recycler suggestion for reducing cleaning

[cod 116]

Those of you who use recycler decks are already aware of the difficulty of getting all of the crud out from underneath after you mow.  I'm somewhat lazy and it might be a couple of months before I'll take the deck off to clean it and we all know that rust never sleeps. After I rebuilt mine I started thinking about ways to block off the three large opening around the spindles and came up with this idea and so far it's working fine.

 

1. I went to Home Depot and bought a roll of Contact Brand Grip Premium Shelf Liner (18" x 48").  It's a black foam about 1/16" thick.

 

2. I took a Home Depot Homer bucket and used bottom to cut three 10" (approx) diameter cirular discs.

 

3. I found a can of 3M Spray Adhesive (2.125" dia), centered it on the larger circles and cut a center hole.  You may have larger or smaller spindles, so measure them first as I lucked with the adhesive can.

 

4. I removed all the baffles, slid the circular discs down over the spindles and made a small slit over each spindle rib to allow the disc to sit flush with the surface of the recycler baffle.  Be careful when you cut the slits as you want it to be tight.

 

5. I re-installed the baffles and then put a bead of silcone caulk under the edges not held by the baffles.

 

6. Once the silcone set up, I put the blades put on and after a month, the foam appears to holding up well and cleaning the deck is easy.

 

Now I also need to mention that it's only been a month and my intent was to use the recycler only for the fall as I hate to rake, so I don't know if it will last an entire year or years.  The foam liner is cheap around $8.00? in Shrewsbury, PA and I had all the other stuff, so if this experiment falls it's no big deal.

 

I was surprised this evening when I went to clean it as I thought for sure there'd be holes or the silicone would have failed but I didn't see any problems which surprised me as I don't stop for small branches or pine cones.

 

The only thing I had to do to get it to cut correctly was to adjust the deck until it was level with the height adjustment wheel on the highest setting.  I have larger wheels on the deck and I found there was not enough travel with the stock adjustment rod, so I bought a 3/8" x 1" steel sleeve, slipped it over the adjustment rod to get more travel and raise the front of the deck up till it was level.

 

If someone has tried discs made of sheet metal let me know as it would be tougher and working in the garage keeps things peaceful around the house...

 

Cod