How does this happen?

[HeadExam 1,783]

I wanted to to put one of my 48" wheel Horse decks under one of the big D-160 tractors, after looking at both decks it became apparent that one deck was in better shape, and was going to be the "one". I think this is where the train went off the tracks as it were. I found several parts on the chosen deck that were missing or not in good order. As it would happen the deck held in reserve had those missing and defective pieces, deck wheels, several brackets, and tension/idler parts. The previous "owner" had removed the tension spring and drilled a hole through the deck and mounted the idler pulley solid. I know this man must be a genius for it is way beyond what I can comprehend and still baffles me as to why and what for. I used my lesser brain to remove the tension spring assembly (the wheel horse tension set up is quite amazing in its raw primitive form) from the spare deck and installed it on the chosen deck. I also found several places on the deck hangers where a rotary metal saw had been employed to "whittle" down metal that must have been rubbing. I found this on other places and decide the genius had found a way to save from having to repair a problem by cutting it out. I wondered why I had never came to this conclusion when I remembered this man was a genius and i was not. As I said earlier, the train had already left the tracks and when decided to put a little primer over the spots where I welded back metal that had been cut away and installed a set of grass baffles from the spare deck; the genius had removed them. It must work better without baffles underneath, but for my little pea brain I believe I need them. Again while the train was off the tracks I decided to spot prime and paint the areas the welder blemished from underneath and a few rusty spots. The next thing I know I have the deck nearly disassembled and am spraying etching primer on the entire thing. How did this happen? Well I resigned myself to another ride on a train off the tracks and sanded it today. That did not take long so I broke out the paint, hardener, and reducer and sprayed two coats on the entire deck. BTW, the little drag wheels on the deck have grease fittings, wow. The first picture shows three, to be two complete, Allis decks in the queue for restoration. It looks like that train has no tracks anywhere around these parts.

[Stormin 4,458]

Looks good Alain.  I've just acquired a side discharge like that to do up.

 

[slf-uk 914]

Great job Alain and very amusing story. I feel sure that genius has been at some of my equipment too

 

Iain

[HeadExam 1,783]

5 hours ago, Stormin said:

Looks good Alain.  I've just acquired a side discharge like that to do up.

 

Thanks Norm. I'm always on the lookout for rear discharge, but so far no luck. I have a Massey with rear discharge. I don't think AC/Simp or Bolens made rear discharge decks, but I know they made a Wheel Horse rear discharge deck.

[Stormin 4,458]

I currently use a rear discharge I rebuilt. The grass over here, up north anyway, tends to be wet or damp. And grows to fast.  Rear discharge makes a mess of the rear under side of the tractor.

[heliosuk 6]

It never fails to amuse me as to the steps some people take to supposedly fix things and I've seen some horrors on cars and then they try to blame the manufacturer wen it all goes wrong!!!

[HeadExam 1,783]

2 hours ago, heliosuk said:

It never fails to amuse me as to the steps some people take to supposedly fix things and I've seen some horrors on cars and then they try to blame the manufacturer wen it all goes wrong!!!

And here is how it goes. "I identified a weak area of the tractors design." Translation, "I'm smarter than the army of engineers and designers hired by the manufacturer." It takes a lot of ego or a total lack of intelligence to second guess quality engineering in the case of a single part. Had the poster realized the machine had been used and abused for 40-50 years and taken that into consideration, he might have realized there was absolutely nothing wrong with the design of the tractor, just the current owner.

[ranger 373]

On 23 August 2016 at 0:30 PM, slf-uk said:

Great job Alain and very amusing story. I feel sure that genius has been at some of my equipment too

 

Iain

I think he 'works' at the same place I do.

[HeadExam 1,783]

I finished the deck and as soon as I remove the box blade and dozer blade the deck will attach to the Wheel Horse Fast-Tach attachment system. The tension set up in these Wheel Horse Deck is really nice, a sliding bar with a spring applies the tension, very easy to use and maintain, well for not so smart guys like me that cant circumvent the system like the previous genius had. The rear wheel adjustment allows for a better cut on the grass than just high or low, but rather allows a greater degree of height adjustment.