Since we're suggesting fixes for Dixies...

[Crabgrassman]

Here's an easy one that Dixie could impliment right now at a very minimal cost (pennies per mower).

The bolt that goes throught the blade engagement lever is just a plain old bolt. Over time the bolt bends and that makes it difficult to raise the lever off of the shaft when you want to access the area under the floor pan. I replaced mine quite some time ago with a hardened bolt and I haven't had a minute's trouble with it since.

[Fine Lines Lawn]

I've made that same improvement. :)

[Five Star Lawn Care]

ive done it to all of my dixies too.

i think dixie would push more units if they made all DCs standard with double blades and a zebra kit....at least have them put on all of the dealer demo machines. so that the end user can see the true potential of these awesome machines

running double blades on any machine is like night and day...and that zebra kit was like night and day for the striping on my 72"

one more improvment i think i would do is the ocdc lever on newer dcs....mine allways slips out of the holes and never stays it....ive just bungee corded mine up....i like the old design better with the wing nut

[Crabgrassman]

Anybody want some more suggestions? All of them are cheap to do and will improve Dixie's already great reliability.

[gorrell]

I'd like to suggest an electric deck lift such as the ones used on the Steiner or BadBoy ZTR's. Dixie could make it an option if someone didn't feel the need for it. I definitely would pay for such an option...........Lynn

[dixieseller]

Bunton had that on their "BZT" unit, It was a copy of Dixies frame but the wheelmotor boxes and the frontend was bolted to the frame and it had a Horizontal engine. The electric lift added $750 to the cost and you could never get it to stop at the right height. I think some Bobcat units still have it.

[Five Star Lawn Care]

I'd like to suggest an electric deck lift such as the ones used on the Steiner or BadBoy ZTR's. Dixie could make it an option if someone didn't feel the need for it. I definitely would pay for such an option...........Lynn


i have to disagree...this iss one thing i cant stand on other machines.


the foot lift allows you to quickly change heights without stopping, slowing down or anything.....i love being able to go over a hump in a yard and just lift it slightly on the go so you dont scalp and then but it right back down.,,or when you get that occasional turf stand that is extreamly higher than the sidewalk and you have to lift it up a tiny bit to get it up without scalping.

i would deffinatly have to stick with manuall

[philip]

that is very true i love the deck lift on my scag its a very nice thing, just liek u said its easy to go over roots cuz all u do is just lift it up and put it back down and keep going.

[Rick572]

I'm a little reluctant to mention this one because I have not heard anyone talk about it on the list. Any way I put a radio on my DC. Built a little box for the radio and used a plug for the electrical (so I can remove it during washing machine) and hung a little foot high antena off the back of the gas tank. I have head phones instead of speakers and consider the head phones to be hearing protection. Its not a big thing but it really helps make the day go by quicker and can't understand why DC dosen't offer a radio as an accessary. The only problem I've had with it is on really warm days (90+)
the heard phones make my ears sweat some, a slight disconfort.

Rick

[Five Star Lawn Care]

you ever here of a good pair of peltor work tunes....i think there like 69 bucks....hearing protection along with a am/fm radio

[dixieseller]

I've heard of these. Where do you buy them?

[Crabgrassman]

Here's another one.

On the mower height control I've noticed that the lift arm pawl tends to move off to the left side of the height control sprocket. What this does is it causes there to be not enough contact area between the pawl and the sprocket and as a result it chews the teeth off of both parts. I have seen this on mowers with as few as 400 hours.

When I replaced my lift arm pawl I modified it just a little to correct the problem. There is a round flat on the right hand side of the pawl. I imagine it's there to keep the lift arm pawl straight. If it is then it ain't working. Since it sticks out further than the rivet holding the pawl together I ground the flat down. Then when I put the pawl back on the mower height control I added a flat round washer on the left side of the pawl. This forced the pawl back to the right and it holds the pawl more to the right. So far I have 200 hours on this mod and it appears to be working very well. The pawl is dead in the middle of the sprocket and it doesn't move to the left when I raise and lower the deck.

[Crabgrassman]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. How about some grease fittings on those D rings?

[Imow4u2]

Reasons I woud trade my Dixie for brand X


Grass accumulation on the lift chains/lift lever and mechanism makes it hard to operate. I have to clean mine daily.

Grass will clump at the back of the discharge when in moderate growth or dewey conditons..

BOGUS throttle cable operation on my Kaw 2503...


Can't mow from 2/5 inches without chaging pins in stabilizer bars....



One direction parking brake


Sidehills


I have 2 seasons and 900 hrs. on this machine in a commercial environment.. It has held up well, I like the cut and striping,, what bothers me is DC has done nothing on the new models to solve my list of problems..

[Wildridge]

Not to sound rude, by all means you are putting meals on the table for them by buying thier product, but I am sure they have a list of a lot of other things they are working on the try to make DC even better. Maybe even coming out with some new models like the run behind. I agree though it would be nice to get something in the mail saying like thank you for your ideas or what not or just something online. Everywhere you go your going to always have a few problems here and there. This is a touchie subject just like the brand wars, everybody has thier own wants and needs. Thats just my 2 cents for the night. :cool:

[Fine Lines Lawn]

The Dixie Chopper Sales, Service, and R & D Departments keep an eye on this forum and some of our needs do end up on the finished product. They are always striving to make their product better and this forum is an important tool for them to get feedback from all of us. They seldom reply but they do take notice. You will see some exciting improvements at EXPO for the 2005 models.