2320 Mowing Deck lift - how high should it come?

I have the same question as Evagee - what problem is it specifically?
Have you leveled the deck side to side and front to rear to within a 1/4"?
My deck is a 62D. The "stop" that you mentioned is within 1/16th or so of the frame at full lift. I'll measure, but I would estimate that at full lift the bottom of the deck is about 7" from the ground with the blades are another couple of inches higher.

Evagee,

The problem I am having is that I don’t seem to have any significant adjustment in my cutting height. If I set the “knob” at HI the mower cuts the grass about 1 to 1 ½” high and in many places scalps the ground. If I set it any lower than HI it literally dumps the mower deck into the dirt. So I have to cut at the LOCK position. At that point the deck cuts the grass “about” 4 to 4 ½” high.

I have suspected that my deck is slung too low, and what you fellows are telling me confirms that.

Twofriendscreek said that when his deck is all the way up the “upstop” comes to within about 1/16” of the tractor frame, and according to the Operator’s Manual THAT IS WHAT IT IS SUPPOSED TO DO. Mine does not do that. When my deck is all the way up the “upstop” is still 1 ½” to 2” from the bottom of the frame.

Also, when I suck the deck right up as far as it will go the bottom of the deck frame is only about 5” off the ground. It then settles down to the LOCK position which leaves it about 2 ½” to 3” off the ground – which is too low for safe transport.

So all in all I think my deck is waaaaaaayyyyyy to low! That would also explain why I can’t get any adjustment for cutting. The deck is too low to start with.

I’D SURE LIKE TO HEAR MORE FROM OTHER GUYS WITH SIMILAR SET UPS WITH REGARDS TO HOW CLOSE THE “UPSTOP” PLATE IS FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE FRAME WHEN THE DECK IS ALL THE WAY UP.

One other thing gentlemen, when your deck IS all the way up, and the “upstop” plate is within 1/16” of the frame – does this cause any problems with the hydraulic hose that lifts the deck? Looking at mine I am afraid that if my deck did come all the way up as it’s supposed to – it might sever the hydraulic line between the bottom of the frame and the top of the “upstop”. The hose travels under the frame right at that position, and I don’t see any way to re-route it as it is. I may have to get a longer hose and make a hanger to keep it safe.

All in all, I’m not particularly impressed with the job the dealership did on setting this deck up. I don’t want to whine, but this is a brand new rig, and given what the tractor and the deck cost I’d have thought the least they could have done was set it up right.

Unfortunately, taking it back to the dealership is not a feasible option. I live in a pretty remote area. It’s a 14 hour drive to the dealership each way. So it’s a long day to drive down there, a day to have things done, and a long day to drive back. Annoying.

Anyway, I’d sure appreciate any input you fellows have on this. I really need to know where your decks are coming up to when fully raised – and how far they settle back down when the hydraulics let them drop down to LOCK.

Thanks guys

Saskman49,

Sorry. I thought I'd answered that. I have too many threads open I guess.

Mine rotates completely around - 360 degrees - either way. I counted 9 "stops/clicks" as it goes around. I have no idea if this is normal, or if it is supposed to only go so far each way and then stop. I did send an e-mail to the dealership asking about this, but so far no answer.

It is supposed to rotate the whole way around. Now that that is out of the way, I believe your deck is seriously out of adjustment as it should be able to be controlled better than you describe. I was under a brand new one and with the way that stepped plate on the adjuster is made it has to work if setup right. Do the setup and adj the stops by the book. You will find that it locks up to the proper height as well as giving plenty of adj. I asked abt the knob because mine has gone goofy and won't completly rotate which according to the service mrg it is supposed to. I always had lots of adj till the knob went funky. If I get a chance tonight I'll try to get you a rough idea how far up the adjustable lift links need to be set, that should at least get you in the ball park to get started.

I don't know if the knob turns a full 360 or how many clicks there are. Guess I never had any reason to try it on any of my CUT's. I'll check it further a little later when I get the chance.

I can tell you that I cut the lawn right at 3". On my adjustment knob that is just a tiny bit to the right of 'M'.

1972 said:

I live in a pretty remote area. It’s a 14 hour drive to the dealership each way.

Click to expand...

14 hour drive to the Dealership !!! mg: mg: mg: , do you fly oil and filters in ???

Later,x595

At the lowest setting, grass is cut at about an inch. If I remember correctly, at the highest setting it cuts at 6". Just to the right of 'M' cuts it at 3". I forgot to check the full lift height, rotation and number of "clicks", but will this evening.

If at "M" one is burying the deck in the ground it would seem logical to me that the deck is not set correctly. The deck should be set to mow the full range from short to tall.

The bottom of the deck at the front of the discharge side, at my setting (just to the right of 'M' = 3") is right at 3" of the floor. The blades are likewise 3" off the floor.

Still seems to me that the whole set-up/adjustment scheme is messed up. I would take it off, and start the installation/adjustment process from start.

I think tofriendscreek is right. I’m going to have to start from scratch and try and set this thing up properly myself. I can only assume that at the dealership they just “stuck it on” because it was purchased with the tractor and called it done. They could not have paid any attention at all to how it is actually supposed to be set up at all.

If any of you have the 2320 with the 54” drive over deck I’d appreciate being able to contact you to get some measurements and tips. Thus far I’ve found John Deere’s instruction manuals “less than inspiring” when it comes to explaining how things are to be done. Sometimes advice from somebody who has been there and done it is worth a thousand pages of “instructions”.

In the attached picture you can see the only adjustment I can find for the rear of the deck. I assume that by screwing in the clevis to shorten the rod that will raise the trailing arm which in turn will raise the deck. I’m not sure how far up to take it. I guess the rule of thumb will be that the deck has to be level AND the “upstop” should be about 1/16” below the tractor frame. So I guess I’ll lift the back of the deck and then try to adjust the front to level it. The problem is I don’t have a shop with a concrete floor (yet) so it’s hard to take any measurements from the ground. Left to right I can get close by measuring down from the tractor frame to the deck on each side. Front to rear I’m not sure because I don’t know if the tractor frame is considered to be parallel with the ground or not.



Has anybody else had any concerns about the hydraulic hose that lifts the deck being pinched between the upstop plate and the frame of the tractor? On my tractor the hose runs under the frame almost directly above the upstop plate, and it’s not long enough to re-route it any other way. Not sure how I’m going to get around that. Maybe have another longer hose made up?

Well, I finally heard back from the dealership. :congrats: For a while all I was getting was ..... :lalala:

According to them I DO have the independant lift kit. If you have that extra hydraulic hose to lift the deck - you have the independant lift kit. So I do.

Here is what I was told to do:

(1) Use the clevis links to raise the rear of the deck until it is at the level I want. Theoretically, the upstop on the deck should be within 1/16" of the tractor frame. In my case I'll have to raise things about 1 1/2" or maybe even a bit more if I want to get the upstop at that level.

(2) Adjust the level of the front of the deck so that the tips of the blades are 1/4" lower at the front than they are at the rear. I'm told you want the cutting done at the front, and you do not want the blades dragging in the grass at the rear. Makes sense.

So I guess I'll give it a try. Mechanical I'm not - but we'll see how it goes.

Good luck,


You should have no problems with this as it is pretty simple and the 2320 has lots of clearance to work at things like this..

Let us know haow you did..

I checked the full lift height this morning. It is 6 & 1/2".
There is 1/16th of an inch between it and the stop.
The adjustment knob does not turn 360. It stops at both the "lock" and the "install" position.
Going either direction, there are 9 clicks between "lock" and "install."
The deck is perfectly level side to side.
The front of the blade is a little less than 1/4" lower than the rear of the blade.
There is 1 & 3/8" of thread extending forward from the nut on the adjustment arms located at the front of the tractor. Don't know if that's what you call them, but they are how you raise the front of the deck.
The rest of your method is correct on setting up the deck.
Good luck and let us know about your success.

I have the same problems with my new 2320 and the 62" mower deck. It came for Hartville Hardware in Ohio and the set up was awful. The mower adjustment is useless and is dragging on the ground in any position except lock. If the adjustment is 1-6 " my unit may have 1-2 over the entire 9 clip range.
I am coming from a JD 655 with a mid mount mower and a 42" snow thrower. The mower adjustment are much better on the older tractor. The snowblowers are not even comparable. The 25 year old unit on the 655 will throw snow twice as far as the new light weight unit that JD now sells. Easy to see why as the impeller is much smaller in diameter and develops a much lower tip speed. Really disappointed in the new attachments ( both mower and snow blower). The engineers had really gone backwards in the 25 years between these 2 models. I am sure JD is making more profit on them as they are no where near the quality of the old units -- but cost 3 time more.

Wrote to JD about both issues and received no answer on any of the issues. They are obviously not after the market of people that want to pay the price for a well engineered tractor and attachments. They are just not in that heavy duty well engineered market any more.