QuestionWe have a 4 year old John Deere LT-180, it seems to run fine with one exception.
While the blades are engaged,and sitting still, the blades sound like they are coming in contact with something under or around the deck area.
I have removed the deck twice and cannot see anyplace that would suggest that to be the case...the blades are not contacting the bottom side of deck as far as I can tell.
The sound is not constant, in that it does it about every 3 or 4 seconds now, which is much more often than it was in the past.
I would like to be able to repair this myself, rather than taking it to the John Deere dealer, but don't know what part's are in need of repair / replaceing.
Any suggestions that you can offer will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
AnswerThis question is easy but I need to know what deck you have.
If it is the 42 mulch only deck the noise you here are the blades hitting each other. This happens because you have jumped the timing belt. This is the only JD deck that has a timing belt. Remove the plastic deck cover and look at the actual blade pulleys. Both pulleys have 2 holes drilled on top. These holes must be 90 degrees to each other. Loosen the idlers and move belt to achieve this alignment.
If you have a 46" or 48" deck pull the deck off and flip it over. Get out your BFH (Big Freaking Hammer) and give the deck 4 hard blows at the front edge on the discharge side.This where these decks always hit.
Good luck. Sometimes if you have a friend sit on the tractor at night and engage the blades you can tell by the sparks where the deck is hitting. USE EYE PROTECTION.
