Bent deck?

[Nathan]

I am curious if anyone has had the same problem.
We purchased one of the new exmark turf tracers a while ago. Until recently the grass wasn't growing extremely dense, so the problem wasn't evident. Now with the grass being dry, dense and standing up straight, when we cut we are getting uneven cuts. We have already diagnosed the problem. The left spindle is sitting in the deck crooked, we had to shim the right blade so the blades met in the middle instead of leaving a difference in height. The only problem is that since the spindle is cocked it is mowing about 1/4" higher on the outer edge. Since the mower is new we are trying to get a new deck under warranty. We beleive the deck was welded incorrectly but our exmark dealer is questioning whether we hit something. Since our spindle shafts and blades weren't bent and the spindle housings not cracked, I don't see how we could bend a deck without destroying the weaker parts. BTW, to my knowledge we didn't hit anything. Even if we did I have never bent a deck on a commercial walkbehind even when I have hit rocks in tall grass bad enough to bend blades almost 45 degrees.
I am curious if anyone has had a similar situation with a defect from production, so I can go to our dealer with some backup to my argument.

[leaflawnandlimb]

the most common cause of a bent deck is not by hitting somthing with the blade but by hitting something with the blade bolt, most likly the back of the trailer wile loading or a root which the blade missed but the bolt didn't.

[Nathan]

I don't mean to negate your reply but I wonder if you are familiar with the turf tracer's deck. It has a reinforcing ring so the steel is about 1/4" thick around the spindle. It seems to me that if something hit the spindle, or center of the shaft dead on the result would be a cracked spindle or bent shaft instead of bending that thick of steel. Maybe I am wrong.

[leaflawnandlimb]

it happened twice on my older lazer (1999) when one of the guys forgot to lift the deck while loading it on the trailer. If they did that to my new ecs i would kill them.

[Nathan]

I am very surprised that such a relatively light hit could do the damage. How did you fix it?

[leaflawnandlimb]

It was anything but a light hit (ever see a lazer stop dead in it's tracks) As far as fixing it you have to take the deck off the machine and the spindle out of the deck. Next, get youself a long two inch pipe and a BFH (big f****n hammer) Take your time, use the pipe from the top and slowly bend the deck back to it's original shape (use the pipe from side to side as not to bend it to much in one spot) If you go to far use the hammer to bang it back down. then bolt the spindle back into the deck and ceck your blades, if not try again.