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Pacific Dog

Deck Repair Help

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Pacific Dog

Hello All,

My 42" rear discharge deck just warped itself while I was mowing. The problem is the center spindle hole cracked and twisted out of plane.

For some reason my searches for previous posts comes up blank. Can anyone recommend a previous post or perhaps put some pics here so I can get ideas how to beef up the deck? The rest of the deck is in good shape and I really want to fix it so I can continue using my recycler/mulching kit in it.

Or if someone in southern California has a 42" RD deck for sale that would be greatly appreciated as well.

Cheers.

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can whlvr

I have two 42 inch side discharge decks,both have had to be repaired due to problems that you have discribed,i had one actually spit out the side when mowing :omg::drool: that deck had to have a whole new top put on.I cut off the whole top with an angle grinder,welded thicker plate in then re drilled all the holes very carefully.it turned out great,and is smoother than brand new.The second deck i saw the same cracks as the first deck by the way just welding the cracks doesnt seem to last very long untill new cracks form beside the welds or from the bolt holes,so this deck i welded the cracks a few patches and fiberglassed it on both sides.I used a VERY expensive epoxy and put several coats over the glass painted and so far so good.Don

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WheelHorse_of_course

Here is what I would try.

Make a triangular piece of thick (3/32 or 1/8) steel the shape and size of the recessed portion of the deck (e.g. the area that is under the belt guard).

Trace the hole locations onto the plate and drill out these holes (not sure the best way to make the large spindle holes, maybe with a conduit punch).

I would put a bead of RTV silicon around each hole - the idea being to prevent water getting up and between the deck and the new plate.

Rivet this to the deck using steel pop rivets. I would put in lots of rivets around each spindle - probably 2 concentric circles. Plus a moderate number of rivets around the perimeter.

Optionally, weld a bead around the perimeter.

Best of luck. :omg:

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can whlvr

To drill the big holes for the spindle bodies,which if i remember was 2 and an eighth inches,i simply bought a brand new dewalt bimetal hole saw cut slowly with lots of oil.The saw cut all three holes for about 25 bucks,not to expensive and worked really good. Don

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Pacific Dog

Thanks for the help. Now on to the job. I'll take pics and post them for you.

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Astrolite

I made a temporary repair to mine by adding washers under the heads of the center spindle mounting bolts. Hopefully this will get me through the summer until I can make more permenant repairs.

The only problem I ran into was that the extra thickness, created by the washers, allowed the center pulley to hit the tops of the bolts. I had to add a shim washer on top of the spindle bearing to raise the pulley and regain the clearance. Now the center pulley is slightly higher than the others but it seems to work fine, so far.

When you guys made these repairs how did you deal with pulley clearance issue?

Thanks

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can whlvr

I didnt have any issues with clearance,it only moved the pulley down a bit. Don

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