Lawnflite 703 tractor mower questions

I bought it second hand several years ago, it suffers as all of these do, with choking up with grass in the duct over the back axle, but I cope by clearing it often with a stick.

Too the questions.....

There is no manual I have been able to find, with instructions for setting up the twin bladed cutting deck. The front end of which is sort of hinged [1] the rear end hangs on two wires plus brackets, one either side. An adjustable lever sets the depth of cut, by raising and lowering the above suspending wires. There are two location holes which set the suspended height of the deck with an extra fine adjuster on one side, to get it side to side level. The deck has a sort of quick release system, in that is fixes with one of the two holes using a sprung U bolt.

I have never been sure which of the two holes to suspend the deck from they are about 1.5" apart, one above the other.

At the front the deck latches onto a large U shaped bar, the horns of the bar are threaded and a couple of nuts at each side clamp it to a pivoted bar at the very front of the tractor. Adjusting these nuts, moves the whole deck backwards or forwards in relation to the tractor, as much as 2.5". Again I have no idea how to set these nuts, to set the position of the deck in relation to the underside of the tractor.

As the rear of the deck is raised, because it is hinged at the front, the front end moves up and down much less than the rear.

The motion/drive of the tractor, is via two belts. One from the engine pulley, to a midpoint, then the second from that midpoint to the rear axle. The first belt, until the accelerator is pressed, is slack, so no drive. With a CVT gear at the mid-point.

Last week, the front belt snapped - I knew it was quite worn so no surprise. Two new belts delivered yesterday and fitted yesterday. I tested it with the deck not fitted, it ran fine, so I fit the deck and cut the grass - all fine until I tried to park it in its shelter and the drive suddenly locked up solid.

Put it in neutral, pushed it down to my garage to take the deck back off, roll it on its side and find out what was jammed - I found nothing jammed, all pulleys free.

Rinse and repeat twice more, with no clue what is locking up the drive, other than it seems not to lock up, when the deck has been removed.

Tomorrow I get get SWMBO to drive it, whilst I watch what happens.

Anything here:
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/699532/Mtd-700-Series.html#product-700 Series
Chapter 8 covers deck adjustment

lostinthelight said:

Anything here:
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/699532/Mtd-700-Series.html#product-700 Series
Chapter 8 covers deck adjustment

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No, but thanks anyway. I've seen that before it only covers the 38" and up, the side discharge style of deck. Mine is the 36" with a rear discharge, discharge duct goes over the back axle and out the back into a rear mounted bag.

Another difference is that the PTO clutch in the manual is an electric one. Mine is an entirely mechanical Power Take Off. That caused me some fun, in that the clutch was metal on metal, slipping and I had no way to decide whether it was supposed to be metal on metal friction surface. I ended up cutting a friction surface from some ancient gasket material, to put between the two metal surfaces - which solved the problem.

Front end pivoted bar / large adjustable length U (A) / cutting deck / adjustable height hangers (B), attached to operating lever

Front end has a fixed height, so deck tilts up and down to set cutting height.

I am not sure how A is supposed to be set, nor which of the two possible suspension holes I should be using for B

Sorted, working better than it has ever done before since I bought it....

The jamming drive was due to the cutting deck digging into the ground, at certain places in the garden. Not obvious at all, because when you (I) get off it, it can be easily pushed - no I am not that heavy, just 12stone. So deck was obviously too low.

The front to back adjustment large nuts, two each side - were at the extreme end of their threads, pulling the deck fully forward. I readjusted those further back about 3/8". Of the two possible holes for the up down deck raise mechanism, I fitted it on the upper ones (highest at each side). No more jamming drive now, I just have to set the side to side deck level now. I guess I need a really flat level bit of hard surface, from which to set that up, which I don't have.

Harry, can I ask why you collect the grass I always had similar problems to what you are experiencing then decided to stop collecting the cuttings (they are well shredded anyway ) & cut the grass more often but not as short. Sorted all the problems I was having with the deck.

jj4091 said:

Harry, can I ask why you collect the grass I always had similar problems to what you are experiencing then decided to stop collecting the cuttings (they are well shredded anyway ) & cut the grass more often but not as short. Sorted all the problems I was having with the deck.

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No, you misunderstood - I never collect it. I just let it blow it out the back, but the deck still gets choked up with grass, as did the one on its predecessor. The suggestion is, they are designed for the much drier grass of the US, not the moisture laden UK grass. Much more of a problem when there is lot of moisture in the grass and or when it is long. It is also more inclined to choke, the shorter you try to cut it - I assume because it cannot get enough air flow to clear it.

It uses a 6" square plastic duct to channel the cuttings up and over the axle, once up to the axle it turns into a 8" square upside down U shape then out the back, where it manages to blow them quite a distance. The choking up is so regular, that I keep a stick on the back, to poke the duct clear when it chokes.

I've been toying with an idea to remove the duct and make a shorter one which discharges close to the rear of the deck.

My previous one, had a single blade and the entire deck was supported, raised and lowed at the corners. This one is only raised and lowered at the back end, hinged by a thick U bar at the front.

Any thoughts about retro fitting a couple of scalp wheels, Harry?
John

If you spray the cutter and chute with WD40, it prevents cuttings from sticking and accumulating, and makes it easier to clean them off. My lawn is quite small and I don't need to do it every cut.

If you do it after a clean and before storage it probably helps preserve the machine against corrosion too.

Burnerman said:

Any thoughts about retro fitting a couple of scalp wheels, Harry?
John

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It is already fitted with one wheel at each side of the deck and a pair of hose connectors, so it can be flushed with water when you have finished with it.

Are you running a full governed speed, if so have you tried on slower forward travel to reduce the volume of grass .
You could accurately check what speed the engine is governed to as manufacturers often cut to revs down well below the engine safe governed speed to reduce sound levels, high lift blades are available for some machines

lostinthelight said:

Are you running a full governed speed, if so have you tried on slower forward travel to reduce the volume of grass .

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Yes, I always wack the operator control up to maximum engine speed, then my first run around the outside edge of the garden is quite a slow one - it's tricky to navigate. I then progress by spiralling in and going a little faster. Unlike it's predecessor, flat out it on the accelerator - it doesn't go much faster, the CVT doesn't have much speed range. It's predecessor could go at silly speeds. This one goes at a slow crawl, or a slightly faster crawl.

Good point about the engine speed - I bought an IR rev counter some while ago, with the intentions of checking it, but never got a roundtuit.

I use IR counter for deisels, props shafts,lathes etc but you cant beat pulse tachs for adjusing on the fly. The Husky one is handy cos its easy to clip the lead to the ht and mount the lcd somewhere visible for adjustments or mount it on the instrument panel just as a temp rev meter

lostinthelight said:

I use IR counter for deisels, props shafts,lathes etc but you cant beat pulse tachs for adjusing on the fly. The Husky one is handy cos its easy to clip the lead to the ht and mount the lcd somewhere visible for adjustments or mount it on the instrument panel just as a temp rev meter

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My lathe has one built in. It was the difficulty of finding anywhere obvious to get a reading on the tractor, that put me off originally.

Harry Bloomfield said:

My lathe has one built in. It was the difficulty of finding anywhere obvious to get a reading on the tractor, that put me off originally.

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Perfect excuse to buy a pulse tach then..Wish I had a posh lathe

lostinthelight said:

Wish I had a posh lathe

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It's not that posh, it's a Chinese mini-lathe. The thing was, I had quite enjoyed a (too) brief lesson on a lathe at school and when I could afford one, if not justify one a few years ago - I ordered one. It's mostly a toy, but it has found uses sometimes. I have yet to get around to trying to cut a thread with it yet, though it has all the bits needed.