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Mower pulls to the left

Woody71
12 years ago

Hi All,

I have a 7 year old Toro 20007 recycler, front wheel drive mower. Had some problems with the wheels locking up and after doing some homework, decided to check out the clutch parts.

I ended up replacing cleaning the axles, springs and keys. Per the Toro manual, I lubed the axles, springs and keys with anti-seize lubricant. I ended up replacing both wheel gear pinions.

Put it back together, everything's engaging great and the self-propel is running faster that it has in a long time.

So I fired it up and tested it on the driveway. Discovered that it's now pulling to the left. It pulls when I have the self-propel engaged, when I don't have it engaged, and when the engine is off and I'm pushing it.

Observations: I noticed this before I cleaned the axles, when I tip it back on both rear wheels and set it down slowly, the front left wheel hits the ground before the right front.

I read one article that indicated that this can happen if there's a damaged wheel. I have generic 8" wheels on the back and newer Toro self-propel geared wheels on the front.

Any suggestions of correcting this would be greatly appreciated.

Comments (10)

  • roadbike
    12 years ago

    Do the wheels scrape against anything? Is one wheel adjusted to a different height than the other?

  • Woody71
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Wheels are all the same height, not hearing any scraping internally, which seems very smooth. Both front wheels are turning at the same rate.

  • roadbike
    12 years ago

    If it pulls or turns to one side when pushed and the drive isn't engaged it sounds like a wheel isn't tracking right. Are they tracking true?

  • Woody71
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    When you say wheel tracking, you mean one could be bent or something along those lines? What's the best way to test this aside from checking each wheel individually?

  • tomplum
    12 years ago

    A pivot arm that is bent/ loose could cause the condition that roadbike is referring to. Possibly the deck itself is tweaked.

  • Woody71
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    I did tighten up the pivot arms, will check one more time. My wife hi it while backing out of the garage last summer, suppose that could have tweaked the deck a bit. Thank you for the tips and suggestions.

  • roadbike
    12 years ago

    Do all wheel point in the same direction and are they all vertical at a standstill and when rolling. Do the wheels have much play when you shake each one from the top and from the side.

  • 1saxman
    12 years ago

    Your deck/wheel mounts are bent and you have an alignment problem. Sounds like one or more wheel brackets are bent, toeing the wheel(s) out to the left. Sometimes you can straighten these with tools while on the mower, and others you have to remove and put in a vise.
    You may have to twist the deck back into the correct shape. The way to do it is to make sure all wheel adjustments are the same and the mounting brackets are straight. Then place the mower on a good level surface such as a concrete garage floor. See which wheels are off the surface - usually they will be on opposite sides and opposite ends. For example, the right front and left rear. In this case you would put a piece of thin plywood or other shim under the wheels that are on the surface, raising the off wheels even higher. Then you press down on the sides that were off at the same time, take the shims out and check.
    I'm sure some combination of adjusting the wheel alignment and deck will get you straight.

  • Woody71
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks roadbike and saxman, I'll check further and make some adjustments over the weekend.

  • Woody71
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    I looked at things a lot closer. Based on some measurements i took of the front deck height, I discovered that it looks like part of the front-right pivot arms is bent and gives this wheel a lot more up and down play. I believe this is why the front left deck is hitting the ground first.

    I have a new pivot arm on order and am going to replace it some time next week.