1450 mower deck will not drop down low enough
 

Hello, I am new owner of a Cub Cadet 1450 and will head over to the newbie page and introduce myself but wanted to throw out this questions first because I have been all over the inter webs trying to find an answer.

It appears that the hydraulic lift will not allow the mower deck to drop down low enough. It lifts fine and brings the bottom edge of the deck up about 4 inches but it barely drops down the deck, maybe 2 inches on the right side but about 1 inch on the left side. I have checked and I don't see anything hanging up.

I have been reading the manual and it references a locking knob and cam stop and was curious if this what I need to be adjusting.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Forrest.

If you're sitting on the tractor, the cam stop will be by your right foot. Can't miss it. It will be obvious if that is what it's hitting.

:IH Trusted Hand:

Yah, I saw it on the manual and haven't touched it yet but was wanting to know if that would be causing my deck not lower all the way.

yes. its entire purpose is to stop the deck from going down beyond the point its set at.

Great, Thanks for info guys.

That lift stop doesn't have anything to do with the deck not dropping level. That's a different problem.

Even if the cam stop is holding you from dropping any further, its doing whats its suppose to be doing. I would also look into why its not dropping down evenly throughout the deck. If it dropped the deck down 2" on the right side, it should have dropped the deck down 2" on the left side as well. It very well could be out of alignment or something is bent. Let us know what you find.

Dang it Mike, you beat me too it. I started replying, got up and did something, came back and finished and realized you already said the same thing. Pretty much.

Bent lift arm or broken spirol pin in one of them.

Check to see if arms are in line with one another.

Have fun getting the busted pin out and replaced if that is the problem.
You will probably use every 4 letter word you ever heard before the fix in completed!!

BTDT got the skinned knuckles also!

Here are a couple pics of the deck and arms.

Use the adjustment links in your first picture to level the deck side/side. Use the adjustment links in the second picture to adjust level fore/aft. The front should be slightly lower.

Ok, I got the side to side but will need to get back under and lower the front a little bit.

Also, there is a lot of down pressure to where you have to watch it because it will move that cam stop.

Not sure what you mean by pressure moving the cam. As you can see in this picture the cam just rotates and the big hand knob locks it wherever you want it. The arm in front of the cam is attached to the rockshaft and it stops the rockshaft when it touches the cam and limits your deck. There is no pressure on the cam.

Might have the pin in to lock it into the lift arms under the tunnel that would be the only way you get down pressure

When lowering the deck I have to watch the rockshaft and stop it when it touches the cam stop or it will continue to put force on the cam stop and eventually cause it to move and keep lowering.

Are you referring to the Float lockout pin described on page 20 in this manual?
http://ccmanuals.info/pdf/QL%20Operators%20Manual.pdf

I was thinking that too but since this tractor is so new to me I had a hard time understanding the wording. The last paragraph on the left side on page 20 is where I get lost.

Yes, the float lock-out pin is what they are referring to. If it is installed, you need to remove it. You don't need it for mowing. Fact is, you really don't need them installed at all...... ever as far as I'm concerned.

It is possible it was installed to run the tiller it came with?

Good to know, Im learning a lot.

No, someone probably installed it to use a front mounted blade. People think they need down pressure on a blade. In reality, all it does is bend the lift rod all to crap. Would do the same thing with a tiller. I for the life of me don't know why they made it to have down pressure. Maybe there is an attachment that it helped with, but I've seen all the CC attachments as far as I know, and own a good portion of them. I've never needed down pressure.

Ok, I got pics of the lockout pin (I think). There are two holes for the pin to go into. If Im reading the manual right, either position is considered "locked out" correct?

First pic is with the deck raised and the second is with the deck lowered.

It looks to me that you have the wrong subframe for your deck. The one in your pics looks like the one used with the 44" and 50" decks while the deck you have looks like the 38", 42", 48" triangle decks. This might limit your drop.

Chris

I got the lowering issue figured out, it was the cam stop. Now Im trying to limit the down force and its possible that the lockout pin is causing that so I took pictures of the current pin position.

You don't have the lock out pin in place, it is how it should be for mowing. The float lock out is a second pin you put in the upper hole. In the second pic you can see the link "bend" with the cylinder closed. If the pin was in, the link couldn't bend and the cylinder would be pulling the link thereby making the down pressure.

When you set the cam to the desired height, is the black knob locking it down sufficiently? If it's loose, I could see the weight of the deck moving it. If you tighten the knob, but the cam can still move something is wrong. Maybe the bolt is bottomed out, if so you could try a washer under the knob.

Bill

Yep!

:IH Trusted Hand:

Rust may be keeping it from pivoting freely. That would be my only guess. I usually get my deck set to where I want it. Loosen the cam and spin it into place the tighten it down as tight as I can with my hand only. Never had a issue doing it that way even if I forget to remove the locking pin when I remove my blade (helps with getting the harder packed snow up without the blade running up a slope)

After reposition the cam stop and tightening down the knob I was able to get the deck to lower to the right height.

Thanks again for all the help!

I can't remember the last time I used an implement (blade, tiller, mower) and I had it in the "locked" position. Mine is always in the "float" mode so nothing is likely to break that way.

Glad you got it fixed. :beerchug:

Bill