Rotary Cutter Deck Repair - Replacing worn out skid shoes (fabrication question)

[Beltzington]

Finished the last mow of the season this weekend and while cleaning my JD LX6 I noticed the skid shoes are almost worn through at the leading edge. Although a bit rusty (surface) and a few dents I believe this LX6 still has many years of service left if I can replace them before I start damaging the deck. The JD service manual says to grind them off the deck with a grinder and weld new ones on, they are asking $180 for a pair which seems a little steep for a 12' of 1 1/4" wide 3/8" flat bar steel with a 35-degree bend at one end.

My question is instead of grinding the old ones off the deck which is basically heavy sheet metal why not buy a 1/4" wider bar and weld that to the existing skid shoe for a stronger skid? I can't imagine another 3/8" thickness making any difference in the cut. Also would any special steel grade last longer for this purpose or can I just use what is available at the box stores?

 

[bumperm]

Sounds like a plan.

Few months back I plasma cut 2" of the bottom of my "el cheapo" CountryLine skirt. They made the skirt so high, probably out of liability concern, that it wouldn't cut shorter than about 6".

To reinforce the bottom, I welding on 3/4" square tubing, as I had some laying around (they'd just made a 90* bend in the edge for stiffening). Made the front skids out of 2" wide bar stock.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Normal mild steel would work fine, if you weld a bunch of welds across the wear spot it will last longer. Ed

 

[bumperm]

As Ed says, but to do that right, I'd use hardfacing rod - that's the stuff you see on backhoe buckets etc.

But if you are adjusting the deck right, regular mild steel skids will last a long time, and they are easy enough to replace with new if you weld.

 

[Ed of all trades]

You should see how much extra wear you get with just 6013 or 7018 rods. I often use them when I just want a bit more wear and don't want to buy some more rods. Ed

 

[kebo]

I think the idea behind JD's recommendation to remove the old skids and replace them is simply their way of getting the deck back to its original design intent. If the SM instructed you to weld on the new skids on top of the old ones, that might be construed as an admission that their original design was inadequate. Imo, I would just weld the new ones on top of the old ones, assuming there is enough left to give a good, fairly flat base for the news to weld onto. If 3/8" is good, a 1/2" must be better, right??

 

[dieselcrawler]

buy a 1/4" wider bar and weld that to the existing skid shoe

1/4" thick would be enough in my opinion. 1/4" wider like you mentioned gives you a nice groove to lay your weld in. Go for it.

 

[Dingeryote]

Head to the junk yard. Find a couple old leaf spring packs, and snag a couple of the longest leafs.

Tack weld on, heating and beating to fit. Finish by trimming with the torch, and a couple final beads, and some grinding to smooth things up...and maybe some paint.

The wear is always worse at the front radius. The mild steel gets abraded quickly.
Nobody ever wears out the skid rail past the first 2-3 feet.
The spring steel will last longer than the rest of the deck, and will probably only set you back 20 bucks.

 

[Gary Fowler]

AR grade plate would last practically forever but regular old A36 plate is easy to weld and replace as needed and much cheaper. I would just add on a strip over the original that is a bit wider and weld it down with 7018 that is unless the old strip is worn so bad that you cant get a level alignment. You could use some weld metal to build up the original at the front where most of the wear is, then add on the new thicker wear plate. This would last you for a good many years to come.