How to make a mower deck run in reverse

I have an Iseki SF370 ride on mower.

This has a 72"Caroni finishing deck fitted to it.

The tricky bit with this mower (I've just worked out) is the deck is a 3 point linkage tow behind deck being used on an out front mower.

The problem is the blades rotate the wrong way so you're cutting with the trailing edge of the blade.  This does mean the cutting edge remains sharp and as new!

I've thought of just flipping the blades but they are bent the wrong way to do that.  If I did that it wouldn't stop the mower occasionally shedding a blade as the retaining nuts comes loose, Loctite or not, and fall off.

I've looked into reverse rotation gearboxes but can't find anything to do the job.

I can't reverse the PTO output and I also can't rearrange the belts to make the blades run the other way.  I've thought about pulling the gearbox down and see if the pinion can be moved to the other side of the blade shaft to reverse rotation.  Emails to the manufacturer of the deck in Italy and the their Aussie Agent got no response at all.

What does the brains trust think is the best solution.

At the moment my thoughts are sell it and let it be someone else's problem, but like Cobba, I don't like to be beaten, plus it does a good job and is great to use.

As always, a photo or two of the gear box and mower deck will go a long way to any of us helping 

Paul

Zuffen,

What model is the gearbox.

Searching on the Caroni gives some interesting results. This link which may be your gear box, shows 3 input shafts. One for front mount decks.... I think.

Somehow you have to get the shaft out the other side and then the box rotated

www.dnequipment.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=4495
www.dnequipment.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp...4127&idcategory=4495

or a "though shaft gearbox"
www.agparts.com.au/Tractor/pto89.htm
www.uniclamp.com.au/products/copy-of-998...ination-in-australia

Maybe just have new blades made to suit the rotation.  I had blades made for a "Straw-Storm" header (harvester) chopper once.  A company in Adelaide who made blades for various grass slashers did the job for me.  They were super accommodating to my request, and understood exactly what i needed.  Double sided blades (so are reversible), and they were dirt cheap compared with new genuine blades from (i think) Canada.

Brett. 

If you do decide to go with new blades and run the unit in reverse from normal, maybe just make sure any belt tensioners are "on the right side", or will at least work ok.

Brett.

I think I've worked it out.

Assuming the link I put up is for the correct gearbox.
www.dnequipment.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=4495
www.dnequipment.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp...4127&idcategory=4495


Then all you need to do is buy the forward shaft. If you look at the exploded view,  the crown wheel is originally behind the vertical shaft. (pinion)

With the forward shaft, the crown wheel is moved in front of the vertical(pinion) shaft and turned around.
You can see the machined landing with a keyway which locates the crown wheel in front of the pinion.
By doing so, it reverses the vertical shaft's rotation.

Thinking about it a bit more, pop the lid off the gearbox and see if it's already fitted with a forward shaft. It may be a simple case of moving the crown wheel.



 

Being a bush mechanic I would sharpen the back side of the blade n try it out. Reversing the pinion gear if you can is the best way. Is there a single belt driving the blades  if so buy a longer belt n put a twist in it.

Zuffen a man of your skill and dexterity could knock one of these up in a few hours. 

  

When I got my 7ft slasher from Telecom .it ran the other way ,I never worried about it......and thats 40 years ago.

A few shots of the mower in question.

The gearbox on the machine is not the one shown on the Caroni Website.  If it was life would be good.

The deck is a 3 blade deck with the middle blade running off the bottom of the gearbox.  This then runs 2 belts to the outer spindles. The cover is off so I can try and figure a solution.

There's a nice spot behind the gearbox at the PTO end of the drive shaft for a reversing gear like Lang put up.  A twin gear gearbox with the input in one side and output out the other could be incorporated but I haven't found anything that will do what I want yet.  The chain would work, it may be a little messy and subject t wear.

Making new blades would work but I would still have the issue of the nuts coming loose and the blades falling off.  On the exposed spindle you can see it lost a nut this morning.  Fortunately the pulley was happy to stay on.

I had thought of just sharpening the backside of the blade to improve the cut.  This is the result of using the back of the blade.  The grass looks OK but it tends to leave taller weeds like paspalum uncut, so you need to hit them a few times.

Keep the ideas coming as something will be the answer.

At this stage I'm leaning toward puling the gearbox apart and see what's inside.  I've search by part number and nothing comes up.