Yep, take care of the deck itself. The rest can be easily replaced.
The JD240 dad bought new in 1989 and then sold to me when he got his ZTR in 2006 and then I sold to my FIL 2011 when I got my ZTR....still original deck. Been cared for as I described above. (annual powerwashing and paint on the underside). That deck still looks great. And infact the first and only time the bearings were replaced was by me in 2008 or 2009. (darn sealed bearings anyway). I converted them to greasable.:thumbsup:
/ Researching a new ZTR..driving me crazy!! Need some advise!
Top side get gets blown off with an air nozzle only. I raise the front of the mower with a mower jack and use the pressure washer only to blow off the caked on grass on the underside of the deck.
Like LD1, I'll take chance on replacing a bearing at some point before I'll let the stuff build up heavy enough to warrant a scraper or deal with a premature rust through.
But I will admit that I haven't looked yet to see what the manual recommends. My dealer told me that those hose ports that you see on many models are basically eye candy to attract some buyers but that they weren't really too useful.
