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Got a mower for 10.00 on Craigslist. Got it home and found a crack in the deck. About 1" long. Left Front of the mower where the wheel attaches to the deck. this explains why the front wheels are so loose. Model: HRT216 S3DA / Serial: MZCG 6149484

Other than this issue the mower has a little surface rust. Engine is good. Just needs a carb cleaning too.

Not sure what to do to fix the cracked deck:
1. Secure a flat piece of steel with tapping screws to the deck to eliminate any play b/c of the crack
2. Globs of JB Weld
3. Other suggestions?

I don't have access to a spot welder, so that's not an option.

Also, I need the two manufacturer plates that connect the front wheels to the deck itself. Not sure what they are called, but on one of the wheels (underside of the deck) the plate has completely ballooned out (see photo 3)

Photo pics:
1. Crack is at the tips of my fingers
2. Crack at my pinky finger. Again only about 1" long and extends from the lip of the mower deck to the nut in the photo
3. Picture of ballooned plate that secures the front wheels to the deck itself. These need to be replaced too. What are they called? Item number helpful...
4. Picture of possible solution - using a flat plate to screw to deck and eliminate deck twist at this spot
5. See #4

Not sure this will help but I used to be a musician. Played drums. When a cymbal developed a crack it would usually continue to crack until eventually it would result in a large piece of the cymbal falling off. One way that was sometimes successful in stopping this was to drill a hole at each end of the crack. Might work for a mower deck too. Since your deck seems to have a crack extending to an existing hole that's only going to work on one end of the crack. I'm not seeing any pics so it's hard to say about attaching a brace. I'd attach a brace and use JB Weld if you can't get it welded.

Jb weld, drilling holes, bondo. Will not work mowers vibrate a lot and shake a lot and you drive over lots of bumps it simply will not hold up. A steel plate is possible but I don't recommend this as it will possibly damage structural intedrity of the deck

Put the mower in the truck and go find a exhaust shop give the guy $10 and let him weld it.

exotion said:

Jb weld, drilling holes, bondo. Will not work mowers vibrate a lot and shake a lot and you drive over lots of bumps it simply will not hold up. A steel plate is possible but I don't recommend this as it will possibly damage structural intedrity of the deck

Click to expand...

what structural integrity? :smile:

How much does the engine weigh? That engine is bouncing around and vibrating will only worsen the crack till a point where either the whole deck breaks or one side under the engine will dip down causing unsafe usage

My point was that there is no structural integrity. He's already at the point where you try just about anything.... there's nothing to lose. If he can find somebody who will weld it for 10 bux I'd go with that solution.