Repairing the 60" mower deck on the Raptor SD

[The Chairman]

I will admit it: I abuse my Hustler. I go places I should take a Bush Hog through first. But I don't have a bushhog: I have a Hustler Raptor SD with a 60" deck. She was one of the first purchases when I bought this 10.82 acre plot about 2.5 years ago. The weeds were a bit over my head for over half, and a lot of it was scrub oak, Hercules Clud and vines over a third of it. Very little of it was actual lawn, and I've just kept pushing back on it all so that now it looks awesome.

Mid point last season, I successfully removed the inner baffles on a hidden stump and cracked the deck aft of the chute. Of course, I'm always chasing noisy bearings on this unit. However, instead of having to replace the bearings on the blade towers, I had to replace the three idler pulleys. I think this was the first time on them, and one was really noisy. So I changed them all out and welded the cracks. Of course, it wouldn't be a normal day, if everything went smoothly. As I was checking out my equipment, I realized that I had a leak on the acetylene side. I traced that to the hose connection on the torch which was easy enough to correct. I still have a tiny leak, but it's too cold to play in the water. I'll wait for a warmer day to track that down. As it sits, it takes almost 3 hours to leak down. Since I'm using oxy/acetylene rather than a MIG, I'm taking care to get good penetration. The way I had the deck propped up, the edge was really easy to weld and the bead looks great. The break just aft of the chute was tough because a) it was vertical and b) there were two different thicknesses involved. Yeah, it's a bit gloppy, but the hammer test rings solid.

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I even took time to put a basket on my welding cart and widen the wheel base by four inches. The increased stability is awesome and she even rolls better. I had put garden wheels on this cheap handcart ten years ago, and had a narrow ramp it had to negotiate. I don't live there any more, so now it's easy to drag where ever I need it.

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Now, the next part of this restoration is to replace the baffles under the deck, so all the grass will go out of the side chute. I took semi-careful measurements of the deck and spent some time on OnShape.com to come up with this: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/d...17b6da05e87670d4e9/e/ec744af2b9fcfae041464a3f Feel free to use this, if you find it useful. Now, I just need to fabricate it. It's going to be 11 gauge (1/8") by 4" steel. I can do this one of three ways. One single piece Two mirror images, or three arcs. Have a way to make the acute bends, if I can get a long piece arced. Any way, here's the CAD rendering of what I'm trying to do...

 

[bertsmobile1]

FWIW I use a torch & will never go back to arc.
Gas works at the sort of speeds that I do.
Arc welding was not invented to make better welds , it was invented to make faster welds .
Nice work with the trolly too.
Got me thinking as I have some of those same wheels I bought a while back to go on a rough cut walk behind that did not work so now they have a purpose.

 

[The Chairman]

Got me thinking as I have some of those same wheels I bought a while back to go on a rough cut walk behind that did not work so now they have a purpose.

I first used them when I made a Tank cart. I do a lot of spring (cave) diving and getting to and from the springs down some trails is tough. Those wheels make it easy in all but the softest sugar sand.

Arc welding was not invented to make better welds

Penetration is better and welding differing thicknesses is far, far easier with a MIG and or Arc Welder. MIG and TIG are my favorite ways to join metal.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

When i repair decks i usually use oxy propane brazing. I have oxy/propane, mig and AC/DC stick. They all have their place it just depends on what you are trying to stick together.

 

[StarTech]

Hammer I agree with you that each has their place.

I have use Ace/Ox welding for years but the problem where I am the welding rods are nearly non-existent now. i now having to use coat hangers for welding rods but I would rather use the regular Ace/Ox welding rods if I could get them. Great for sheet metal and small items.

Your Mig and gas-less wire welders are very good most mower repair provide you find the right welding wire especially for the gas-less versions. When I first got my Miller Cricket all my welds were terrible even though I know the welding basics. After several years of fighting it I finally went through the 3rd 10# spool. At that time I decided instead of buying locally that I would give an Amazon vendor a try. What a world of different that 10# spool made. All a sudden my welds started looking as good as factory welds. Lesson learned got to have a good flux cored wire and that the local welding shops were selling me crappy flux core wire. Plus I do use positive ground (reverse polarity) most time now.

Regular stick welders are for much heavier materials. Now personally I have never one these stick welders but that might later on.

I haven't tried TIG but it is of interest especially if I get into aluminum welding.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

I quit using coat hangers years ago. Wharever the metal is now i can't get a weld like i used to. I have a Lincoln MP210 for mig and DC stick and it does a real good job. I don't use flux core wire unless i am doing a portable repair. Too lazy to drag the gas bottle around. For anything heavy i drag out the old 300 amp AC/DC buzz box. Picked up a small plasma cutter that is really handy. I do fair amount deck repair on old mowers. Used to try and mig them. Got tired of either blowing holes in thin rust metal or ugly mounds of mig wire. Now i use flux covered brazing rod with oxy/propane torch. Works like a charm. A little flap disc work, braze up the stress cracks and some paint and good as new.

 

[StarTech]

Usually on the rust metal if blows out with the wire welder it time for cut the are out and install a flush patch. I haven't done much blazing; just haven't needed to. Even with Ace/Ox weld rusted areas will burn out usually and most that needs replacing anyways for the repair to be long term and strong.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Decades ago when I was a a foundry metallurgist a Mr Dillion came into the yard to demo his new invention, a low pressure oxy torch .
He walked into the scrap yard and came back with box full of goddies.
His wife then cut some steel beer cans ( told you it was a long time ago ) in 1/2 both lengthwise & crosswise with the torch , then welded them back together again .
Then she welded some filthy dirty aluminium castings together using broken bits of other castings
And after that she made a comb out of a RSJ with the cutting torch .
I bought one on the spot.
They are now called the DCH ( Dillion / Cobra / Henrob ) 2000 and I would not be without it.
Uses 5/8 of SFA gas cuts & welds anything other than magnesium castings, ( found that out by accident ) and apart from a tiny amount of flux needed on the aluminium welding rods, no flux on anything.
Check them out on U-tube .
Not cheap but nothing that good is .