Fluid Film Black

[RED-Z06 2,221]

Has anyone used it under a mower deck?  How long does it take for dirt to erode it off?

[lynnmor 7,306]

1 hour ago, RED-Z06 said:

Has anyone used it under a mower deck?  How long does it take for dirt to erode it off?

 

Exactly 1.159 milliseconds.

[JoeM 7,874]

Any oil, gear-lube applications are pretty much gone after the first cutting. Good for winter storage I suppose. 

My best results was with POR 15 but it wears too and needs touched up half way or so through the season. 

I also used a product called EZ Slide and it was ok not as good a POR but the grass stuck less. But sticks if cut wet. 

[ri702bill 8,322]

39 minutes ago, JoeM said:

But sticks if cut wet. 

And there folks is the major reason decks rot from the inside out.....

[Racinbob 11,081]

I purchased this 48" deck new in the 70's. It gets a good cleaning and oiled once a year, when I put it up for winter storage. This was taken about a week ago as I'm getting ready for the summer mowing season. There's no need to put any sort of coating on your deck. Likely it will do more harm than good by trapping moisture as it starts to fail (they all do eventually). All I do is take maybe 5 minutes with a putty knife and scrape the clumps off. No cleaning and no hosing off. Just the clumps that hold the moisture. Even 'dry' grass has moisture so I never skip doing this every time. Quick and easy and by the looks of this 50ish year old deck apparently it works. 

 

Edited April 27 by Racinbob

[squonk 41,118]

Whilst I like a clean deck I think I'd have to hire a couple of Cabana Boys to take my recycler deck off twice a week to clean it! 

[JoeM 7,874]

I have no desire to crawl around scraping grass from under a deck but I do think some paints will preserve the metal. I try to clean and refresh mid season and of course when they get put up for winter. 

Is the issue of the grass in some areas being more acidic?? IDK

Also avoiding cutting wet grass now is pretty tough. Seems to never dry out. 

This is a pic of my Kubota deck with POR mid season. The blade and deck design lends itself for self cleaning.  

And to mention the metal on this deck is about twice as thick as the WH decks. 

I can hear the gasp, lol I agree cleaning is the best defense.  

 

Hey Mike maybe Hochul can send you a couple over?? 

[Racinbob 11,081]

8 minutes ago, JoeM said:

I have no desire to crawl around scraping grass from under a deck 

 

This makes quick work of it. 

 

[peter lena 8,628]

@RED-Z06  that fluid film , has no bonding strength , best in a confined space , been doing this for years , zero deck rot , or build up ,  you have to BREAK THE GRUNGE CYCLE , clean out / heat up / re coat , lubricant . another thing , none of my decks have the , baffle box , trapping areas , removed those , no rust , cracks , issues , pete

 

[RED-Z06 2,221]

1 hour ago, Racinbob said:

I purchased this 48" deck new in the 70's. It gets a good cleaning and oiled once a year, when I put it up for winter storage. This was taken about a week ago as I'm getting ready for the summer mowing season. There's no need to put any sort of coating on your deck. Likely it will do more harm than good by trapping moisture as it starts to fail (they all do eventually). All I do is take maybe 5 minutes with a putty knife and scrape the clumps off. No cleaning and no hosing off. Just the clumps that hold the moisture. Even 'dry' grass has moisture so I never skip doing this every time. Quick and easy and by the looks of this 50ish year old deck apparently it works. 

 

I wish my problem was moisture, and wet grass.  Decks dont rust here, the sand/silica simply erode the steel away.  Its not terribly uncommon for new mowers to need a deck shell every 4-5 years.  Ive now got (2) 42sd decks that look like swiss cheese.

[Gasaholic 224]

Could maybe consider scraping and wire brushing them clean and apply a couple coats of Truck Bed liner?  Might last a bit longer and then clean & recoat every season (or twice a season, depending on how tough the liner is) ? Just a thought... Sort of like a plastic liner - it'd wear out eventually but might extend the life of the steel...  (on second thought, I wonder if fiberglass kit like as used in auto body repair might do as well?) 

 

Edited April 27 by Gasaholic

[RED-Z06 2,221]

18 minutes ago, Gasaholic said:

Could maybe consider scraping and wire brushing them clean and apply a couple coats of Truck Bed liner?  Might last a bit longer and then clean & recoat every season (or twice a season, depending on how tough the liner is) ? Just a thought... Sort of like a plastic liner - it'd wear out eventually but might extend the life of the steel...  (on second thought, I wonder if fiberglass kit like as used in auto body repair might do as well?) 

 

Its hard to find a decent bedliner but thats probably the direction I need to go in...probably should invest in a bedliner gun and buy the stuff in bulk

[Racinbob 11,081]

1 hour ago, RED-Z06 said:

I wish my problem was moisture, and wet grass.  Decks dont rust here, the sand/silica simply erode the steel away.  Its not terribly uncommon for new mowers to need a deck shell every 4-5 years.  Ive now got (2) 42sd decks that look like swiss cheese.

 

I hear you on that. We lived there 17 years. Our kids lived next door to us. The son in law said his tractor wasn't mowing right. I took these blades and spindles off. 

 

 

He has a junk deere. It did strike me odd that he was having issues but even though I mowed more I didn't have any problems. 

[RED-Z06 2,221]

42 minutes ago, Racinbob said:

 

I hear you on that. We lived there 17 years. Our kids lived next door to us. The son in law said his tractor wasn't mowing right. I took these blades and spindles off. 

 

 

He has a junk deere. It did strike me odd that he was having issues but even though I mowed more I didn't have any problems. 

I sold a really nice Deere 155C a couple years ago, id fully refurbed the deck to include new idlers, spindles, blades, paint...it mowed like a dream.  Guy that bought it said it started mowing bad after a few mowings...the blades were so worn it had a 3" gap between them. This season he scrapped it because the holes in the deck were so large it was throwing clumps up into the drive belt.

[Handy Don 12,232]

1 hour ago, Racinbob said:

 

 

Egad! I don’t think I’ve ever seen such wear. This must be a nightmare for the lawn service businesses running their mowers 8+ hours a day.

[RED-Z06 2,221]

26 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

Egad! I don’t think I’ve ever seen such wear. This must be a nightmare for the lawn service businesses running their mowers 8+ hours a day.

I handle the servicing for 14 mowers across 9 commercial outfits, i buy blades in bulk, and they go fast...on average they will swap a set weekly after buying 3 sets new, then bring me the mower and 3 sets to sharpen, if a set is too far gone we swap on a new set.  Some guys will bring me 2 or 3 5g buckets full to put together as many good sets as possible and sharpen them all.

[kpinnc 12,061]

7 hours ago, Racinbob said:

Quick and easy and by the looks of this 50ish year old deck apparently it works. 

 

I'm a fan of POR 15, but it has a specific use and limitations. Most decks today have years of pitting underneath, so in that respect it is helpful.

 

Key point to Bob's comment? Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance! Keep it up, things tend to last as intended. The off duty oil treatment definitely has advantages to everything else. And it's cheap! 

[squonk 41,118]

6 hours ago, JoeM said:

I have no desire to crawl around scraping grass from under a deck but I do think some paints will preserve the metal. I try to clean and refresh mid season and of course when they get put up for winter. 

Is the issue of the grass in some areas being more acidic?? IDK

Also avoiding cutting wet grass now is pretty tough. Seems to never dry out. 

This is a pic of my Kubota deck with POR mid season. The blade and deck design lends itself for self cleaning.  

And to mention the metal on this deck is about twice as thick as the WH decks. 

I can hear the gasp, lol I agree cleaning is the best defense.  

 

Hey Mike maybe Hochul can send you a couple over?? 

There's 1 guy in Kentucky and 1 in Ohio that don't do anything worth while so might as well give them a real job and they can clean it 

[Gasaholic 224]

5 hours ago, RED-Z06 said:

Its hard to find a decent bedliner but thats probably the direction I need to go in...probably should invest in a bedliner gun and buy the stuff in bulk

Dunno.how this might work as far as being "decent" but I got a couple gallons of this a few years back to paint on my home-made garden trailer , and also on an oak wood raised bed planter box  I built - Granted it isn't exposed to much abrasive but it holds up well in the garden trailer to pitchfork/hoe/rake/shovel work so far..  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q7DLK5G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 But wow, price has almost doubled in the few years since I last bought it.. I went with it cause it is Rustoleum brand and painted on with a brush.. (no spray gun here)

Edited April 27 by Gasaholic

[JoeM 7,874]

6 hours ago, Gasaholic said:

apply a couple coats of Truck Bed liner?

tried it, don't waste your time and money. just wears off quickly too.

[squonk 41,118]

I've actually had pretty good luck with the spray bedliner. My recycler main shell still looks like this after about 8 years. Just hat to touch up one area

 

Inside of the insert. This is a before pic. I coated it with Por15 this winter. We'll see what it does.

 

[bds1984 1,429]

While I don't use black Fluid Film on my deck, I use the original and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone.  Two to three times a year I spray down my 48" deck after a VERY light cleaning in some very SMALL areas of my the deck.  Ten years of this and not a speck of corrosion on the bottom side or the spindles.  I would not use bed liner as many dry hard, crack, and invite moisture to invade the damaged areas; but mower decks are subjected to salt like cars are so usage on a deck would probably be better than a car.  Fluid film is great as it never dries, but you will have to reapply it throughout the year.  A $12 can lasts most of the year, but better than $300+ for a deck/welding in patch panels/replacing spindles/etc.  But most importantly, the deck has to be cleaned out regularly above anything else.

[Handy Don 12,232]

On 4/27/2024 at 4:48 PM, squonk said:

nside of the insert.

The configuration of the insert does yeoman duty protecting the outer shell and due to the close blade tolerances and low number of “nooks and crannies” it stays remarkably clean.

[sjoemie himself 3,068]

Has anyone tried hot dip galvanizing a mowing deck, eventually powdercoating it afterwards?

The galvanizing should prevent most if not all of the rust and the powdercoating adds an extra wear layer to the deck? 

[Wayne0 457]

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