Excuse the long-winded post.....but bear with me.
My neighbor bought a Craftsman DYT 4000 42" 2-blade rider a couple years ago and it mowed horribly......yard looked awful. He paid a fortune having to buy right at season start too (like $1600 and change). I told him he needed to level it properly, not sure he ever did. He put 50 hours on it total and parked it paying someone else to mow. Never tried to fix the issue or take it back.
Fast forward, he's moved to a townhouse and offered the mower to me at a pretty decent price. I took it needing a new one pretty soon myself thinking I'd fix it quickly. It was leveled correctly but cut very uneven with an obvious height difference in the middle between the 2 blades. I assumed blades and replaced them, no change. Assumed mandrel housings or shafts and replaced them, no change. Started measuring the blade heights off leveled concrete and both blades dead level but the right blades sitting 1/4" higher than the left blade. Pulley heights also 1/4" off. Pulled deck apart to make sure something wasn't right but matched manual. In my normal redneck fashion, I fixed the issue by shimming the 3 mandrel mounting points down 1/4" and it mows glass smooth now.
My question is does anyone think there's any harm shimming the mandrel off the deck by 1/4"? I used hardened washers and quite frankly didn't see an option short of buying a new deck. The deck shows no damage and still looks brand new so apparently there was a manufacturing flaw from the factory. I think the fix is adequate, but don't want to harm the mower or myself and would love some advice. Thanks.
My neighbor bought a Craftsman DYT 4000 42" 2-blade rider a couple years ago and it mowed horribly......yard looked awful. He paid a fortune having to buy right at season start too (like $1600 and change). I told him he needed to level it properly, not sure he ever did. He put 50 hours on it total and parked it paying someone else to mow. Never tried to fix the issue or take it back.
Fast forward, he's moved to a townhouse and offered the mower to me at a pretty decent price. I took it needing a new one pretty soon myself thinking I'd fix it quickly. It was leveled correctly but cut very uneven with an obvious height difference in the middle between the 2 blades. I assumed blades and replaced them, no change. Assumed mandrel housings or shafts and replaced them, no change. Started measuring the blade heights off leveled concrete and both blades dead level but the right blades sitting 1/4" higher than the left blade. Pulley heights also 1/4" off. Pulled deck apart to make sure something wasn't right but matched manual. In my normal redneck fashion, I fixed the issue by shimming the 3 mandrel mounting points down 1/4" and it mows glass smooth now.
My question is does anyone think there's any harm shimming the mandrel off the deck by 1/4"? I used hardened washers and quite frankly didn't see an option short of buying a new deck. The deck shows no damage and still looks brand new so apparently there was a manufacturing flaw from the factory. I think the fix is adequate, but don't want to harm the mower or myself and would love some advice. Thanks.
