Mower Deck Service

BobOB1775 · Mar 12, 2013

I have a 38" mower deck which is 26 years old and still operating great. I did a thorough clean up of the gunk and used Naval Jelly to remove the surface rust. Before painting the underside I am considering spraying the underside with Flex Seal (Flex Seal | The Official AsSeenOnTV.com Shop). I've used this on the fireplace cap mortar and it worked great. What are your thoughts about using this treatment to help prevent rust and to make the deck easier to keep clean?

JDTank · Mar 13, 2013

BobOB1775 said:
I have a 38" mower deck which is 26 years old and still operating great. I did a thorough clean up of the gunk and used Naval Jelly to remove the surface rust. Before painting the underside I am considering spraying the underside with Flex Seal (Flex Seal | The Official AsSeenOnTV.com Shop). I've used this on the fireplace cap mortar and it worked great. What are your thoughts about using this treatment to help prevent rust and to make the deck easier to keep clean?

I am just guessing, but it is likely a tacky rubberized coating.

I have found any kind of undercoating like that, that dries as a tacky rubber texture, actually makes for a worse situation. I undercoated a mower deck once with undercoating used on vehicles, much like the spray in bed-liners. Grass stuck to the underside of that deck like you wouldn't believe. The grass build-up underneath nearly doubled. The next time I had the deck off to sharpen the blades, I stripped all of it off and just painted it with spray paint. I find a good clear-coat spray can sometimes make the underside slippery and grass does not stick as well.

An old service technician trick is to cover the underside of your deck with used engine oil, but I HIGHLY suggest you DON'T do this. The moisture in the grass will blend with the oil, and it inevitably falls onto the ground as oil soaked grass clippings. Not healthy for your lawn, and not for your pets if you have any either.

Take this for what you will, but with a 26 year old mower deck, especially such a small one, I wouldn't be trying to save it at all. I would be moving into a newer machine with a bigger deck, but again, that's just me.

BobOB1775 · Mar 13, 2013

Good advice. I think I'll pass on the original plan and go with a good coat of paint and clear coat.

I really love the old deer. It runs very well is in excellent shape for its age. It bags well, but I've given up on mulching since the kit for that generation really is pretty bad. If I had more than a half acre to mow, I think I'd move up to one of the newer models.

Dashe · Mar 13, 2013

I just cleaned and painted my 54C deck which after it's first season was sandblasted down to bare metal. Might I suggest that you use self etching primer first, followed by regular primer and then a finish coat of JD yellow. Let dry and coat with Fluid Film or Pam cooking spray. My deck looks as good as the day it was manufactured maybe better. Make sure you grease the spindles and the guide wheels while you are at it. I bet you can get another 26 years out of it easily.