RE: (ET) Side discharge to rear discharge?

["Elie, Larry (L.D.)" <lelie ford com>]

Sorry it took so long to get to this; I lost it.

I have converted one deck.  You have to change all the baffling under the 
deck.  I ended up cutting all the little 1/4"-20 bolts holding the old 
side-discharge baffles, and a couple of tack welds that had been added 
over the years.  The new baffles fit with only a little bit of hammer 
help, and a few new tack welds.  I also added a rubber deflector to the 
back, which is part of the design.  I had to check blade to baffle 
clearance carefully.  Parts of the baffle are not the same height.  The 
side discharge guard comes off.  There is a cover that takes its place.  I 
think Bill has all these parts.

Differences:

I wanted the rear-discharge mainly because you can mow close on both 
sides.  That's a plus.  I thought it might take less current (not as far 
to throw the grass) but it doesn't seem to.  It parks a bit easier.  
However, if the grass is on the long side, the rear discharge tends to 
leave a foot-wide swath of thicker clippings on center behind the unit.  
If you had a grass catcher, this would be ideal, otherwise it doesn't look 
all that clean.  I have been told there is a slight premium for the 
rear-discharge.

Others:

I own/have owned several ET's.  Because the deck is the weak point, I have 
seen several versions.  Bill confirmed that over the phone.  Early models 
have a handle (looks like it came off an old wooden screen door) welded on 
center to the front of the deck.  Later models dropped that.  Some have 
two 1" angle braces welded at an angle front middle to back sides on top 
of the deck to hold it together.  Some have a front center castor, some 
don't.  If you have rough ground you might want one, if parking space is 
more important that castor adds 6" to the already long length.  Some have 
aluminum front side castor mounts; most are steel (two designs in steel) 
and of course there were two diameters of motors.  Most of the parts fit 
any deck.  Wheel Horse used a slightly different arm to hold the mower 
(rubber bushings and no steel swivels) but they fit too.  I made and added 
an aluminum ring on top of the center motor flange to change the harmonic 
of the middle motor (I work on vibr!
ation issues on occasion at Ford) and later found out Bill has been doing 
the same.  If all three motors have exactly the same mass the vibration is 
in harmony.  This time you don't want harmony.  It isn't necessary unless 
you have a problem.

Musings:

I don't know why GE didn't put a nylon or Teflon bushing on the strap 
mount of the mower like they did on the tiller and snow-blower, and then 
tie the lift back to the mount to get double the lift force like a block 
and tackle.  I did add one and it works fine.  Low batteries and the mower 
still comes up easily.  You don't need speed for the mower lift.

I hope I didn't leave anything out.

Larry Elie



-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Conner [mailto:bconner mediaone net]
Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2001 5:54 PM
To: elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu
Subject: (ET) Side discharge to rear discharge?


I wondering what the good folks on the list have to say about converting
a midmount mower deck from side discharge to rear discharge.  First,
what does it take to do it correctly?  Second, what are the benefits of
one over the other?  Does one style draw less power than another?  I'm
mowing about an acre with my E12M if that makes any difference.

Bruce Conner