X734 Deck Movement

Not sure if this will help or answer your question, but:

Repeat steering & measurements but ONLY turn/steer front wheels. The front axle will pivot easily, but not the rear. I'm thinking the center of gravity is shifting and the tractor pivots/tilts on the front axle. By turning only the front, the rear will maintain a level condition of the tractor... I think!

Try it and see what happens. Bob

I have a X590 ( not AWS machine) and I have a similar concern as I turn to circle trees and landscape. I also see this in flat areas that get mowed not in a straight line pattern. I have played with the Anti-scalp wheels but never really found a fix. I too think I'm getting a slight tilt but do not understand why. Perhaps this is more normal than I was aware of. Would love to hear some members respond as well.

I agree it may be tire pressure, or could be momentum when turning, causing the machine to lean to the outside as it pivots on the front axle. I would check all tire pressure, and if it's good, try slowing down in the turns.


When I was about 12, I mowed the lawn with our craftsman rider, and my dad told me to look at it, figure out what was wrong, and fix it. I had no idea, just mowed it again, which didn't fix it. Turns out, I didn't check tire pressure before I started like I was supposed to, and I had cut the entire yard uneven, with one side of each pass high, and one side low. I got to push mow the whole thing, took about 3.5 hours, I finished during dusk. Never have forgotten to check tire pressure though.

Its the camber of the front wheels. The nose of the tractor will slightly raise and lower if you are sitting sill and turn the wheel from lock to lock. My x738 does the same thing.

If you have a pickup truck try doing the same thing with the steering wheel. You will see the front of the truck go up and down while turning the wheel. If you look close enough.

As for uneven mowing that's a whole different thing. Not related to your steering.

When you set level are you measuring blade tip height or the outside of the mower deck.

What type of surface are you measuring on.

Are your gauge wheels set to 1/8-1/2" clearance to the ground with the deck at desired mowing height?

Are you setting tore pressure with a low range pressure gauge like a 0-20psi gauge. A 0-100psi gauge will have enough error when trying to measure 8 psi that each tire could be off by quite a bit.

CJadamec said:

Its the camber of the front wheels. The nose of the tractor will slightly raise and lower if you are sitting sill and turn the wheel from lock to lock. My x738 does the same thing.

If you have a pickup truck try doing the same thing with the steering wheel. You will see the front of the truck go up and down while turning the wheel. If you look close enough.

As for uneven mowing that's a whole different thing. Not related to your steering.

When you set level are you measuring blade tip height or the outside of the mower deck.

What type of surface are you measuring on.

Are your gauge wheels set to 1/8-1/2" clearance to the ground with the deck at desired mowing height?

Are you setting tore pressure with a low range pressure gauge like a 0-20psi gauge. A 0-100psi gauge will have enough error when trying to measure 8 psi that each tire could be off by quite a bit.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I do measure deck height and side to side evenness with the JD gauge off blade tips and I do this on a flat concrete area in my garage or driveway. I have my gauge wheels about 3/8" off surface. Tried lowering them and was gouging my yard in certain areas.
Tire gauge is digital with 1/2 lb accuracy. Maybe not good enough?
My latest experiment was trying to not turn with the deck down and it looks great. In other words, raise my deck on all turns and try and run straight lines.
I am a very fussy person and want my yard to look perfect so that's part of the issue.
I pulled my old 1989 Ingersoll mower from my cabin and cut my yard and it looked perfect. Great deck on these mowers that ride on the lawn, not hung from frame. Steering and jumpy transmission though is tough using when I have a nice JD sitting there.
I have a feeling the mower is fine and I have to adjust how I cut.

You may want to verify just how level the concrete surface you are using to make you adjustments off of is.

The tire gauge probably isn't as accurate as it claims to be at that low in it's range. Not sure it's really the issue but a low pressure gauge for the tractor is worth the few bucks it costs to check.

The problem may be you want to run strait lines over uneven terrain. The 4 wheel steer tractors tend to wander a bit when trying to mow dead strait lines leading to lots of steering corrections. Its a trade off you pay for the tractor being so nimble. Still really shouldn't be causing your issues.

I turn and cut and bounce all over my lawn which is not anywhere near flat. Don't have any uneven cut areas, have had cheap mowers in the past that made the lawn look like a terraced rice patty.

There are a few areas of my lawn that form valleys with two hills coming together at different slopes on an angle. Ive found mowing those areas going at an angle across the hill gives good results.

Do you have any pictures of the offending area?

x738 said:

Have you also done the front-to-back level check for blade height?
iirc, when at the front the tip should measure 1/8" lower than when at the side.

Is this a new-to-you machine?

Click to expand...

Yes, I have done the front to back height adjustment also.
Machine is not new to me, purchased used in 2017. I have always just put up with cut quality but recently been on a mission to try and solve. I love everything about this tractor except cut quality and just feel it can be better. I am tempted to drop it off at the dealer but do not feel they will be as thorough as I am.

Assuming all of the common checks have been done, which sounds to be the case, I think all models still exhibit this to some degree, and the key reasons have already been mentioned - Front end geometry, lean of the tractor, and centrifugal force when turning on the hanging deck, etc. I've found that the phenomena gets worse the faster you drive, so I slow way down for any turn, and actually try to turn in areas that have already been cut to minimize the impact. Imho, the speed may probably be a bigger factor than people think.