Question on Mower maintenance

[dsholler 54]

I have an 87 414-8 with a 48 inch mower. It appears that the deck has not been cleaned at all by the previous owner. It has a layer of dirt mixed with rust that is a couple of MM thick. I have managed to scrape this off in some places, and can see some red paint beneath it. But after a cumulative 7 hours of scrubbing with the wire brush, I am pretty much done.

The questions are

1. I am sure that it woudl be best to get it all clean, but given my limited time work on this, am I doing something horrible by leaving a bit of the crud on there. ?

2. When I had an old fashioned push mower, I used to paint the bottom of the deck with motor oil to make it slippery and prevent corrosion. I did it from the time I got the mower, and since the deck was small, if there was crud or rust I scrubbed it down to shiny metal before putting on the oil. Will it be better worse or no difference if I just put the oil on it with some crud left on there?

[gregg'shorses 77]

That is clean enough, just oil it with a product like :http://www.seafoamsales.com/deep-creep.html

[dsholler 54]

thanks @greggshorses... I took your advice (sorta). .I didn't have any of the stuff you mentioned, but I did have a nice big new bottle of PB Blaster, so I used that instead.. and I put the deck back on (first time for that as well ) seems to work just fine.. grass has started to green up here, but none of it is long enough to cut... so I was not able to do a real field test.. maybe next weekend.

[bowtiebutler956 649]

I love PB blaster. I couldn't believe how much better it worked than WD40 back when I switched!

Matt :flags-texas:

[can whlvr 991]

i would invest in an angle grinder and you can get a wire brush for it,then that would be 10-15 minutes instead of hours,then it can be used for many things like sharpening blades,grinding rust,cutting metal,sanding and many more things

[BOWTIE 226]

I HAVE ALWAYS USE A PRESSURE WASHER AT THE END OF THE MOWING SEASON. I HAVE GAS POWERED ONE WITH 3000 PSI. ANYMORE I JUST USE A ELECTRIC ONE WITH 1500 PSI IT WORKS GREAT AND ITS JUST SIMPLER TO USE WITH NO MAINTANCE. I ALSO HAVE A OLD KNIFE I SCRAPE THE FRESH GRASS OFF THE UNDERNEATH WHILE IT IS STILL FRESH.

BOWTIE IN OHIO