Repaired a friend's mower deck

[BravoXray]

A friend asked if I could repair his mower deck, it had rusted and one of the idler pulley mounts tore loose. I said I'd give it a try. Didn't look too bad, someone had attempted to fix it a couple of years ago, and that repair had failed because of more of the area had rusted out. I cut out enough metal to get decent metal to weld a patch panel to, though it was still pretty thin in a few spots. Made a patch out of 11 ga. plate and spent some time getting it trimmed and the front side rolled up to make a better surface to weld to. I used my Miller 211 and got it tacked into place then welded it in place. I'm not a great welder, but the thin metal was a real challenge. I also had to do some cutting and grinding on the pulley mount to get it to lay parallel with the other pulleys, but I got it pretty close. Welded up some other cracks and loose deflectors, so it should be good to go for a while.
I used the BX to get it off the bench and set it outside.

 

[Smokeydog]

That’s a tuff repair. Fatigue cracking, rust, thin metal mower deck repairs take considerable amount of time and skill to properly repair. I have turned down similar repairs because people think (non welders) it’s a 10 minute, $10 repair. Good job and saved your friend from buying a new deck.

They says with 0.023” wire and 110v input the Miller 211 has good thin metal capability. The 110v has a better arc over the 220v input for thin materials. I’ve never tried it yet.

 

[BravoXray]

That’s a tuff repair. Fatigue cracking, rust, thin metal mower deck repairs take considerable amount of time and skill to properly repair. I have turned down similar repairs because people think (non welders) it’s a 10 minute, $10 repair. Good job and saved your friend from buying a new deck.

They says with 0.023” wire and 110v input the Miller 211 has good thin metal capability. The 110v has a better arc over the 220v input for thin materials. I’ve never tried it yet.

Yep, the dealer told him to get a new deck.
I had a total of about 4 hours to repair it, but I'm an old slow, gotta cogitate on it a while before I decide how to fix it, type of guy.
I've never tried running it on 120 volts, I'm running my 211 on 240 volts and was using .030 wire with C25 gas.
Of course, in the middle of the job I ran out of wire and had to put in a new 10# spool.

 

[oldballs]

Nice job Bravo........wished that I had your skill. If'in I could start over in life, I'd get some welding skills.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Smokeydog]

Yep, the dealer told him to get a new deck.
I had a total of about 4 hours to repair it, but I'm an old slow, gotta cogitate on it a while before I decide how to fix it, type of guy.
I've never tried running it on 120 volts, I'm running my 211 on 240 volts and was using .030 wire with C25 gas.
Of course, in the middle of the job I ran out of wire and had to put in a new 10# spool.

Your faster than me. My cogitator must have some crud.
You did your friend a real service. I get friends that bring broken stuff then tell me how to fix. “Just fill in the cracks”. It’s rarely that simple. Hard to charge friends for money and I rarely weld for money. I think it was Jodie on one of his tips and tricks videos, so much per hour of shop time plus, $1/inch cutting, $1/tack, $1/inch welding and materials is a good start to put a dollar figure on a repair job.

 

[Alan46]

Nice job bro!

 

[BravoXray]

Thanks for the kind comments guys.

Your faster than me. My cogitator must have some crud.
You did your friend a real service. I get friends that bring broken stuff then tell me how to fix. “Just fill in the cracks”. It’s rarely that simple. Hard to charge friends for money and I rarely weld for money. I think it was Jodie on one of his tips and tricks videos, so much per hour of shop time plus, $1/inch cutting, $1/tack, $1/inch welding and materials is a good start to put a dollar figure on a repair job.

I've had friends bring me a few repair jobs that weren't repairable. One was a wagon to pull behind his garden tractor. Had set outside all it's life and showed it. It was rusted beyond repair, more rust than metal. I saved the wheels and axle, cut the rest up for scrap, not very good scrap either.

 

[jaxs]

I enjoy repairing for friends and neighbors if I'm able to do a job that will stand up under scrutinization. Patch it up to get them by until they can shop for a replacement and they tell everyone in the state when it falls apart 2 years later.

 

[Sberry]

They says with 0.023” wire and 110v input the Miller 211 has good thin metal capability. The 110v has a better arc over the 220v input for thin materials. I’ve never tried it yet.

The wire doesnt know what voltage the machine is running on. Its the adjustment but,,, the 023 is certainly easier on thin material and can work down near foil thickness. Only reason to use 120 over 240 is if you dont have the higher voltage, no difference in the output down low, only on the high end.

 

[jaxs]

They says with 0.023” wire and 110v input the Miller 211 has good thin metal capability. The 110v has a better arc over the 220v input for thin materials. I’ve never tried it yet.

The wire doesnt know what voltage the machine is running on. Its the adjustment but,,, the 023 is certainly easier on thin material and can work down near foil thickness. Only reason to use 120 over 240 is if you dont have the higher voltage, no difference in the output down low, only on the high end.

Say wutt?

 

[Sberry]

With 023 wire the machine doesnt know if its plugged in to 120 or 240

 

[shaeff]

Say wutt?

He was quoting Smokeydog, but it looks like he forgot to click the quote button.

Smokeydog's comment is the first one, Sberry's is the second.

 

[BravoXray]

Well, I got another mower deck to repair, off my niece's JD LA125. The idler pulley bracket ripped out of the deck just like the previous one did. I proceed as I did before, cut out and area around the bracket and made up a plate to weld in. I thought I had cut out to some good metal, but on two sides the metal is like Swiss cheese. I made another patch, hammered it into shape with a ball peen hammer, trimmed it and the hole so it fit pretty well, and on two sides that metal is rusted almost completely through.
I think I'm going to throw in the towel on this one, on closer inspection, I'm finding more cracks around one of the spindles, the entire top of the deck is paper thin.
I'll look around for a used deck, but I'm probably going to have to get a new deck for it. The rest of the tractor is in pretty good shape, but there is some rust starting on the seat pan, so I'm going to pull that off and get it blasted and powder coated before it goes to pot too.

 

[big bubba]

wonder if your original weld, if cleaned thoroughly & solid metal not rust, could also have been brazed w/torch? strictly arc & torches here, no wirefeed i have had good success in some repairs with brazing. old school i guess. anyway, just asking

 

[MossRoad]

I've been tempted to make a trip over to Bluffton a few times for some project mowers. Still might before fall to make a leaf vacuum.

ALMOST HEAVEN LAWN MOWER GRAVEYARD - Google Search

 

[BravoXray]

wonder if your original weld, if cleaned thoroughly & solid metal not rust, could also have been brazed w/torch? strictly arc & torches here, no wirefeed i have had good success in some repairs with brazing. old school i guess. anyway, just asking

I had thought about trying to braze it, but at this point just how long would it last until the metal around the patch rusts out and I'm back to square one again. I guess almost anything can be repaired, but my time could really be better used on other projects.
I do have a brazing torch and rod, I used it last winter to repair a hole in a steel cab heater water pipe on his '95 Dodge pickup.

 

[Williy]

My sister's husband has a JD riding lawn mower
and the deck bracket that holds the deck up broke
took it in to get it welded was told you had to have
special welding rods or something as regular welding
would not hold. I thought that I was really getting a
great riding mower with the JD big mistake the bracket
that holds the deck up broke and big cracks all around
it and a new deck with nothing on it is was about $800
If the little JD equipment is anything like the big stuff??
Needless to say no green stuff around here!

willy

 

[BravoXray]

My sister's husband has a JD riding lawn mower
and the deck bracket that holds the deck up broke
took it in to get it welded was told you had to have
special welding rods or something as regular welding
would not hold. I thought that I was really getting a
great riding mower with the JD big mistake the bracket
that holds the deck up broke and big cracks all around
it and a new deck with nothing on it is was about $800
If the little JD equipment is anything like the big stuff??
Needless to say no green stuff around here!

willy

The problem isn't unique to JD equipment, I've repaired decks from four different makers.
I can't think of any reason it would take a special rod to repair a mower deck, most likely he just didn't want to work on it and made that up to not have to do it.
I ordered a new bare deck for the machine today for m a local JD dealer, a little north of $500. Not cheap, but better than trashing the whole tractor.