Mower deck links

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.

Tendjewberrymud. Man, talk about rode hard and put up wet...

That nice flat deck is a perfect candidate for an overlay, though. Stage 4 cancer.

My thoughts, exactly, but I'd likely have done the same thing.. When one has more time than money, it's easier to justify fixing what's broken.

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 .

Dude , are you just in a pissy mood or what ? GO LOOK AT THE PICTURES I POSTED TODAY .

How many hours of work so far?

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 .

It was the "cheese" that caught my eye, but the rust on the cracked one had me concerned too. What size are the blades?

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.

It's not flat , the spindles are recessed about 5/8" .

I saw no new pics there, Snag.