Giving Cutting Deck More Years

[ANTPER 207]

Hi Folks

I have a 37inch cutting deck that already has had lots of patch work down to fill in holes. What have any of you done or  added product wise  to under side of deck to slow down the rot if at all possible. Under coating a no no?

[daveoman1966 3,745]

For a permanent life-time fix, make a Stainless Steel liner for the underside of the deck.  (1) remove ALL hardware and spindles (2) use a piece of cardboard to make a template of the bottom side...holes too. (3)Lay that template on a SS sheet..mark sheet...cut it out...bolt it in.  You MAY even want to drill some extra mounting holes...not sure.   I did this to my 48" deck back in the early 90s (PIC HERE) and..to this day...NO RUST at all. Here is a 37" deck I have...   

Edited March 24, 2022 by daveoman1966

[953 nut 55,120]

Several years ago I took the blades off and scraped the dried up clipping that had adhered to the bottom of the new to me deck. I then took it down to bare metal using a needle scaler and coated it with Plasti-dip spray coating. That was six or seven years ago and this winter I just cleaned it well with mineral spirits and gave it an additional coat of Plasti-dip. It has held up well and is very easy to clean. 

  

[peter lena 8,588]

@ANTPER  want to make your deck last ?  been doing this for years , pictures of my deck , my soon to go on decks are still sitting upside down , from fall , with that oil soaking . also drop them during cutting season , light clean out and respray , sitting at an angle facing the sun to get hot and soak in the lubricant ,  no rot issues on this set up , pete   

 

[JoeM 7,871]

I like those older decks that are smooth underside. Less sticking and easier to clean, that stainless idea is top notch. Just run it! 

I am not big on taking them off and putting them on. I like a midseason clean and service and end of season the same. 

POR has been were I ended up. I looked at the plastic dip over at RK a couple weeks ago.....interesting. 

 

check this out!

https://www.dipyourcar.com/pages/dip-armor

Edited March 25, 2022 by JoeM

[ANTPER 207]

Thanks Guys. Some great feed back.

[oliver2-44 9,711]

This will be the 5th summer on my sons 313-42” deck that we used POR on. He had a fair grassy yard with not much sand dirt to blast the deck. Some have not had good success with POR but I really thing all coatings depend on what type yard you have

[JoeM 7,871]

11 hours ago, daveoman1966 said:

make a Stainless Steel liner for the underside of the deck

what gauge is the stainless sheet?

[Racinbob 11,045]

I used POR 15 on a 42" deck 6 or 7 years ago and it's still holding up very well. That being said I'm convinced that there's no need for any special treatment. That mentioned 42" deck is 15 years old with zero signs of rust. Pretty good but it's still a young pup. The other deck I use is a 48" that I purchased new back in the 70's. A lot of you know the scoop about us moving to Florida in 2000, selling everything for that move, returning to Indiana in 2017, the sad story about the guy (Larry) who had the tractor those 17 years, the story of getting that tractor back, etc. etc. etc. Much to my amazement the 48" deck was in outstanding shape with zero rust. I religiously got under the deck after every mowing and knocked all the clumped damp grass off. I didn't 'clean' it but just got the stuff off that would hold moisture against the steel. I got to wondering if Larry did the same so I asked his wife. Her answer was "he was under it doing something but I'm not sure what". I'm convinced he was doing just what I did. The result is deck nearly 50 years old with zero rust. Simply remove any clumped up damp grass after EVERY mowing. Don't say just wait until the grass dries. Ain't gonna happen. Even 'dry' grass holds moisture. 

Every year is seems harder and harder to get under the deck as I seem to continue to age. A few years ago I picked up this device to help out.

 

 

OK, don't start screaming that it's not a 70's vintage tractor. Of course you're right. That's a 2005. But I put the 70's 48" deck on that one and the 2005 42" is on the 76 tractor. 

[pacer 3,168]

9 hours ago, oliver2-44 said:

with not much sand dirt to blast the deck.

Oliver has touched on an aspect that is seldom mentioned in maintaining our decks .... 

 

I have had the pleasure? of mowing my 2+ acres of 'dirt' for some 45 years. My soil consists of "gumbo clay" along with being highly acidic from the MANY pine trees, and in many areas would not even grow weeds

 

On 2 different occasions I was determined to at least slow down the accelerated wear of my couple decks and first tried POR (after a 'hospital cleaning!) - At end of season there was barely a trace of POR left - simply sandblasted off. I later tried another brand of 'coating' (dont recall the brand) with same results.

 

But .... some 6-7 yrs ago I had all pine trees (some 125 of them) clear cut and the stumps ground and to my great relief, as of the last 2-3 years I have actually been able to cut some real grass. Of course there is a down side to this also ... now the stump roots are rotting in the ground and I have these - some rather large - 'mole type' tunnels all over! Makes for a bumpy ride, but I do have some pretty nice grass now!

[daveoman1966 3,745]

4 hours ago, JoeM said:

what gauge is the stainless sheet?

It's been too many years so I don't recall..  It is about the same thickness of your credit card.... 

[JoeM 7,871]

2 hours ago, pacer said:

an aspect that is seldom mentioned in maintaining our decks ....

And the height of cut. I cut mine at about 2 1/2". My neighbor got his right down on the ground maybe 1 1/2" range and the dust just flies! 

It is a pretty violent atmosphere.

and to reiterate, It's like Rich says, that wet grass stuck to the metal is very hungry.  

 

[Racinbob 11,045]

  Sandy soil is about as tough on the blades as anything. These came off the junk deere I gave our son in law a few years ago while we were still living down there. 

 

[peter lena 8,588]

@Racinbob  those blade / spindles are just about as bad as it gets . maybe change over to a flail mower , or a blow torch , only kidding , pete 

[JoeM 7,871]

now that is getting your money's worth!