Patent ID: 7240470

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a mower deck covering a plurality of rotary cutting blades driven by pulleys and at least one belt over the top surface of the deck; the deck having a front edge, a back edge, and left and right side edges; a plurality of gauge wheels at the edges of the mower deck, each gauge wheel mounted under a vertically slidable gauge wheel shaft, each gauge wheel shaft slidable to a plurality of vertical positions including at least one position in which the front edge, back edge, and left and right side edges of the mower deck lie flat on the ground surface; each gauge wheel shaft having a cam lever associated therewith to releasably lock the gauge wheel shaft at a desired position; at least one shield mounted to the top surface of the deck over at least a portion of the pulleys and belts and dimensioned to support the tires of a tractor; wherein each shield has a front mounting spaced at least 12 inches from a rear mounting.