I made a little tool to get the air cleaner box off w/o removing the deck lid

The front four,and esp the two outside front nuts that attach the carb air horns are extremely difficult to access with the deck on. An 8MM nut driver works for the rest.

I bought a short 8MM socket, and a 1/4" extension, chopped the extension off to a proper length and turned down one end to .25" OD, shortened the socket at the rear about 1/8" and put a 45* angle on the rear of the socket, pressed the 1.4' round turned down end of the extension into the back of the 8MM socket, tigged the two together after jigging them in a vise to make sure they were straight.

That slips right down in the cutouts in the air horn,and lets me get a 1/4" ratchet in there.
I can now easily take the air cleaner box and air cleaner out as an assemble with the deck lid in place. I also replaced the cotter pin on the center support rod with a hitch pin for quick R&R, as it helps to unhook the support rod to lift the deck another ~2" so the rear air cleaner box lid stud easily clears the bottom of the deck. Its now a quick one person operation to R&R the air box and the air filter.

The tool I made is essentially a ~2" long 8MM socket with a skinny part in the middle to fit the air horn cutouts.

Doug

 

Not really, i don't use a smart phone and dragging out the digicam and photo editing is a pain. Use you imagination, my description is pretty spot on. Cutting the extension to a proper length required a high speed small abrasive cut of wheel, that was the hardest part.

Doug