6thgpSF
Gold Member
that looks great,I was wondering too about the cost. russ
I galvanized my Lawnmower deck! Deere X304
- Thread starter xpatriot
- Start date
Hello folks, thanks for the comments. If your wondering what this cost to do, i have to admit I paid what i believe was a portion of the real cost to this. Having never had the request to do a lawn mower the supplier was interested to see how it would go (i have a hunch so he could do his own). Not a 100% sure but if i had to guess it would be a couple hundred dollars to get it done (note i did not pay this much). Really, it sounds nuts but repainting it every year and the labour to do that has some value that could easliy offset the galvanizing cost if you were so inclined to do this.
Once i get it installed i'll take another photo and i'll let you decide if you would have it painted. At this point i'm torn, i seen it once on a push mower while googling for info on this project and thought it looked good.
Once i get it installed i'll take another photo and i'll let you decide if you would have it painted. At this point i'm torn, i seen it once on a push mower while googling for info on this project and thought it looked good.
Markcuda
Veteran Member
MMagis
Veteran Member
It looks nice, it really does. But, I think you're WAY overstating it's potential value. Who in the world paints their deck every year? No one I know, that's for sure. At MOST, I may clean mine once a year. Maybe. And I've sure never had a deck rust through, or barely rust at all for that matter.
Hello Markcuda,
When i bought mine the unit had 76 hours on it, the major issue was not wet grass or not cleaning it. I suspect that the main cause of the eventual damage was with the numerous stones that he mowed which penetrated the surface of the finish on the underside of the deck. This combined with the lack of cleaning allowed for quite a bit of rust to accumulate, and in fact cause quite a bit of surface damage. The factory paint looks to be quite resilient and if mine looked as good as your does after 20 hours it would not have seen the inside of a galvanization plant. In fact the way it looks i suspect that yours will never look like mine did when i brought it home.
Cheers
Hello MMagis,
I guess your right, maybe not every year especially if you look after your equipment like Markcuda in the above photo obviously does. In my case, after a season of use, i took off the deck and it was obvious that the paint job i did in the spring was not going to make it through another season (remember the finish on the underside is no longer factory on mine). I use the mulching plug and rinse the unit well after every use, but i was clearly we were going to be dealing with rust again at some time.
If my yard was full of stones i know that this project would be fruitless. Its not so it should be a good case to see how this works to prevent further rust damage to the underside of my deck.
Sure it might not be for everyone, but if you do some research on deck maintenance, i don't appear to be the only one that has had a issue with rust on the underside of their deck.
Cheers,
MMagis
Veteran Member
Yes, you have a point about the rocks. I’m continually hitting them, and anything short of a truck bed lining would be a waste of my time. You also have a point about you not being the only one with the concern. I guess I’m one of those people that consider cleaning my lawn mower similar to waxing my tractor. Not going to happen. 
rjkobbeman
Platinum Member
My riding mower has over 120 hours on it and is probably 7 or 8 years old. The first 5 years I did not put many hours on it because of my small yard. Now I put about 2 to 3 hours per week on it.
I have NEVER painted it. I probably clean the deck once a year or sometimes once ever two years. Neglect? Some may say yes, however I just use it!
No rust problems yet.
I do have one question about the rocks though. Does the galvanizing process do more than just put a coat on it? Granted it is a "good" coat, however I don't understand how rocks chipping away at the surface will be any better with a galvanized coat.
I have NEVER painted it. I probably clean the deck once a year or sometimes once ever two years. Neglect? Some may say yes, however I just use it!
No rust problems yet.
I do have one question about the rocks though. Does the galvanizing process do more than just put a coat on it? Granted it is a "good" coat, however I don't understand how rocks chipping away at the surface will be any better with a galvanized coat.
I pointed that out more than once, galvanization is merely a hard coating... and it stated more than once that my yard has no stones so it should be quite a bit more effective than a coating of paint (but you can make that call). Check out this link to a forum with 106 plus posts on rust on the underside of the mower deck ( http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=71255 ). If your not worried about it, good for you, eventually you or the next guy that owns your machine might be! One last point, the gauge of the metal on deck of a x304 is dramatically different than models above this (in the deere lineup), i suspect that your Kubota might be different as well.