A-800 deck resto - back from the grave

[wheeledhorseman 573]

Its been three years since I rescued and restored an A-800 with the intention of bringing it home to mow the grass in my garden rather than keep it with the other horses out at the fields and barn. So this......


became this.......
A slight custom job in terms of the different fender pan, seat arrangement, and steering wheel. However, two years on and it was still at the barn as I never got round to restoring a deck for it. The one that it came with being basically beyond repair.
Almost half of the top of the shell was gone and had been replaced by a plate welded underneath. Probably gave it a few years extra life but by now the sides of the shell were rotting through as well. It would have been a whole lot of work to fab a new shell, particularly if it was to resemble an original. Trouble is that these little decks don't come up that often over here in the UK and when they do they're often not much better than this.

I managed to find one that had been fiber-glassed top and bottom and although it was a gamble in terms of what was beneath it, it looked as though most of the strengthening ribs were still in existence - essential if it stood any chance of passing for anything like original after restoration.

The fiberglass was difficult to remove and having struggled to get a small patch off, the rest had to be done in small sections along cut lines made with  a small cutting disk in an little air powered tool.
The fiberglass had held on pretty well despite the rust it had been applied over so it was a lengthy task to remove it all and then de-rust and treat the metal underneath.

I left the fiberglass on the top of the shell intact as it was pretty much all that was holding the it in shape at this stage. 
The good news though was that the ribs that I wanted to save were pretty much intact. The above photo shows I think why welding in new sections was out of the question as most of the metal would have needed cutting away.
The next step was to check the alignment of the two pulleys, one of which was out of line where the shell had already given in to belt tension before the last repair had been made. Fortunately there was enough give in what was left now to beat the shell till the pulley alignment was as good as it was going to get.
To stabilize the structure, fiberglass paste (resin and chopped glass) was applied with a plastic spreader including filling the reinforcement ribs. 

With the underside strengthened just enough for now it was time to see what the top of the deck shell was actually like.
Not bad really, certainly it could have been far worse. Fiberglass paste was applied over the repair areas then sanded back flush before surface filler is used later. The extent of the rotted away metal can be seen in the next photo - an effect I happened to notice while moving the deck.

The underside of the shell will be getting three thicknesses of standard fiberglass matting to provide the necessary strength but not till the weekend as there's other bits to get underway first. I thought it a good idea to take the original deck apart so that the best bits from both could be selected to go to the shop for refurb.
Although it looked unlikely that there'd be anything better on this one - there was! The pillar pulley assembly ran much more smoothly as did the idler pulley.
Not surprising really as all of the pulleys had been replaced at some point (I seem to recall now the PO of the A-800 mentioning that but I'd forgotten about it.) The belts had obviously been replaced as well and are both OK to use so the original deck did have some useful parts on it after all.

More photos to follow soon. The aim is to fiberglass the shell at the weekend so for the moment all the bits and bobs are in the shop being sorted and some now repainted and hanging up to dry.

Andy
 

[AMC RULES 36,945]

Some incredible work there...
saving that  deck.  

[meadowfield 2,545]

Nice work Andy!

[Kegler 68]

Looks like you went to the limit to save that one, NICE JOB!

[wheeledhorseman 573]

Looks like you went to the limit to save that one, NICE JOB!

I'm pushing the limits certainly but really there's no choice if I fab a new shell it might be functional but wouldn't look right. I suppose I'm about half way there now.

Got an afternoon's work in today - filling the top of the shell.....
It could do with a bit more work yet but I'm not aiming for concourse. Pleased with the way that the ribs have come out.
Also did a bit more underneath......
Straightened up the baffle and sealed the edge to the shell with fiberglass paste. I'll sand it back a bit tomorrow, the idea being to produce a curved contour where the two meet that the main fiberglass matting will sit against nicely as it's difficult to get it to do so in a 90 degree arrangement. Also added more paste round the central reinforcement plate so that the matting will bridge across it without air pockets developing. That's the idea anyhow.

A lot of pieces of matting to cut tomorrow in readiness for the weekend.

[Aldon 4,826]

I do like the look of the tractor with the different rear fender pan. Very nice looking tractor.

[Kelsey 54]

Good stuff !

[wheeledhorseman 573]

Friday afternoon: decided to strip the remaining parts from the scrap deck then got sidetracked having discovered one spindle was good but the other had seized since I got the deck three years ago. Pressed the bearing out - hmm, doubt you can get these now, its the sealed unit with double D shafts. Managed to get some penetrating oil down into it (same way the wet got in where the seal had worn on the rusted shaft). Eventually got it turning again but its too rough to use and there's play in the shaft - so scrap value only. The cast casing though came in handy when I did finally get round to cutting the matting late in the day with shadows getting long.
For those not familiar with using this stuff I thought I'd cover the next stages in more detail. I began by cutting pieces that would overlap each other.
Working my way round...
Until the whole deck shell had been covered once. Then repeating the process but the pieces were staggered from the first pass so that the overlaps didn't correspond.
Stopped at this point and left the matting in the deck shell like this overnight. Day 2: first task was to make a rough sketch plan of the jigsaw as I removed the pieces in reverse order and put them on a pile.
Then sanded off the rough bits of the filler paste before masking off.- in the pic below the hinge for the exit flap that a PO had added to the deck needed masking off. Not sure why it was added - to turn it into a recycler perhaps or maybe just to reduce grass being flung over the patio, but whatever the reason I decided it was worth keeping to give it a try. I can always cut it off later if it really isn't needed.
Also masked off the mounting holes in the center of the deck and a couple of rust perforations in the sides of the shell before mixing the first batch of resin and catalyst in a clean plastic bucket (below top right)

The first step was to coat the shell in resin using a roller with disposable head until the whole underside of the shell was covered.

Until the whole shell had been covered.
The table I was working on was covered with cardboard - this is a messy business and the card is useful as a surface for 'wetting out' the matting before applying it. 
There are special metal rollers specifically for the job and I had some to hand but ended up using the paint roller for most of the work when applying the matting. (The special metal rollers are either ribbed along their length or look as though they're made from washers spaced apart by smaller washers - indeed some are actually made just like that.)
First layer of matting applied and rolled out to remove any trapped air pockets and work the resin well into the fibers. At this point the resin in the bucket started to set so a second batch was needed. Starting with a clean new bucket is important in that the solidified resin wont stick so you can turn the bucket over and knock it out before using it again to mix a new batch.
Here the second layer has been applied together with an additional layer round the edge. The deck was getting quite warm by now from the heat generated as the resin cures which in turn lessens the work time you get as heat speeds up the chemical reaction. It had set perhaps ten minutes after the photo was taken but I left it for an hour or so to cool down and harden fully before the final step.
Having cut must of the excess off using a cutting disk in an angle grinder it was finished with with a flap disk in the same. This makes a lot of dust and a mask is a must here. PO used red pigment in the resin he used which is a nice touch in that the underside of the shell wouldn't require painting. The down side is that without pigment you can sort of see through it and pick out any areas which need an extra bit of matting - there were a couple of these thin areas despite my mapping plan which I was able to correct before the resin went off.

Anyway, hopefully Sunday will see the spindles removed - they've got to come off before priming the top of the deck and it will be the best one from this deck (one has a bit of a grumble as you spin it) together with the good one from the scrap deck that will end up being used. To be continued.......

 

Edited August 1, 2015 by wheeledhorseman

[Kelsey 54]

"Nicely done WHman" is all I can write.

[WNYPCRepair 1,875]

I am always amazed at the skills some of you have. Awesome job.

[wheeledhorseman 573]

Thanks for the positive comments guys. Many of the 'skills' were picked up in my youth keeping cars on the road that should really have gone for scrap..

Manged to get a bit further in the last couple of days........
It's difficult to get the fiberglass to stick down perfectly round the sharp contour of the edge so having buzzed it back any gaps were filled with 'Chemical Metal' a resin based filler with great adhesion to metal that sets very hard. It's tougher to sand back than standard filler but easy enough with the flap disk in the angle grinder. Don't know what the equivalent would be in the US, it was originally made by 'Plastic Padding' here but Loctite liked the product range so much they bought the company.
 The spindles came off the shell OK, mainly because I'd wrapped a bit of masking tape round the circumference before applying the fiberglass. Not too much rust and even some of the original red paint was detectable. the metal was cleaned back, treated for rust, and primed along with other bits that would become inaccessible when the shell was flipped over. Holes were also drilled trough the fiberglass for the pulley and belt tensioner mountings
I could have spent another hour filling imperfections on the top surface but I'd grown tired of that and it is after all a cutting deck that will be largely unseen under the tractor and will get covered in grime so pressed on and sprayed the top with high build primer.
Quite pleased with the results actually. Turned my attention to selecting and cleaning off the best pair of spindle bearings from the two decks contributing to the project.
As already mentioned, one was completely shot. I'd pressed the bearing unit out to investigate the bearings used and was about to consign the whole thing to the scrap bin when I made a discovery.....
There were actually only two good spindles with bearings that run smoothly from the four available, one was from each deck. There were two noticeable differences between them though which was puzzling. (highlighted in the photo). The one on the left has the bolt added to the body and part of the chamfered part of the casing that helps to keep the muck out appeared to have, well, gone!
The answer came to light when I noticed something I'd previously missed. The original full length bearing has been replaced with separate new bearings, one at each end. So it appears that there's a mod you can do to rebuild these spindles using standard bearings that are available but it involves machining out the casting to take the wider OD and that's how the chamfer disappeared. The bolt is I guess to retain a spacer between them possibly it was made from the casing of the original integrated bearing assembly. It was very tempting to press this adapted arrangement out to examine how it's bee done but the risk was too high as I only have two usable spindles and it is one of them so it will have to be something to look at in the future when the spindle fails.
To be continued........

[WNYPCRepair 1,875]

Is the fiberglass strong enough to use the deck on a daily mower?

[Aldon 4,826]

are you mowing with it yet?

[wheeledhorseman 573]

I've had too many other things to do recently which has meant only occasional progress with this project but here's the update.

Painted the shell and was pleased with the way it looks in terms of having rescued all of the detail like the strengthening ribs.


Installed the spindles and blades only to discover that one of the blades fouled on the fiberglass where it was too thick in one place so it had to be ground back a little. The geometry of this particular deck is unusual in that the clearance between blade and original metal shell was always tight at this point.


Also ground flat areas round the holes drilled through to mount the center pulley and tensioner so that the bolt heads would sit flush with the shell.


It took a while to mount all the bits and pieces - surprising how many bits there are on this little deck as it hangs from four mounting points on the tractor, and has two adjustable anti-scalp wheels.


Since that photo was taken I've painted the underside of the deck. Why you ask? Well being fiberglass now it really doesn't need painting but aesthetically to my mind it should be red underneath even if you don't see it and its going to get filthy.
 

Is the fiberglass strong enough to use the deck on a daily mower?

Hmm, I expect it will stand up to standard use pretty well otherwise I wouldn't have put all this time and effort into it. The previous fiberglass job hadn't been done that well by the PO but it appeared to have served for many years like that before I got it. Obviously if its going to be used on rough ground with stones being whacked against it the fiberglass will get worn away round the sides over time but I'll be cutting a lawn so it shouldn't be a significant issue.

 

are you mowing with it yet?

Wish I was but I've had other more pressing things to do. Very close now though but it will have to wait for a couple of weeks till I get back from vacation.I'm determined to mow with the A-800 and this deck before the end of the season!

Andy

[Aldon 4,826]

Awesome job!!!

And I appreciate your attention to detail such as painting the underside even though not necessary.

[WNYPCRepair 1,875]

 

Is the fiberglass strong enough to use the deck on a daily mower?

Hmm, I expect it will stand up to standard use pretty well otherwise I wouldn't have put all this time and effort into it. The previous fiberglass job hadn't been done that well by the PO but it appeared to have served for many years like that before I got it. Obviously if its going to be used on rough ground with stones being whacked against it the fiberglass will get worn away round the sides over time but I'll be cutting a lawn so it shouldn't be a significant issue.

 

Thanks, I wasn't sure if you were restoring it to be a worker or for show. I don't have much experience with fiberglass, I didn't know if it was strong enough to handle the stress of daily mowing. 
 

[DennisThornton 4,769]

I owned a body shop for 15-16 years and though mostly worked metal I also did fiberglass.  (Hated the itching after grinding it!)  Recently I suggested a fiberglass patch to a poster who seemed to be hesitant about welding but you have taken this fiberglass idea to a new level in my mind!  As long as all the rust has been removed I see it outlasting any other repair and perhaps the only practical repair for a project such as yours!  

Well done! 

[callum12 256]

great job! nice to see the effort put into an A-series, I've got an A-800 which i am turning into a heavy duty garden tractor so I've got a complete deck if you ever need spares.

callum 

[pycoed 1]

I've recently resurrected a 36" deck with these spindles. There's no need to press bearings in from top & bottom. There's a flange at the bottom, plus the chamfer you noticed was missing & both these features are worth keeping. I just bored out the spindle to accept two new easily obtained bearings (1 5/8X3/4X7/16" IIRC) & used a spacer (as you correctly surmised) to locate the pair. You need to machine a couple of grooves in the bottom flange so that the bottom bearing can be drifted out in future
The bottom bearing is pressed in from the top until it sits on the original flange, the spindle is pressed through, then the spacer, then the top bearing is pressed in over the spindle & retained when the spindle housing is bolted to the deck. 
 'Twould have been a lot easier to explain if I'd taken some pictures when I was doing it
Now if it would only stop raining I could actually use the damned thing again - at the moment I need a U boat rather than a Wheelhorse here.