Undercoating mower decks?

[Anonymous Poster]

Gary,

All of the responses to your question got me thinking so I decided my MMM deserved an early scraping. Actually I wanted to verify what I had written earlier about minimal rust as I was going on memory. Sometimes we see what we want to see and I thought "maybe it is worse than I think". There was a little more rust around the center spindle than I recalled but it was still in good shape. I took 4 photos. I have attached the first one and will send separate posts of closeups around each spindle area.

I'm posting these only to show you what the underside looks like after 15 years not to say you shouldn't coat the underside. I am skeptical about how long any coating will last under the deck and the difficulty in maintaining the coating over the years. You are bound to get areas that wear more than others (note the bare metal areas around the spindles in the photos). With one of the thicker rust proofing or bed liner coatings will surrounding areas get even thicker as you touch up the worn areas? You probably will need to do some scraping despite the coating. Will you scrape off the coating as well? In the end you gotta do what feels right to you. Just keep in mind that paint wearing off the underside of your deck after the first few uses doesn't mean it is going to fall apart in a few years. Good Luck.

Jeff

 

[Anonymous Poster]

2nd photo

 

[Anonymous Poster]

3rd photo

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Last photo.

 

[SPIKER]

I would check into see if there are any "POWDER PAINT" people near you!

We build the equipment that people use to powder with. It is great stuff. I started body work when I was a kid, did it for a living, the powder paint is 100 times better than the undercoating stuff, and will be nice and smooth for little debris to catch on. (it basically is a melted on plastic coating.) it is what is used on most new equipment and on washing machines and driers ect. though much of that is baked on enamel the powder is just a step below that but not by much...

Mark M /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue">I'll be anxious to hear from you on what Line-X says regarding this application. Let me know, OK? Thanks! </font>
Will do. No response yet. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[pennwalk]

Powder Coating is really cool stuff. I used to work for a company that did powder coating. I got a lot of the small parts for my boat trailer coated. They are still looking good after close to 20 years. I had them coated with nylon cause you can hardly dent the stuff with a hammer. Polyester looks better and comes in more colors but might not be as tough. Any way you look at it though you are rock blasting the underside of a mower deck and any coating is going to have a hard time holding up over time with that. If the undercoating is the soft and lumpy kind, that seems less than ideal. At least on a modern finish mower air flow is important.

Chris

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Well guys... I think I've done a 180 degree turn around here. I think I may have come up with a solution for a non-existent problem. I'm now leaning toward just mowing my fields with the mowers the way they came from the factory (plus a coating of the graphite stuff from either TSC or Grainger that was mentioned here). The idea of having that money to go toward a post hole digger or 150 pounds of steel to weld into some neat toys is sounding better and better. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

The way I've vascillated here, I guess I'm waiting for someone to tell me why I ought to do this undercoat the mowers. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Otherwise, it's graphite spray tomorrow and a mowing I go. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[mathey]

I wouldn't even bother with the spray...it'll be worn off in two weeks...If you are going to mess with it at all, the brush on Slip Plate seems to be the popular choice...apparently you can get a heavier coat on and it'll last a little longer.

 

[agcomike]

powder coating..that's how the L-100 JD lawn mowers decks and many parts are painted with.. in something like 60 minutes a raw material can be painted and ready to be assembled..