower is a Yard Machine 600 series. Briggs 16.5 I/C twin 42in 7 speed. Probably 7 or 8 years old.

[dougkc]

I have this same deck on my MTD and have had nothing but problems with it. How did you "hook it up perfectly"? I can't figure out how to do that. Doug in KC

[MOWERMAN2468]

One clue here, "mtd". Well no actually, the system on these particular decks are nightmares. This was just one of mtd's poor designs. The best advice is to just reconnect it again and see if it is working correctly.

[kgl1919]

Actually Mowerman, you are not correct about this being a poor design. The 600 series units were produced for about 20 years and are still some of the better units MTD put out. The way these units hook up and adjust is pretty straightforward, superkid did something wrong. There's a large spring pulling back on the deck to tighten the belt and engage the blades. The movement of the deck is controlled by the deck engagement adjustment listed in the manual. Pretty simple, it's somewhat surprising you blew it off as a poor MTD design.

[JJMMPR3]

Hey new problem now!! Mower turns over but won't start... smells like it gets flooded? Keep trying until battery dies. I cleaned out air filter and carb.

[BigJohn96]

I have to strongly disagree with MOWERMAN, I was given a non working 42" yard machine built in '96, I still use this mower today and let me tell you, it's the best mower I have ever used. Far better than many newer machines. Superkid, your problem is one of the leveling brackets is bent. Check all the brackets and plate in the rear. I had the same problem after hitting one too many tree roots.

[jsfocke]

BigJohn96,

I have a feeling he has the problem taken care of by now. The previous post to yours was over two years ago.

[BigJohn96]

LOL , I noticed after I posted!