Mowing Power washing mower deck

[Couple of Achers]

Can I mess anything up on my 54in fine cut deck by power washing the underside of it?

I was always told not to hit the hot spindles with cold water. That it was better to wait until they had cooled down before washing out from under deck. I'm not saying that is what you guys are doing, just what to know if anyone else ever heard of that. And maybe a good explanation why. I assume it has to do with sucking water into the bearings but I really don't know.

 

[ejnichol]

Kubota only lays down one coat with no primer on the bottom. It doesn't take much to peel it off. I power wash and once a year put some kind of paint on it.

 

[mhojdila]

OK,
Does anyone have a paint they recommend for the bottom of the mower deck? I was thinking POR (paint over rust) because it has a nice smooth finish easy for cleaning, however my deck is only 30 hours old and does not have enough rust on it to hold the paint. Any recommendations, I would like to paint it once for multiple years, not every year.

Thanks,

Matthew

 

[bigdad]

Good question and this has been talked about a few time here on TBN. The spindles are notoriously low on grease from the factory/dealer when delivered.

What I would suggest anyone to do to make sure there is enough grease in each spindle is to set your deck up on its side so you have access to the top and bottom at the same time. Larry's Mower Axle's are great to accomplish this Mower Deck Axles,Carrera,Cayman,John Deere,Kubota. Take the blades and protective cups off the mower. Pump grease in each spindle until you see some come out the bottom side. This may take many pumps of your grease gun to get them full the first time. From then on, each time you grease your deck, the excess grease from the spindle will be inside the protective cup and not hurt anything.

Your process of greasing the spindles is what I do too. I read those links about undergreased spindles from the factory and got scared. Do not want to be changing those spindles out.

What you are saying, is that if there is grease in the cups.... you are getting enough grease on the spindles???

 

[thavil]

What you are saying, is that if there is grease in the cups.... you are getting enough grease on the spindles???

bigdad - That is my take on having enough grease in the spindles. When the spindles are full, the excess will come out the bottom side of the spindle and be spun around inside the cups during use.

 

[TobyH]

Hmmm...Anyone ever try painting the underside of a deck with bedliner? I don't know if it would hold up or not. I've never used it on my trucks.

 

[kenstrac]

Hmmm...Anyone ever try painting the underside of a deck with bedliner? I don't know if it would hold up or not. I've never used it on my trucks.

I used it on an old mower worked great the one I used was very shiny I would not use the one that has a texture.

 

[LBrown59]

Hmmm...Anyone ever try painting the underside of a deck with bedliner? I don't know if it would hold up or not. I've never used it on my trucks.

There is a lot of post on TBN about that.

 

[LBrown59]

Have power washed mine, no problems...
*A friend years ago drilled/installed a garden hose connector to the top of his mowing deck...He'd hook up a garden hose then run the blades while the water was on...Kept the mowing deck very clean.

Don

*This is a standard feature on CC garden tractors.