OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Ride On Mowers Questions On Ride On Mowers Frames Deutscher R360 ride on mower

Do we have any Deutscher R360 ride on mower guru's on the forum.

My neighbor gave it to me last weekend, it has been sitting in his shed for god knows how many years and is covered in every type of spider imaginable.

It has a 2003 (manufactured)B & S 12.5HP motor that has only done around 10hrs work and the body is pretty solid no huge amounts of rust, but after a clean-up and a coat of paint it should look ok.

I am compiling a list of questions to ask later, hence the query if anybody knows anything about them I done a search but couldn't find any threads and google only has limited information.

I am taking lots of pics as I go and will put them up later if there is any interest.

ps: lol Fred Flintstone wouldn't look out of place on it.

Here is a scanned copy of the full owner's manual:
http://www.deutschermowers.com.au/owner%20and%20part%20manuals/r230_r360.pdf

It includes an Illustrated Parts List, and instructions for most routine adjustments.

I'm sure people will be interested if you take a series of pictures as you go about resurrecting it, and post them here. It should be a good way of attracting the attention of somebody who's familiar with the machine, too.

Thanks for the manual grumpy, I will update this thread with pics & questions when I am further advanced into the project.

They are great mowers, I have an R280 which is slowly being put back together as well as a Deutscher H26 slasher which gets lots of work at my place. Put up some pics! there isn't enough deutscher stuff on here.

Search ebay, there is a guy advertising there, Terry, who will add you to his deutscher email list. He sells bits, repairs them and will give you info and is generally a good bloke.

I have gotten parts through him but some parts are still made, my local mower shop is a deutscher dealer and will order parts from the factory for me. I'm not sure if our host and forum provider orders parts in, worth asking the question.

Cheers
B

Great minds think alike, I emailed him about an hour before your post and got the notes off him.

My local mower guy knows these inside out, he tried to explain to me an easier way to change the cutter belt but so far it has gone over my head, so will take the tablet with pics on it with me next time so it might sink in.

I painted the bonnet and the steering wheel (tiller??) today and will start on the body over the next couple of days, so progress is being made and am still taking pics as I go.

Time for some pictures:










will post more later.

A couple more I forgot.

Looks good, following your progress, add any updates as you get stuff done.

B

1/ After putting it back together, I went to start it but the battery is stuffed.

2/ Two pulls of the rope & away she went, so I won't bother buying a new battery.

3/ Cutters engaged all the time even though the belt is loose in the off position.
I'm sure this is because there is still some rust in the pulley grooves and that after a couple of mows the grooves will regain their shine and the belt won't have any friction/traction to turn them.

4/ In picture (2) you can see the damage to the deck, I was going to get it welded but couldn't fit the deck into the station wagon with out damaging the car.
Seeing as it is not causing any issues with the blades I decided to leave it.

5/ When cutting grass the first thing you notice is that even with the cutting height set to the highest setting it appears to be too low for my liking and I can't see/find any way to adjust it.

6/ The engine is more that powerful enough and the gearing is low enough in 1st for any hills ect, and easily cuts in 3rd, 4th but 5th is more for heading home in a hurry after a long days work.

Conclusion:

This thing is scary to operate in steep going, at one stage I thought I was going to end up in my neighbors drive way which is a drop of a couple of metres from my place.
This was caused by me being new to it and the way the gearing is set up.
To go forward you have to have the speed selector in neutral and then put the forward/reverse lever into forward then put the speed selector into 1st, 2nd or whatever and away you go.

To reverse you have to do the opposite, so if you are on a steep incline/decline it is a hair raising experience, as you have to remember the correct sequence and which lever is which or you are hurtling backwards very quickly, and the Fred Flintstone braking system leaves a lot to be desired.

I have probably described this very poorly, maybe some one with experience can assist.

In a large paddock down the back it was fine but that was relatively flat, so if you messed up there was no danger.

For me, I will stick to my Greenfield and sell this one.

Any questions or thoughts please ask.

I am now off to change my undies

I don't know what happened to the pics so here they are again.

Which kind of mower suits which kind of terrain is probably the key issue here. Personally I see Greenfields as very well suited to fairly long runs at a decent speed, so there isn't much clutch slipping involved. If you need to back and fill a lot, or manoeuvre accurately, something with low gearing available might be more at home.

It seems to me that Greenfield is not immune to supplying Fred Flintstone braking systems, they are rather common in that industry. As far as the complex task of selecting gears is concerned, it is just a matter of getting used to it. Compared with a line-haul semi or a heavy recovery vehicle, it sounds rather ho-hum.

Thanks for posting that description, Buckets. Deutscher is a respected name in light mowing and tilling machines aimed at a professional audience, and I think quite a few members will be interested in hearing about that one.

I had a chat to Terry today and you are right, he is a very nice and obliging person.
He said he has about 90 odd Deutscher mowers of various descriptions that he keeps for spare parts, so that is handy to know.

Hi grumpy,

Yes you are correct, I am sure it was more me being unfamiliar with the machine, rather than the machine being the problem.

Looking Good Buckets,

Thanks mate

Question:

Do your blades still spin slowly when the cutter lever is disengaged.

Do you find that it cuts a bit low even on the highest setting.

Buckets

The blades when out of gear will still spin there is no brake on the blades like other machines.

The height I think is ok.

With the way you are operating it, if you are going back wards and forwards I just would shuttle it forward and reverse in first or second. When going down hill have it in neutral or low gear if you get into trouble just bang it in reverse. I know it sounds rough but I've never had any issues with the gearbox. You can also have it in neutral and ride the brakes.

Any way they are a fantastic machine built well and great for slashing, as you mention great top speed, not that you use it very often, we found ours a bit under powered and it would be nice to have 15hp but I guess the engine as a bit tired!

You have done a great job cleaning the old girl up well done

Cheers
Mick

Thanks for clearing that up Mick.

On another point the tyres am I correct in assuming that being a split rim type, that the front ones to change or repair is done with the wheel still on and you just undo the bolts and split the rim.

Do you repair/replace the inner rear ones the same way, except that there will be bolts holding the inner rim of the outside tyre to the rim of the inner wheel which you remove, then you will be able to split the inner rim.

Hope that makes sense

Buckets.

U don't have to split the rims but it makes it a heap easier, with small tyres the bead is really hard to get over the rim so the split rim makes it heaps easier.

With the rear wheels take of the outside tyre then split the inside rim.

I've never had to change the inner tyre before!

Cheers

Mick

Hi,
Can anyone help me. Firstly, does the Deuty 360 have a gear box oil thingy, and if so, where is it? We do our own maintenance, and it's a fantastic mower, but need to know where to put gear box oil (if infact, there is somewhere. Motor oil no problem.
Also would really like a maintenance manual. I've found the one with all the parts, but can't find the manual for maintenance and care. Does anyone have a copy?
Thankyou.

Hi Billiesuki,

Have a look at this thread I started:
https://www.outdoorking.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=58756#Post58756

Grumpy, I am wondering if Billiesuki thread could be transferred to the other one for simplicity and I will find some pics and provide info this afternoon for him.