Lawn Tractor

Gotta eat crow on this one. I like stamped decks on mowers because of the improved grass exit flow and reduced tendency to clog and having to be cleaned due to wet grass buildup is highly reduced. Never had a problem and was noticing that ZTs for sale at the local outlets are now offering more with stamped decks.....yes to reduce price and get them "sellable".

Have this neighbor that dings me every time he breaks something. About a week ago he brings his Husqvarna 20k46 over for me to weld up some cracks in his deck. I welded them up and away he went. Yesterday he comes back over and he has 4 new cracks, with one being complete severance of 2 sides of the right rear bracket that mounts the deck to the tractor's support rod. Besides that the deck looked like what you often see on shredder decks.....dimples where rocks and such have hit the under side with great force.

I have the same mower with about 600 hours with the deck in like new condition, minus some rubbed off paint obviously. Not believing what I was seeing, I eased over to the hour meter, turned the key on and the unbelievable number of 96 hours popped up on the display.

So, I'll eat crow. Welded decks do last longer than stamped under certain circumstances.

This became a dealer only replacement as the "Product number" had a -06 at the end meaning that there were 6 versions of this deck used. So he ordered a new deck, $300 + $100 shipping. He has a 6' brush hog and 4600 Ford (that I welded the trailing wheel bracket back together for him about a month ago) that he could be using when he needed to clip his pasture. Maybe this financial outlay will help him to use the right tool for the job.

I think it depends a lot on the thickness of the deck. My Deere z930 is stamped steel but is 3/16 thick.It seems to hold up just as well as the Kubota welded deck and is always a lot cleaner.

Deere came out with the 7 iron stamped steel decks which IIRC is 7 gauge metal.

I have an MTD 46" stamped deck from 1982
gets run 6 hrs a week here only replaced the mandrels once and the bar at the out put hole due to a rock I didn't see
my MF 12 from 1971 with 42" stamped deck is still going but does have a rust hole in it
last yr we picked up a Cub Cadet with the 52" stamped deck and It's got thicker steel than either of the other two has already put 80+ hrs on it still looks good no cracks
buddy of mine has a ransom with a welded deck have replaced mandrels twice now and I reweld seamsor brackets on it at least once a yr and he has less than 1/2 the grass to cut
I've had good luck with stamped decks and don't see the cost difference in them over the welded decks as its still te same machine over them and it's not going to last as long as the deck if you don't look after them any how or hit everything but grass with them

Some people can tear up a German Tank!! Your neighbor sounds like one of them.

spraying the bottom of the decks with WD-40 really helps to keep the grass from sticking. I was about to give up on a mulch deck when I tried it. Made a big difference.

Jim

My cheap stamped decks last forever. Cracks develop because of vibrations. A bad belt and blades out of balance will cause excessive vibrations. Sometimes an idler pulley should be added to stop belts from excessive vibrations. Some of the better design have them, cheapies don't.

I had a chunk out of my John Deere GT276 belt and the vibrations caused the bolt holding the electric clutch to shear off. I've seen chunks out of belts to knock the spindle bearing out too.

Fix what is causing the deck to vibrate. Welding the deck is only a short term band aid fix.

I've also seen a bent pulley cause vibrations.

I went to the spindles first off thinking just what you said and on to the rest of the running gear. All quiet and smooth as a mouse. Like I said, I have 6X the hours he has and no problems at all........other than trashing out the Courage 20 single and putting in a nice purring Briggs V twin.

I heard about that and just this spring removed the deck from my 2005 DR Pro Z welded deck and gave it a good cleaning and several coats of primer, good enamel paint and a final 2 coats of the Moly slide goo that the JD dealer sells in the green quart can primarily for sickle bars. Works a lot better.

I work for a Husq. dealer. Lately I have seen several decks with the rear support brackets broken off that I didn't think had enough weld around them from the factory. I usually weld all the way around the bracket if I can.

If your friend has dents made from the inside of the deck he's running it over something that he shouldn't.

You are charging for the welding, aren't you? It needs to be an 'educational' expense, if nothing else, so he won't be so apt to do it again.

No I'm not. If you want to know the truth he's one of my "charities".......get the drift? Maybe the cost of the new deck will do the trick........and then, maybe not!

A wise man once told me some people could screw up an anvil with a feather duster.

A coworker, former auto dealership mechanic bought a compact MF tractor, with FEL and backhoe, plus attachments when he bought the five acre lot for his future house. He uses that little rig like it is a D8 CAT crossed with a forestry mower and an excavator. He has completely destroyed the mower deck by hitting "stumps", broke the mid-mount PTO in the process, and now broke 12 of 14 attachment bolts that hold the backhoe/loader frame to the tractor.

You might be right about single cylinders vs twins being smoother.

Some more expensive models of mowers have a cross brace to keep deck more stable too and more idler pulleys to keep belt from vibrating between the two outside spindles.

I've added spindles, even a bolt with brass bushing with large washers on ends of bushing to dampen belt's vibrations. Belts last longer too if they vibrate less.

Do whatever it takes to dampen harmonic vibrations.

You nailed it. This guy must be his sibling.