Cracked hood on John Deere rider

[janea38]

I saw response on how to fix crack but I do not know anything about welding. If I use Duct tape on the outside of the hood, will the engine heat affect it? I do not care about looks of the repair but wish to stop the large crack from spreading

 

[George2615]

Welcome to TBN....................

The hood on my JD rider also cracked. My rider hood is fiberglass so I bought a can of Bondo at the auto parts store, drilled a hole at the end of the crack to stop spreading, sanded it down and Vee'd the crack a little, mixed up and filled with Bondo. A couple hours later I sanded it down, primed and repainted with JD green rattle can. At 5' away you can't see any damage. After all, its just a mower and I wasn't going to spend hundreds on a new hood. I now have another crack to fix from someone standing on the hood instead of using a ladder but I won't mention any names. Maybe this winter I'll work on that.
If your hood is metal, drill a small hole where the crack ends to stop it from spreading and Bondo it. Or if you have a torch you can braze it using low heat. Heat may warp the thin metal though.
Body shops use Bondo on metal and fiberglass all the time.

 

[MORRISONSTEEL]

If it is just a crack I have had good luck with a product called "rapid fix". Won't leave the nice smooth appearance that bondo can, Kind of expensive but easy to use.

 

[drizler]

Fusor makes the real repair plastics for plastic panels. Get it at the auto paint supply. The counter guy will know which type best matches your hood's plastic. You should also get some old screen or the newer drywall edge tape, the plastic mesh type. Take the hood off if you can as it;s so much easier to work on and do a better job . Clean the back carefully and then VEE the crack and drill stop holes on each end then take a grinder and carefully clean off the back an inch all around the crack. Take a file and gouge **** out of the inside within that cleaned area. Make deep scratches in some sort of cross hatch X pattern and the rougher the better. Then scrape the top side up similarly.
Now that it's ready take some fusor and push it into the crack and holes and cover the rough area. Again on the back push the screen (cut to the same size as the roughed up area) into the fusor. Get it in there nice and deep and then go spread some more fusor on top of the screen to completely bury it. Let it dry then flip the hood over and smear fusor onto the crack to cover completely the whole roughed up area on top of the hood. Let it harden and then sand the top with 80 grit and finish with 220. Leave the inside alone, nobody sees it. Once you get the repair nice and smooth put on a few coats of SANDABLE primer and gently sand with an old piece of 220. Use a block of wood so it sands flat. Then paint. The reason you need the mesh in the repair is to help hold it against all the heavy vibration those small engines put on it.
Now if the mower is old and on its way out there is a quick and dirty ......FUGLY way. Just stop drill VEE it out then get some 3m 5200 (home depot). Take a piece of duct tape then clean the back side of the hood and put the tape on there. Nice and long leaving the bottom hanging down a bit. Pump the crack full of 5200 and smear and push it down so it penetrates and spreads beyond the crack on the inside . Then feather as best you can with a plastic body spatula. Let it dry a day. 5200 doesn't sand well at all and won't feather well at all but although it will look like Frankenstein it will never break again. You might get paint / primer to stick to it, maybe not though and it won't be pretty.:thumbdown: Fugly.........
Either way you go it will work just more time consuming and pretty or fugly and fast it will hold up for you. Pick your poison.

 

[ducas287]

Older JD lawn tractors had hoods made of ABS plastic which were quite brittle. There is an ABS (acrylonitrile, butadiene, styrene) cement that was used in pipe used to attach mobile homes to septic systems. This may still be found in older hardware stores. I used this together with wire mesh bracing (gutter guard) to repair a 262 hood. Best of luck.

 

[darrenjttu]

I just repaired mine with a fiber glass kit from auto zone for 20 bucks. That stuff is very strong I might use more of it to beef up other parts that are flimsy