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"That Simplicity Cut!"


Les

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A fellow at work asked me today, what is so special about "that Simplicity cut"? I tried to explain the free floating deck, but would like to hear from you guys (and gals!) how you would describe it, how it works and how far back they started using the free floating decks, etc.

Thanks, and I'll pass along your comments to him!

Bill
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I'll take a stab at it, since I've certainly read a lot of marketing material lately. Others please jump in and correct as needed....

The patented floating deck attaches to the front axle and is suspended under (not attached directly to) the frame via chains for lifting. Once the deck is lowered for cutting, it floats under the frame with no tension on these chains, only the front axle hitch points. The front wheels pivot with the front axle on the frame to follow the contours of the lawn, guiding the front of the deck over bumps or hollows independent of the frame of the tractor, while the construction of the bails that mount the deck to the front axle allow some additional flex and movement....

There are full-width rollers on the back of the deck (where cutting height is adjusted) that help prevent scalping and produce a more even cut on each side from one pass to the next... If you go over a bump in the center of the path, rather than scalping that bump (which wheels only on each side could allow), the rollers will follow its contour and the deck will rise over it, tilting as necessary to follow the lawn as closely as the width of the deck will allow.

Note that the older decks also were very deep (at least 6" deep) allowing you to cut taller grass without clogging or making piles of clippings marking your path. Rather than a shallow deck where clippings were blown into a catcher, Simpliciity used this deep deck and a rear PTO powered vacuum to suck out the clippings. (Shallower decks produce higher velocity discharge for blowing clippings into a bagger). The decks on the new, more expensive tractors are still quite deep, with full-width rollers, while those on the less expensive new tractors (such as the new Express) are shallower, with only wheel on each side....

These full-floating decks were on the Wonder Boy at least as early as 1956, if not earlier, and then continued on with the larger garden tractors such as the 700, 725, etc. You can see an example of what they called the "Full-Flex" deck on the 1962 Wonder Boy at the link below. It's easier to see there than on a front-engine garden tractor.

My 2 cents worth....[A href='http://www.simpletractors.com/simplicity/new_in_1962/wonder_boy.htm']http://www.simpletractors.com/simplicity/new_in_1962/wonder_boy.htm[/a]
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Very good Kent - are you prepping to be a Simplicity salesman? To sum it up the "full floating" design might also be called "dual pivoting" - meaning it not only pivots up and down but also side to side.
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