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It's either a 42" or 46" deck depending on your source for what was supposedly available for the 265 lawn tractor. It's definitely not the 38" or 48" or 50".

I took a wire brush to all three spindle hub mounting locations. Two of the three look OK; the one nearest the grass exit has rust through as shown in the attached photo, near each bolt hole. I'd say the largest rusty hole is maybe 1/4".


1) Can I decently patch the rusty holes with JB Weld or will it just crumble away later? I also realize I couldn't glob too much on, which might prevent the spindle from seating flush.

2) Speaking of which, I have a guy that can weld metal but he may have the same issue.

3) I thought briefly about some of those "reinforcement rings" I've seen for other mower decks but gather this isn't what they're intended for. And the holes would still be there, getting larger.

4) Navel jelly to stop rust?


All thoughts are welcome, thanks.

I’m sorry but in my opinion that deck is toast. Any repairs you try to make are not going to last and using it in any way, repaired or not, is dangerous and an accident waiting to happen. Remember you are mounting a blade turning at 3000 RPM’s on there, if something is no solid what’s going to happen.

Could it be repaired. Yes. Now the issue is you will have to go out far enough away from the spindle and find solid metal that isn't rotten, Fabricobble a new deck piece to weld in place either above or below the deck depending which way works better and how the spindle mounts. The other issue is there is no way to get the deck metal clean enough to use GMAW, GTAW, or SMAW using flux wire with introducing porosity into the weld pool. About the only welding option would be stick using 6010/6011 and both would be hard to control penetration on possibly too thin base metal.

On decks like that I use old mower blades because we have swing back blades 2" wide & 2mm thick so they make good patch plates.
Weld them over the hole using an oxy torch then heat the patch up red hot & hammer into the same profile as the deck then after it has cooled down , tweak it a little the again OXY weld to the deck.
It is a lot of work but I can do it cheaper than buying a new deck pressing so the choice is giving JD $ 1000 or making $ 600 in labour.
They have to be welded , nothing else will take the beating and as previously mentioned, you got 2 lb of sharp steel spinning at 3000 rpm under there so it is not a "near enough is good enough" type job.

So unless you are a dab hand with a welder, which judging by the JB weld comment you are not then either find some one who is or replace the deck.

I had a pensioner customer with a rusted out deck on an MTD.
He "could not afford" to have it fixed.
The housing gave way, ripped out of the deck, dug into the lawn & flipped the mower.
He landed hard & broke his hip.
This was a full year ago and he is yet to be able to walk, let alone drive.
One of my commercial customers is still mowing his grass under a pensioner subsidy scheme & tell me he doubts the owner will ever walk again & is looking at moving into a care home.
Prior to that he was a really fit & healthy 80+ year old.

Thanks for the replies. There's a welder in town and I'll run it by him.

While I have you all here, what do you think about stainless steel bolts, washers, nuts for spindle housing mounts? Nearly all of the spindle mounting hardware on this deck had to be cut off due to rust.

The OEM hardware didn't strike me as being akin to Grade 8, and judging by the low Deere replacement prices I highly doubt that it was.

Or get a can of Never Seize stuff and use it liberally. Thanks for posting this too, need to check my deck really close for rust in this area getting a start.

tom3 said:

Or get a can of Never Seize stuff and use it liberally. Thanks for posting this too, need to check my deck really close for rust in this area getting a start.

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You'll have to remove all the spindles from the deck to know for sure ... the washers on the underside hid the rust from the bottom, and the spindle hubs hid it from view on the top.

deckeda said:

While I have you all here, what do you think about stainless steel bolts, washers, nuts for spindle housing mounts? Nearly all of the spindle mounting hardware on this deck had to be cut off due to rust.

The OEM hardware didn't strike me as being akin to Grade 8, and judging by the low Deere replacement prices I highly doubt that it was.

Click to expand...

Stainless is not rustless ans stainless steel fasteners used outside will oxadize and stick together , call gauling just as much as a plain steel bolt will rust.
Rust is steel oxadizing into red rust , Stainless also oxadizes but its oxide is clear and forms a protective coating to REDUCE further oxadizing.
Polish a piece of stainless put it out side and in a few weeks it will go dull.
Get under your car & have a look at your stainless steel exhaust, you will find lots of rust.

As for grade 8 or 9 bolts, high tensile fasteners rust just as fast as low tensile fasteners in fact a lot of them will rust faster because of galvanic cells formed by the different alloys whicu is why you have to use high tensile washers under high tensile bolts.
And a high tensile bolt will still shear when rusted in and is more sensitive to stress raisers like rust pits.
You are blessed with a good hardwear man who actually knows what he is tanking about so trust him.
Grease or never sieze but don't go overboard on either of them.

I've had excellent results using SS hardware on several outdoor grills I've refurbished, both gas and charcoal. (I'm a committed Weber guy.) The heat and humidity wreaks havoc on normal zinc coated stuff. And I have plenty of the never-seize stuff I can be generous with. If SS hardware "self protects" as you describe Bert, then that's a net positive for using SS. It just needs to be as strong as the OEM hardware.

I did a quick mock up using some SS hardware and it seems the bolt heads will not interfere with the pulley (but just barely). I'd greatly prefer to never again use carriage bolts for the hubs. One reason is rust and the inability to remove them later, another reason is because some bolt slots in the hubs have slightly rounded out, making carriage bolt usage less effective than previously. And replacing a hub due to that slot widening out is just freaking stupid. I want hardware I can get wrench on both ends for!


P.S. My welder guy (that's his business) has the deck and is confident he can get it strengthened up nicely. He's also got experience repairing mower decks and understands they need to remain level and so on.

Sounds good.
Post a couple of pix when it is done & don't forget the paint.
The usual culprit for rusting out decks is allowing clippings to sit on the deck
So BLOW down the deck when you have finished mowing and DO NOT USE WATER.
Dry grass clippings will adsorb lots of water & are quite acidic and acid water promotes rust.
Just about every paint, is porus which is why you need to use at least 2 coats on everything that is used outdoors.
I use a compressor & a 4' long air duster.
others use a leaf blower.
If necessary cut some blow paths in the pulley covers to aid blowing them out.

My current plan is to get the deck cleaned where paint is gone and flaky and surface rust is, possibly blasted if that's an option. At least decently sanded/wire brushed. And then coat with something like POR 15 and then 2 coats of paint. I don't plan on repainting the whole thing, just protecting it. Not trying to make it pretty.

Yesterday I told my boy that we (since he helps mow the lawns) should be air blowing them clean after mowing. AND I also already have a really nice riding mower hydraulic lift and the air compressor. So there's no excuse (except I do need to actually buy the air gun first.)

He replied, "Sounds like a lot of work ..." and I readily concede that after spending a few hours out mowing, what I want next is a beer, not to put the machine on the lift and create a grass/mud mess in the garage.

So to illustrate my point about preventative maintenance I made him help me scrape off dried grass and mud from underneath other mower decks, one of which is the 48" deck from the other 265. It's got a series of small rust holes on the leading edge, one in the middle that looks like it started from a rock dent. When the 46" comes back that one will get patched.

But surprisingly, the spindle hub areas look clean underneath and even have paint still. Even more surprising to me was that after I pulled the pulley covers off there was basically no grass, no mud there! And this, despite the tractor looking like it has gone through a dust bowl of filth. So no rust in the "valley" of the pulleys topside. I know some deck designs just pool grass and rust right there, which is idiotic in my opinion.

I'm a believer in the design of the heavier-duty 48" deck for these generation of tractors. I'll be keeping a lookout for another one, possibly the 50" that was also available. I might even install the pulley covers again, something I'd assumed I wouldn't want to do on the 48".

Once you get them clean and make the little mods so you can get the air duster in there, you can do it beer in hand cause it is a one hand job and being 4' away from the business end you won't get grass in your beer.
The bottom is less important than the top.
Decks rarely rust through from the bottom and if they do it is on the skirts which is not really structural.
The valleys around the spindles, exactly where yours has gone is the trouble place.

bertsmobile1 said:

Once you get them clean and make the little mods so you can get the air duster in there, you can do it beer in hand cause it is a one hand job and being 4' away from the business end you won't get grass in your beer.
The bottom is less important than the top.
Decks rarely rust through from the bottom and if they do it is on the skirts which is not really structural.
The valleys around the spindles, exactly where yours has gone is the trouble place.

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Yes but I think the opposite is true for my other deck (the 48" I mentioned) Its rusty holes are basically on the leading top edge, where water would not accumulate on top. But underneath, sure.