ZTR/ Lawn Tractor Under Deck No Stick

[Spike56]

My system is probably 'not for everyone', but I simply pull the mower over a small pile of wood chips. Run it for a minute or two, and it's once again sparkling clean.

Interesting. Never heard of that one. A friend who is a small engine mechanic (for years now) drives overtop of a tank of water, lowers the deck then turns on quick, off, on. Claims it completely washes the under deck grass away. But, he cleans large numbers of decks, so has a good setup for this. Not practical for me to do.
Guess I will rely on the old method to get the machine up in the air and clean by hand. Did order a "special deck scraper" from Amazon yesterday. Did not have a heavy duty putty knife.
The wood chip idea sound like it would work.... just don't have an area full of chips to use.

 

[sklunk]

This really seemed to work for me but it takes some initial effort (after that it lasts for years):

In the off-season remove all spindles, pulleys, etc. from the deck shell.
Sandblast (or at least heavy sanding) the entire underneath of the deck.
Coat with 2 thin coats of this: Rust Preventive Coating
Let dry for a few days then reassemble.

POR-15 is supposed to cover rust but if you get the surface down to bare metal it actually forms a VERY hard and smooth surface (if you are careful about brush strokes) and lasts for years.