60" Deck Front Hitch Shaft

I took a 520 with a 60" deck in on trade a few weeks ago and was originally gonna part it. Most of the time I still wish I did but of course I didn't.

The more I work on it the more I find to work on. I finally got it all (I think) minus a front rod that goes in the mid tach-a-matic. The tach-a-matic right ear was broken mostly off but it is fixed. The piece that you push in to disengage it is gone but I can do something with making one of those too. Someone got pretty creative but it still wouldn't stay in there no matter how much wire they used to help hold it in, see the 1st pic.

The shaft is a Toro 113069-01 SHAFT-HITCH and I'm not paying $180.00 for a piece of 1" steel rod that I can get at the welding shop for less than $5.00.

The lathe chuck I have now could do it but I may go get another chuck in the morning. I did get 2 pieces of rod in case I couldn't wait lol.

Lathe chuck is fixed.

Just some pics of the making of the shaft.

I found a few things worse than the raping on that shaft...

List price on the front hood rod #101710 is around $46.00 but they are on the net from $56 to $38 without clips, what a deal lol. The mid tach-a-matic rod is NLA, it's longer and has an extra groove in it so it may have been scary too. The the whole mid rod, lock and spring setup is gone on this 520 so I decided to make a trip to the welding shop to pick up some materials and play for awhile. Anyways, they are on the short list to make a few and see if anyone needs any at a much more reasonable price.

A lot of deck to support

front mount..just two words and end of problem........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................