John Deere SX75 Shifter Gate Modification etc

I manufactured a new shifter gate for my SX75 when the existing gate was ground into nothingness by the hard steel shifter handle.I used a piece of tempered 1/4" steel plate flat angle ground for width dimensions and ground in the gates with a small angle grinder after tracing the remainder of the gates on the temepred steel flat stock with a gray pencil.I estimated the depth of the gates and worked each one individually after repeated mountings under the original gate.The last or elongated gate is for the high speed and has a wider opening to allow the shifter shaft to fit when extended fullly forward and down. Although not perfect,this modified gate works well and has extended the life of my John Deere SX 75 mower and I don't have to continuously hold the shifter handle when mowing.This innovation probably has saved me a tidy sum of money as I would not want to think what the shifter gate assembly cost would be from a JD dealership let alone the cost of removal and installation of a new shifter gate.Egads!.The new gate has been drilled and tapped for 1/4-20 bolts and I put cap nuts on the back side to prevent the bolts from backing out from vibration.The hex heads on the mounting bolts are covered by the plastic cover over the existing shifter gate.Also,unless there is an easier way to remove the original shifter gate assembly and putting it back,I don't know about it as it is worse than working on a foreign car when you have to loosen the engine shroud and other pieces to pull out the shifter gate assembly and then, on the reinstallation of the gate assembly you darn near have to stand on your head threading a nut onto a bolt in the shifter gate frame coming up from the bottom of the mower frame inside the shifter gate about 7" when most socket extensions are only 6" long.It took me 3 hours to work out a combination of extensions and sockets to thread that 1 darn bolt.(I initially removed the shifter gate thinking I had to do so to work on a new gate.)Anyway,my modified shifter gate is easier to work with and the shifter handle will wear out before the shifter gate.I also had a problem with the plastic knob on the throttle shaft breaking off.I modified this as well when I had a freind of mine weld 1/4-20 bolt with the head cut off on a 1/8" plate.I mounted the plate to the existing flat throttle shaft and added 1 hole as shown.The knob is a hard plastic implement knob with a 1/4-20 receiver.Just ideas in motion.