Undercoating mower deck

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Anyone ever try rubberized undercoating the underside of there mower deck to keep it from rusting? Will it work?
 
The mower deck will not rust thru on a quality mower until you long gone from the earth. I do rinse mine off with a strong garden hose once a month or two.
 
This has come up before. I have tried almost everthing. Bedliner coating, epoxy paint( not 2k), appliance paint, even graphite paints like EZ-slide. Nothing held up. Just keep the wet grass off it, don't let grass build up sit on there over winter storage. I do sometimes spray rust converter on there at the end of the season just so it does not rust over winter. A good deck though will outlast the mower.
 
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Originally Posted By: spasm3
This has come up before. I have tried almost everthing. Bedliner coating, epoxy paint( not 2k), appliance paint, even graphite paints like EZ-slide. Nothing held up. Just keep the wet grass off it, don't let grass build up sit on there over winter storage. I do sometimes spray rust converter on there at the end of the season just so it does not rust over winter. A good deck though will outlast the mower.


I would have thought bedliner was a good good choice, but you would want to do it when it was new and prep it properly for good bonding
 
Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Originally Posted By: spasm3
This has come up before. I have tried almost everthing. Bedliner coating, epoxy paint( not 2k), appliance paint, even graphite paints like EZ-slide. Nothing held up. Just keep the wet grass off it, don't let grass build up sit on there over winter storage. I do sometimes spray rust converter on there at the end of the season just so it does not rust over winter. A good deck though will outlast the mower.


I would have thought bedliner was a good good choice, but you would want to do it when it was new and prep it properly for good bonding


It could be that i have more small little sticks and twigs, dry pine needles. Those help keep the deck clean though, but nothing resisted being beat off the deck. Maybe in a small yard with no trees around, something would hold up.
 
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Originally Posted By: Camprunner
Anyone ever try rubberized undercoating the underside of there mower deck to keep it from rusting? Will it work?


Just mow your yard when the grass is dry, like mid to late afternoon.
 
Chrome plating would hold up well as the high nickel finish is quite hard to resist abrasion but is also likely cost prohibitive unless you work at or own your own chrome plating facility. A fully chromed deck would give it a Harley look too.
 
Buy a quality mower and you won't have to worry about it. I've never undercoated the deck on my 42 year old 210 and it never had a rust issue even when mowing in wet grass, I never undercoated the deck on my 757 even when mowing in wet grass and it never had a rust issue. I can't count the number of 400 series John Deere mowers around here that don't have rusty mower decks, and have never been undercoated.

I have no plans to undercoat the deck on my X738, and I have no doubt that I'll never see any rust, even though I do occasionally mow wet grass.
 
Chrome plating isn't that expensive. The mower market extends to high-end models.
It's an obvious thing to try. If it worked, I'm sure that there would be chromed mower decks on the market.
 
The only time rust becomes an issue is if you leave it parked in the grass all the time. Or mow after it rains.
 
If for some reason it gets pretty rusty i would go at it with a wire wheel and then some rustoleum paint. you want the clippings to slip right off and i don't think that would happen with bedliner
 
I used a brush on sound deadener under ours, seems to be holding up well but it's only been on there for about 6 months so can't speak for longevity. If you do it then keep in mind to be patient - I slathered it on really thick instead of doing multiple smaller coats like the tin said and it took weeks to dry.
 
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Originally Posted By: Donald
If you have the deck off might as well paint it with something after a good cleaning.


Like used motor oil.

Wash the grass out from under after using, then paint 'er up good.
 
What's causing the rust is 'wet' grass.
Only cut grass when dry. / afternoon or evening.

No matter what you spray under the deck, wet grass will stick to it.
A lot of wet grass stuck to deck will affect the discharge of grass (as in, clumps on lawn)

1) Only cut when dry
2) During cutting season, Monthly clean under deck with water and brush
3) For Winter storage, clean and wipe with Fluid Film
 
Next time buy a mower with an aluminum deck. I have an old Lawn-Boy that's almost 20 years old w/o any signs of the deck giving up. I rebuilt the engine last year, scraped all the caked on stuff and it still looked good.
 
I just coated my deck with ez slide. Only have one mow on it right now. I did alot of prep work and applied 4 coats gradually putting it on thicker and thicker. It has to be about 1/8" thick all said and done. So fingers crossed that I can just touch it up at the end of every season.
 
I got lazy with my '01 John Deere LT155. I cut wet grass (the Freedom 42 deck worked well even with wet grass) and I didn't bother cleaning it. Two years ago I noticed a spot on the top of the deck where rust was working its way through. By this year, it was rusty swiss cheese.

My new(er) X540 will get better treatment. I will only cut when the grass is dry. I will pull the deck a few times a year, clean it off and hit it with Rustoleum.

If you neglect it, it will rust, no matter the brand or quality.
 
My late grandfather's gravely is still kicking from 74. My father has to maintain it now and was swearing up a storm. My grandfather was a welder his whole life. And every year since I can remember that deck came off and got painted. Just eventually sand blasted through the deck and he started patching it. The deck is now to heavy to deal with and we have to use an overhead hoist to do anything with it. His patches look great and so does the tractor but it really started making it heavy lol.
 
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