Stainless ride-on mower cutting deck - good idea?

[Benpointer]

Hi all,

I'm fed up of mild steel cutting decks rotting in a few years, so I'm thinking of fabricating one in stainless steel for my Countax ride-on.

Any reasons why that might be a bad idea? I'm thinking the rotting grass stuck underneath might tarnish the ss/ a bit but who cares? So long as it doesn't rot.

Heres a pic of the current deck (complete with holes). Re-patching these is a waste of time and a new mild steel (poorly) powder-coated shell costs £400.

I'm thinking, get the main plate laser or plasma cut from a dxf in s/s, TIG weld a skirt on and various brackets (all in s/s) - none of which are desperately complicated.

Any views?

 

[minimutly]

Do it, but make sure you reduce damage from vibration as much as you can - stainless is prone to cracking.

 

[MCKDAVID]

that deck doesn't actually look too bad, see a lot worse regularly... see below, and this was the better of the two ..... I just patch them as they come in, 1.5mm sheet, done two this month already.. fairly quick at it now, in and out in less than an hour and a half.. get the customer another good few years out of them.

anyway to stainless steel, aye the vibration is a good point, even the mild steel ones are prone to stress cracking at the mounting points, for all their simplicity these things have a hard life, bounced around etc....

That deck looks pretty simple though, and perhaps a single flat plate would do for the upper part. Given the cost of stainless at the moment, perhaps it might be worth just going with thickening the upper mild steel to say 3 or 4mm instead of fagpaper thick as standard..... the extra weight might be an issue for the lowering and raising mechanism, but just have an extra wheatbix in the morning, it'll be fine.

 

[500e]

That's a minter, like new

 

[grim_d]

Clean grass out regularly, apply corrosion inhibiting compound.

That is all.

 

[badabec]

I bought a new one, blasted it, hot zinc spray, three coats of Jotun, two pack top coat. Still perfect after 6 months, it is sitting on the garage floor though.

 

[mike os]

I bought a new one, blasted it, hot zinc spray, three coats of Jotun, two pack top coat. Still perfect after 6 months, it is sitting on the garage floor though.

Have you looked underneath?

 

[CompoSimmonite]

My Honda mower has a composite deck

 

[hotponyshoes]

Repair it and give it a coat of raptor?

 

[GKQ]

Built it from corrosion resistant steel if it’s good enough for truck bodies it should be good for your mower deck. A nice coat of paint, cleaning after each use and it’s done.
graham

 

[angellonewolf]

do you ever use the washing valve on the top left if used right by lowering the deak to the floor and turning on the water they do a fair job not perfect but should stay off the rot for a while longer

 

[Onoff]

Someone on here has made stainless decks for sale in the past. Might be in my T1200 mower thread.

 

[Onoff]

Re-patching these is a waste of time and a new mild steel

Aside from the fun element and satisfaction gained from doing it!

I got the mower for nothing so cost me very little.

 

[RonMig]

I enjoyed fixing my brothers Countax deck a few months ago, although I reaped the reward of a neighbour (working from home in her garden! ) complaining to the council about the noise of my angle-grinder...

by the time I'd got halfway through the welding I wish I just re-made the whole bottom section, although there are lots of hidden spot-welds holding the top-plate on, so would have been fun splitting them apart...

I was Quite happy with the result; Gave it to him like this & then he plastered it in Underseal-type paint...

 

[m_c]

Most modern decks aren't mild steel, they're some kind of carbon/sprung steel, which is how manufacturers can make them so thin.
If they were just mild steel, you'd be able to bend them by hand the metal is that thin in places.

 

[Bravheart]

Any of you grass cutting engineers fancy making a new deck for me, the oxidation mice are eating mine.
Tia M.

 

[frank horton]

if u go the stainless route a 3mm top plate and double up on all mounting points....
had a quote from a dealer....small'ish Honda ride on.....
new deck £1,500.....oops...
but that was complete and ready for the production line...even had a new belt...

 

[RonMig]

Most modern decks aren't mild steel, they're some kind of carbon/sprung steel, which is how manufacturers can make them so thin.
If they were just mild steel, you'd be able to bend them by hand the metal is that thin in places.

The Countax one I fixed pictured above, is about 15 yrs old and had a hard life on a 5 acre lawned garden. I had intended to use various 1mm (or thinner) scraps i had collected for the purpose.

It was only after I'd cut back to good metal i found the main deck was 2mm mild steel. The top plate was slightly thicker. The side skirt was thinner, maybe 1mm. Still Blummin heavy.
Bruv had to buy some new 2mm plate, just enough for the patches..

A new deck I think is around £800....
Not sure if that includes the blade carriers & bearings, which are about £80 each ...

 

[Benpointer]

Thanks for all the replies so far. Lots to think about. To answer a few points:

- It's true, this one is not too bad, still serviceable at the moment. But I've been down this road with my old mower... patch it up in one place and the rust pops up somewhere else the year after.
- I have thought about doing one in (thicker) mild steel and painting or even hot-dip galvanising... not sure how that would compare cost-wise to stainless.
- Corrosion resistant steel - will look at that.
- The hose cleaner point? The deck was already too far gone when I got it, so I haven't bothered. I bought the mower 2 years ago and the mower itself was in mint condition (15 years old and only 110 hours) but someone had put a much older deck on it. I knew before I bought it that the deck was only going to last a year or so.
- I fancy being able to forget about painting every year and cleaning and washing out after every cut.
- Composite would be good (and an interesting project). It would have to be pretty beefy though - those decks can be pretty brutal when they pick up a stone!

The current deck is 2mm plate but doubled up in the central area. I was going to go for 4mm s/s. It will be heavier but manageable I think.

A replacement deck is £400-£450 (shell only) or c.£900 for the complete deck, but as the hubs and pulleys all seem serviceable I will transfer them over to a new shell.

Nice jobs with those repairs @MCKDAVID, @Onoff and @RonMig - top work!

@RonMig: that's my deck! Does your brother want to swap his repaired one for a younger model? Then you can have another go a that repair this winter for him

 

[Bobupndown]

Why don't they make them of aluminium, then it'd be a job for life suppose they'd not sell enough lawnmowers then.
I have a brand new mountfield sitting in the garage, haven't had it on the lawn yet and just know as soon as its used the decay will start, have to make sure I clean it properly and use some sort of rust inhibitor on it over the winter. I have had only 2 petrol lawnmowers over the last 24 years, normal self propelled jobs, 1st was well patched and welded then the engine seized. Bought a new one which must be 10+ years old now, also patched and repaired but still going strong