448 Mower lift issue

Callwill, pictures would help describing your problem,, but here's my thoughts,

The lift mechanism in our tractors are parallel to each other,, the lift links, need to be the same as well so you get equal lift from both sides. Sounds to me like the lift links are the issue. Here's a simple trick to try and see if that's correct,, on the low side, the lift links are both slotted,, on the low side,, add a bolt with nut at the bottom of the slotted section,, which should give you more lift on that side.

It would be nice to know the year of tractor,, and model number of the deck you're using. Parts do vary between models,,

Pictures do help a lot for trouble shooting though,,,

I just attached a 48" deck on my 444. It has two different lift links. One side is straight and the other is bent to go around hardware. The slots should be the same size in the lift links. Mine were both 4" slots. It did add bolts on both of the slots on my links to give me more lift. I adjusted the rear adjusters to make sure the deck is centered between the wheels.
I mowed my lawn yesterday which was almost completely covered with cottonwood seeds. The hydro bagger and the deck performed extremely well. My lawn never looked so good. No grass or cottonwood seed left on the lawn and no shedding of the grass. It was amazing to me how nice it looked, even my wife agreed how nice it looked.
I agree with Lionel that a few pic would help us determine where the problem is. I can also post some of my deck if it would help.

Keep the Peace
Harry

You say this is a 448. Are both lift links straight? Or 1 side has an offset in the lift link?

On a 448, the RH side lift link should have an offset:


Brian

could it be that you have mismatched lift links on both decks and you need to do some swappage between them?

Bob

Thanks...for some reason i was not getting any notifications of responses. Just checked. Will try to take and post pictures ASAP. BTW, i have 1 deck but 2 mule drives...

callwill said:

As promised...pics View attachment 126556 View attachment 126557 View attachment 126558
The sharply angled lift link is on the right side as i sit on it. Pics taken from the front. The upper pin on the right has a "bump" built into it to give it a bit extra raise. I noticed the left side arm is virtually straight. On my extra mule drive the "straight" on still has a bit of an angle to it, but not as much as the other. Also noticed that the gauge wheel on the right sticks out an inch or two farther than the one on the left...

Click to expand...

The extra spacer in the lift link on the left side of the tractor will definitely introduce some of the angle that you're experiencing. I admit I wouldn't expect it to be as bad as you described. But if you put the same spacer on the right side as is on the left side I think it will go a long way to alleviating the problem.

Of course you could also remove the spacer that's on the left side. But either way the two sides should match.

bobneumann said:

The extra spacer in the lift link on the left side of the tractor will definitely introduce some of the angle that you're experiencing. I admit I wouldn't expect it to be as bad as you described. But if you put the same spacer on the right side as is on the left side I think it will go a long way to alleviating the problem.

Of course you could also remove the spacer that's on the left side. But either way the two sides should match.

Click to expand...

I had to edit my description -> the pin with the lift bump is on the left side, not the right...
So today, befor mowing i took the left lift link off of both mule drives and sure enough, the one on the mule drive i was using was at least an inch longer than the other one! Swapped the links but decided to continue to use the bumped pin.
That did it, pulls up even and high on both sides and looks more centered from the front.
Thanks to all for your welcome input and helping me solve that problem. Will be posting another momentarily.