I'll tell ya, I'd be looking for something a little better to spend
my time on!!!! I wouldn't waste ten minutes fixing that one - If I
couldn't find the proper JD deck to fit I'd spend the time adapting
something from another tractor that still had paint on it. 4 words.
Silk purse Sow's ear.
As I understand it you plan on using the deck more like a bush hog than
a finish mower. As such you don't really need the airflow or ability to
blow the chopped grass out. Take a flat chunk of 3/16 plate. Layout
locations for each spindle based on the factory deck. Use some 6" pipe
or similar to drop the spindles so the blade wings clear the bottom of
the deck by an inch or two. Make sure the deck belt has a clear path.
Make a wrapped edge with the right side open and you have a belly mount
brush deck.
Well , out here in the woods we just have to make do . The problems with
adapting a different deck are more work than repairing this one . Bottom
line is that time is available , I have the stuff I need to do this , and
I'm not making a purse .
"Use it up , wear it out , make it do or do without ."
Sounds good on paper ... but requires a bigger cash outlay . It'd be a lot
more work to do that too , with the mount points and all to utilize the
hydraulic lift this machine has . This way , I have $60 bucks < I made some
gears for a guy to get that money> in the replacement deck and a couple of
days out in the shop cuttin' and weldin' .
Keeps me out of trouble ...
Flat where ? I was going to overlay the rotted places , but the way this
thing is stamped that would have been a lot more work that the "surgery" I'm
doing . And no guarantee that the spindles would still be aligned properly .
I have a nice piece of 11ga steel that I was going to use too .
Love the tag line .
Doen't make any sense to pour time and money into something that
doesn't stand a chance in H E Double L of ever standing up. Better to
start from scratch, even wiith a couple ends from a 45 gallon drum..
Any time or money spent on that deck is just urinating into the wind.
I'm sure I could make a new deck out of material readily at hand out
in the sticks in less time, and for less money, than you will fix that
one - and it will last at least 10 times as long.
Clare , you seem to think I'd waste my time on a worthless project . I
thought you knew me better ... now go look at the photos I posted this
afternoon and get back to me on that waste of time and money thing . That
deck is almost ready to sandblast and paint .
About 8 hours total and I've spent ten bucks on cutting and grinding
supplies . I'll probably spend that much again on nuts and bolts to replace
the ones I had to cut to get stuff apart .
Clare , I've got everything here to build one (if I use some parts from
these 2 decks) , but no way could I fabricate something out of raw
materials in the amount of time I'll have into this project when I'm
finished . Nor would anything I cobbled up work as well as this
well-engineered device .
I suspect you and others thought I was repairing the swiss-cheese one -
and I seriously considered it . But I decided it wasn't worth it . So I
bought another specifically for the stamped body . I didn't expect the
mounting hardware to be different , but it was no big problem moving what I
needed and cuttin' off what I didn't . The fatigue cracks at the mount
points were not-unexpected , the fact that some idiot ran it with them like
that was though . A couple of minor welds still to be done and I could hang
this thing and have it cutting by tomorrow afternoon if I didn't want to do
some derusting and paint it . From now on it's all cosmetic .
Rust on the "new" deck is mostly cosmetic , no structural integrity problems
or it would have been "no sale" . The blades measure 16" , the design lets
the cuts overlap an inch on both sides for a net cut width of 46" .
I might wait til this fall to paint it , I have areas that need to be cut
"now" . I have stuff that needs to be planted soon for flowering later this
summer to feed the bees .
A triblade deck using 20 inch blades can be quickly and easily
fabricated using 3 44 gallon barrel ends, (22 1/2" diameter) cut bent,
overlapped and welded or bolted together with a few angle iron (bed
frame?) and plate peices for mounting brackets and some old bedframe
angle to re-enforce the spindle mounting. Could also be done with 16
inch blades using 20 gallon grease drums. (18 1/4" diameter ).
Drums and bedframes are in plentiful supply in MOST of rural america
and are made of substantial steel.. 8 hours of work with decent tools
would make a pretty good deck, using the original spindles.
It appears that the area between and around the spindles is dead flat.
(see 'original deck, cancer fatality' pic)
Thanks. I modified the boring old Latin version.
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