916 H rollers to wheels

[Bugzilla]

Picked up a nice AC916H. Motor was rebuilt about 10 years ago for more than the $400 I paid for tractor. Needed a deck drive belt and tension spring. Got all those so I addressed the worn rollers. They have seen a lot of miles. Converted to wheels as we have sandy soil and moles and the rollers really tear up the lawn when they hit a mole path. With the deck all the way up, the 8” wheels barely are off the ground. May not matter as this tractor will be mainly towing a cart or vacuuming leaves in the fall. Haven’t driven it yet with the wheels so there may be some more fine tuning.

[SmilinSam]

Nice engineering

If you ever move up to Broadmoor/ConQuest/Prestige tractors,  the Snapper and Craftsman versions of those use wheels on the mower decks instead of the roller bars too

[GregB]

Be careful with your PTO Belt angles.  the decks were not designed to be under power in the up position.  If you wheel system lifts the deck enough to change the angle of the belts to the iders and drive pulleys, belts may suffer.

[Bugzilla]

Thanks for the heads up on the PTO.

[rich_kildow]

Took me a while to learn the lesson of deck height and thrown/blown belts.  I used to think I had a bonus "light brush mower" just by raising the deck.  Nothing heavier raspberries and pencil thick tag alder, but I'd constantly throw belts, usually between the  PTO clutch  and  frame.  

I do like the wheels.  My rollers cause the same issues due to moles and an uneven lawn that was pretty heavily forested  within recent memory.  I may have to experiment with this.