Re: (ET) Diagnosing an extremely noisy mowing deck?

Assume your tractor has a 'front mower guide' and that the 'mounting arms on the mower' have pvc tubing to keep the mounting arms from banging against the mower guide. Without the pvc, a fearsome racket ensues.

I find that the helper springs keep things quieter if tensioned a bit when the mower is down for mowing. Put a wrench on every bolt whether it needs it or not, especially the four bolts holding motors to deck.

When I got a WH deck about 7 years back the seller told me how he lubed the motor bearings with WD-40. Major mistake of course. Incredible noise with mower down. The bearings were not sealed and may have benefitted from shots of lithium grease...but I wasn't patient and had them replaced with sealed bearings. Each motor has an upper and lower bearing.

JJC

On Jun 4, 2013, at 3:21 PM, Charlie wrote:

Thank you everyone! That gives me some more things to look at.

The blades are flat, faced properly, reasonably balanced, and the
motors all move the same direction. The horizontal distance from the
blade tips to the baffles is pretty consistent, but I haven't measured
their distance vertically from the deck, so I will do that - thanks,
Ben. I should've thought of that!

* Tractor not moving, deck flipped up vertical, mower turned on: big
whoooooosh fan noise, nothing else.
* not moving, deck down flat, mower on: whoooosh and deck vibrates
with some noise, and springs and pins start jingling and rattling.
* moving, deck down mower on: hellacious racket to wake the dead.
Banging, clattering, jingling, etc.
* moving, deck down mower off: some rattling and banging, but nowhere
near as much.

I will check the rear rollers for slop - thanks, Chad. I bet that's
where the banging is coming from.

Saturday I noticed that I could hear one of the blades spinning down
after I turned the mower off, which I don't remember ever hearing
before from the saddle. But maybe I'm just paying more attention
because it's annoying me. >:(

--Charlie

On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 12:59 PM, bushman165s aol com
<bushman165s aol com> wrote:
My deck is pretty noisy when mowing as well. I'm pretty sure that some of it
is the lift strap pin at the deck, but most of it is most definitely the
rear rollers. I have the anti-vibration rings on the underside of my motors,
so they run smooth as well when not moving. I would bet your rollers are
loose on the crossbar.

Chad

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