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I went to a john deere school years ago. they said they dont paint the bottom of the deck, Its only overspray

Even over a 20 year life of that mower having the bottom painted will have zero effect on the performance or reliability. The lack of drain holes is a design decision that they made and I'm sure they have data to back it up.

If you are going to go through their manufacturing choices on one of their entry level models and demand reimbursement to correct their cost cutting "mistakes" then I think you would be happier selling the mower and going with a different manufacturer.

Most pressed decks are powder coated by dipping in a solution then baking the surface because this is the cheapest way to do it .
Spraying is more expensive
Nothing sticks to the under side of a deck for very long other than POR 15 chassis coat which is very expensive to apply as it requires a long & difficult surface preparation that most mower buyers will not pay for.

F. Lee Bailey is still kicking.

(Do lawyers ever die?)

of all the things to complain about, good lord, somebody get that man a drink

I wouldn't want to have a "Green Machine" and have the deck rot out in 5 years. Especially if the Home owner has a lawn service to make his lawn weed free.There is only a handful of people that rinse their deck off after each use. Then I had a small engine shop not to do it because it will rinse the grease out of the spindles. Have you priced a mower deck lately? I would expect at least 15 - 20 years out of a mower deck. My craftsman is coming up on 19 years. it is ready for its 2nd set of spindle bearings. Deck is still good. When I get a new mower, I will defiantly undercoat the deck. Even if ti is with roofing cement. They say painting underneath will disrupt the the grass coming out. Too bad. It will get mulched more. Low end is cheap end. Look at an MTD snowblower a few years old. It is a rust bucket . My Dad's Ariens from 1976 is clean. If you want good longevity, Put come money out. If you want a cheap lawn tractor , that is exactly what you will get. Low end lawn tractors are just like Major Kitchen Appliances. The guy at the counter of the appliance parts store told me , Just get the one you like, They're all junk.

The more serious question that needs to be asked is: Why is one blade green while the other is yellow?

Russ Krul said:

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Don't whine.
To care for my decks (25 yrs now on oldest one), I only blow-dry with compressed air after every use. Mow 8 acres and have never had a rust problem. I very seldom put a hose to the decks, and keep them under roof.

Doing anything to the underside of a deck would be akin to doing something to the soles of our shoes. IMO

Russ Krul said:

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Russ Krul said:

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Looks like you ran out of Yellow Paint, or just started on the underside. A good choice would be Pickup Box Rhino coating after getting it sandblasted ( SP3 Commercial Blast.) Washing the underside is a waste of time and clippings act as a blotter promoting corrosion. Run it up on a ramp and with a long handled 2" wide scraper with rounded corners, scrape off whatever sticks. When I change my oil in the Fall I take the deck out, Turn it upside down, clean it and dump the used oil in it overnight, making sure all surfaces are covered. Then drain, turn it over, grease the spindles if you believe in that and check all pulleys and spindles for bearing noise. Replace as necessary. Zerk fittings in the sides of Spindles are useless. X 300 Series has them top centre of shaft which do the job.

Graeden said:

The more serious question that needs to be asked is: Why is one blade green while the other is yellow?

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Now that is taking "2-tone color" to a new level.

Nothing you put on the underside will last. Even well manicured lawn with no dust, will still remove any coating back to bare metal over time. Add a little dust, sand or gravel and it gets sand blasted super quick. It’s amazing how abrasive just a little dust is.

The only stuff that will stand up to the abrasion that happens under a deck is POR 15 chassis paint , and even it needs a sacrifical top coat as it degrades when exposed to UV rays .
I have only been a mower tech for 8 years but am yet to see a deck that has rusted out from the underside.
OTOH i have seen near 100 that have rusted out from a build up of wet clippings on the top .
Around a dozen that burst into flames due to a build up of dry clippings on the top .
People with no understanding of chemistry and physics go crazy about cleaning the underside of the deck
People who know don't bother.
The only time cleaning the underside is important is if you have a bad weed infestation & have let the weeds go to seed before mowing them
In this case you clean out the deck & hot compost the clippings from under there to prevent spreading the weed seeds.
The other case is if you mow other people yards when again you clean the under side to prevent weed seeds or other pathagens being transferred from one lawn to another
And in both cases tyre cleaning is also needed.
Ever wondered why weeds always seem to pop up along side a driveway ?

Best way to keep that deck clean and looking recently painted.
1.Park it in your garage (climate controlled preferred).
2. Never, and I mean never ever bring it out.

I have one customer who religiously uses the water hose washout on their mower. They drop the deck and run the water and blades for a few minutes every mowing. The mower is probably 15 years old and the underside of the deck looks better than most one year old mowers. Almost no rust and no grass. I have another customer that mowes rain or shine and never cleans the deck. She buys cheap second hand riders to mow lots for bank owned properties. Decks last a couple years before deck rot rusts it out or a spindle rips out of the deck. Those water washout thingies really work if you use it right everytime you mow.