Maintenance Tips

Maintenance Tips & Repairs

Written by Eric ELM

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I know from chatting with some of you new owners, that other new owners could use some tips in the future on taking care of their new Choppers. I was taught how to lubricate and take care of our Choppers by my dealer with 20 years of experience in using them in their own lawn business and repairing them in their shop. I have my own lawn business too and I have spent over 4,500 hours in Chopper seats times 8 MPH would have taken me around the world and then some. Here is how I was told to grease. Every 25 hours, grease the spindles until you see grease coming out of the spindles. Grease the right spindle first so you can look under the deck through the discharge chute to see when the grease comes out. It usually comes out the bottom first, so while watching, count how many pumps it takes until you see grease. By doing this, you get grease all the way up to the top of the bearing, so it doesn't run dry. Give the other two spindles the same amount. Grease guns vary in how much grease comes out with each pump, so this is why I can't let you know exactly how many pumps to put in each grease fitting. My previous grease gun put out twice the grease this new one does, but it takes around 35 pumps to fill them each 25 hours with my present grease gun. If you haven't been putting that much grease in, it could take 50 or more pumps to fill them the first time. Yes, it takes that much grease. The wheel bearings take about 13 to 15 pumps and the rest of the grease fittings take about 1 or 2 pumps. The casters only need grease about once a year until you see grease come out of the little hole in the cap on top. Some of the older Choppers didn't have that little hole, so be careful, you could blow the cap off with the pressure of the grease. The grease fittings on the control levers under the seat need 1 or 2 pumps each 100 hours. I change the engine oil every 50 hours and I use an oil additive called Tufoil to help keep the engine running cooler. Be sure to check the fluid level for the hydraulics, (do Not add Hydraulic Fluid, use the Schaeffer Motor Oil recommended in your owners manual if you have to add oil, or VTC oil in the newer VTC machines). The hydraulic filters should be changed after 500 hours and every 500 hours after that. Make sure you read the instructions on changing the hydraulic filters in the manual. If you get air in the system, you can burn up a pump in a few minutes. You have to fill up the filters with new oil to the brim before screwing them in place to help prevent getting air in the system. If you are uncomfortable with this procedure, take your Chopper to the dealer for this. Check the gear lube in the T gear box that drives the hydraulic pumps at least every 50 hours and it should be up to the top of the gears, use 85W90 Gear Lube if it is low. A tip my dealer told me about is the vent at the end of the vent tube from the gearbox, can become clogged and cause backpressure and blow out seals in the gearbox. Punch a small hole in the tube by the vent so this doesn't happen. The newer Choppers 2000 and up have hydro fluid flowing through the Gear Box and Diesels don't have a gearbox at all. Don't forget to change air filters when they get dirty and clean and gap spark plugs every 100 hours. Total hours of the 4 Choppers I have owned is around 8,000 hours with no internal engine work and 1 spindle bearing replacement on one of them that was slightly loose at 2850 hours, so this method works for me.
To make belts last longer, engage the clutch at below 2000 RPM's and move the clutch until the belts tighten up and start the blades moving before engaging it all the way. If you engage the clutch at full RPM's, you stretch the belts and put a lot of unnecessary stress on all moving components and will spend a lot of down time replacing belts. If you cut low and scalp here and there, sharpen the blades often. If you mow at a higher setting, the blades should stay sharper longer, up to 10 to 15 hours. Sharp blades make cutting easier and makes the lawns look better, so I change blades about every 8 to 10 hours. Put a few drops of lubricant on the blade bolts to prevent rust and make changing the blades easier. I now have a 2001 Diesel XWD2600 with VTC, so if you have any questions about this model, I can help you with that too. I hope this will help some of you to be more informed on how to care for your investments. If you have any comments, good or bad, send me E-mail.

Changing Blades

Using an impact wrench for changing blades is not a good thing since to much torque can flatten out the cupped washers. The easiest way I have found is to take a tap and die to clean up the treads on the bolt and spindle threads. This is the first thing I do when getting a new mower to get the paint, dirt, nicks, or what ever could be in them out so they turn in and out easy. One little nick in a bolt thread will make them turn harder and if you have ever noticed, bolts are usually shipped in a box with several others banging against each other, which causes big nicks in the threads. After doing this, put some oil on the bolts and then all you have to do it put the bolt through the blade holes and start them in by hand. If you give the blade a big spin with your fingers close to the center where the blade isn’t sharp, the blade will turn the bolt right into the spindle. You only need to use the wrench to tighten them up to approximately 65 ft. lbs. or what whatever your manual specifies. Put oil on the bolts about once a month to keep them lubricated.

To take them off, just loosen them up a bit and give them a big spin again and they will spin the bolts right out, but make sure you get out of the way since they will drop to the ground once the bolts run out of threads. Once you take the bolts out, make sure you set them some place so you don’t get dirt in the threads. A person needs to change the blades daily or twice a day to cut the grass correctly, when there is a lot of growth.

Replacing a Carburetor on a Kohler

I have an old 22 hp Kohler with almost 3,600 hours on it, on a 60” Dixie Chopper that was getting worse and worse about idling right. I tried to adjust the setscrew, but it did not help at all. I asked my dealer about this and he asked me to check the butterfly shaft to see if it had any play in it. Well it did and what happens is it starts sucking air and the only way it idles right is with the choke out a bit. Too much air, not enough gas to keep it running right. Well this was my problem, so I bought a new Carburetor for it.

If you ever need to replace a carburetor on a Kohler, it is more of a job than I thought, but not to hard. You have to take the metal shield off the back of the engine to get to the linkage and slide the carburetor off the bolts. In order to get the shield off, you have to take the muffler off, since the support bracket for the muffler on a DC is bolted through the same bolt that holds the shield at the bottom and also the muffler is in the way to get the shield off.

When you take the bolts off the muffler’s exhaust, spray the nuts with good penetrating oil and let them sit a bit. Then loosen them a bit and then tighten them. Move them back and forth to help get the penetrating oil into the nuts. This can save you from twisting a bolt stud off. It wasn’t a hard job at all and it was well worth it to put this on. It now runs like new and idles as smooth as silk now.

Do not assume this is the problem if you do not have around 3500 hours on one though. I had an idling problem at about 2200 hours, but it was a leaky intake manifold gasket. I had the dealer fix this problem since I needed it right away and I had grass to cut at that time.

Adjusting RPM’s on a Kohler

After a few hundred hours, the linkage to the carburetor starts to wear a bit here and there and you end up having less RPM’s than you should have. To adjust this problem, you need an 8 mm and 7 mm wrench to do this. With the engine off, push the throttle all the way forward and then go look above the carburetor to see if throttle has moved the linkage all the way to the stop. If it hasn’t, take the 8mm wrench and loosen the clamp that holds the cable and then slide the cable to the right side of the engine enough to bring the linkage to the stop and tighten up the clamp again. Now start your engine and let it run for a bit until the oil is warm enough to run your machine wide open without hurting it. Now check your rpm’s and see if they are around 3750 to 3850. I run mine at 3850 and I have for years, so it must not hurt the Command engines. The old Magnums should be no higher than 3750, no load. No load means with the blades off.

If the rpm’s still are not high enough, you will have to loosen the nut on the stop and screw the bolt away from the stop. It only takes a couple turns to move the rpm’s up a long ways. Once you move this bolt, move the cable too so the bolt is up against the stop. Then start it up and check your rpm’s again. If you need to lower them, just move the bolt towards the stop and then tighten up the jam nut on the bolt when you are all done.

Clutch Assembly Pivot Point

If your Clutch Assembly Pivot Point becomes sloppy and the two pulleys start to sag down below a level point, this can be rebuilt with a 95-cent brass bushing from your dealer. I put the unit in the vise and took a 3/8” drive deep socket, which was the perfect size to catch the old brass bushing, but still have room to pass through the hole it was in. Tap in the new bushing and you are all set to go. This will keep the pulleys up level so the belt does not ride on the topside of the pulleys. If you are wearing out a lot of belts from the motor to the deck, this could be one of your problems. Mine was sagging quite a bit and I did not realize you could rebuild this until I noticed one sitting there at the dealer that had just been redone. I’ve noticed that even the steering wear points have a nylon bushing that can be replaced, but the old Chopper steering is still tighter than some new brands steering.

I hope this helps. Eric

Simple Hitch Extension for Choppers

I came up with a simple hitch extension which allows me to make a 90 degree turn instead of about a 45 degree turn with the hitch that is on a Dixie Chopper. I took a piece of flat stock metal and bolted a piece of angle iron on the end of it and later welded it. This piece goes in front of the existing hitch and keeps the extension from moving at all and is only bolted on with one 1/2" bolt. Below are two pictures of it so you can get an idea how to do this if you want. Yes, I know I should of painted it first. :)

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