Uneven mowing
 

My front left wheel on my ZTR 1 is uneven with right wheel. My backyard is pretty uneven with a lot of holes. I have an acre of land and after mowing for a while I noticed it was mowing unevenly. I pulled it onto driveway and my front left wheel is off the ground, spinning free. What caused this and how do I fix it? Can I just loosen the bolt that it is attached to?

First, welcome to OCC........ :Welcome2:

From here, it looks like the Front Axle is slightly bent upward on the LH side.

Bent axle?
 

How can I repair it?

IN MY OPINION.........

There are several way to do this. As "one" suggestion. One could cut a slit in the front axle (Left of center) and push down until a straight edge shows no light through, then weld the slit shut.

There is always buy a new front axle too.

Not familiar with zero turns,
But does not the front axle pivot?
if so, possibly it is frozen??
or one of the rear tires not the same pressure as the other?:bigthink:

Much like a plow foot.. Cant you simply take bogey wheel out? apply washer under the one thats higher and reinstall?? Or is there not enough shaft remaining at top?

I would check opposite side rear tire pressure as well. I think front is fixed so low pressure on opposite rear tire would cause this as well

Hard to believe they would not built a front axle that pivot's, to conform to the ground, it's not a 3 wheeler.
But again, I've not worked on one.
:bigthink:

Speaking for my Scag Turf Tiger. Tire pressure can change the mowing level. Yes the frames are rigid. I can put one front tire up on a ramp and clean the deck real easy.

Yeah.. none that ive owned or seen pivot.. All ridged . I think if it did pivot may be cut would be even worse based on how the decks hang

If that is the case, the mower is like a 4-legged stool,
there is virtually no surface where all four legs of a stool can simultaneously touch.
One will always not touch.

My rear finish mower is the same way,, it has four tires, and no flex.
virtually all the time, one of the tires is not touching,,

Normally you do not see the condition, as the gap is masked by the height of the grass.

https://i.imgur.com/9hfBD6Q.jpg

BUT, when I drop the mower on the concrete in my shed, one of the four tires will not be touching the concrete.

On the ZT, equal air pressure in the rear tires is critical to level mowing.

Nice thing about uneven lawn mowing or hair cuts, you get a chance
at perfection the next time. :biggrin2:

Does your driveway have a slight slope to it?

Problem solved
 

Thank you so much. It was uneven tire pressure. My back right tire had no pressure. I didn’t realize because it didn’t appear flat. Yay, problem solved!

One day, my son in law was mowing with the 1861, scalping on one side, and too high on the other.

I asked him if he knew what the problem was,, he said he thought the blades were dull,,,


https://i.imgur.com/nSPOCx9.jpg

It turned out that the old tires were so hard, that the tractor showed no sign that one rear tire had zero pressure.

BUT, when he sat on the seat, his body weight was enough to then compress the tire, making the tractor lean,,

You just could not see the problem when no one was setting on the tractor seat,,, :bigthink: