Mowing Cleaning mower deck

[thatguy]

Got another coat of Slip Plate on fri, sat, and sunday.. I will see how it holds up this summer..

Brian

 

[Kubota-guy1911]

..... After hitting it with a wire brush on a drill I realized that 90% of the deck was still covered with Slip Plate.. I thought the silver i was seeing was bare metal, but it was the slip plate..


Brian,

Have you tried washing the bottom of the deck when you are done mowing for the day? I've had a can of slip plate on the shelf for a while and think I'll try it this season. Presently I use a 4' length of 1/2" pipe with a street ell on one end with a 3/16" hole drilled into a pipe cap screwed on the ell. The other end I added a 1/2" ball valve and then adapted it to garden hose fittings. I does pretty well, I hope adding the slip plate this season will work even better.

kj

 

[thatguy]

I have tried flushing it a few times with the mower running, but that is a 2 person job.. I may start pulling it up on car ramps and spraying it off that way..

During the summer I dont take the mmm off very often since Im usually mowing twice a week.. I definitely need to start doing something in between taking the mmm off and giving it a good cleaning..

Can you post a pic of your washing mechanism? Im not quite visualizing it.. Do you pull the mower over it and have it spray water while running the mmm?

Based on my Slip Plate experience, I would try to make sure you get any foreign material off of the deck before painting.. You may even want to rough up any paint so it gets a better hold.. I bet I have at least 9 coats on my decks over the past 3 yrs..

Brian

..... After hitting it with a wire brush on a drill I realized that 90% of the deck was still covered with Slip Plate.. I thought the silver i was seeing was bare metal, but it was the slip plate..
Brian,

Have you tried washing the bottom of the deck when you are done mowing for the day? I've had a can of slip plate on the shelf for a while and think I'll try it this season. Presently I use a 4' length of 1/2" pipe with a street ell on one end with a 3/16" hole drilled into a pipe cap screwed on the ell. The other end I added a 1/2" ball valve and then adapted it to garden hose fittings. I does pretty well, I hope adding the slip plate this season will work even better.

kj

 

[6thgpSF]

has anybody tried ez slide? russ

 

[Kubota-guy1911]

.....Can you post a pic of your washing mechanism? Im not quite visualizing it.. Do you pull the mower over it and have it spray water while running the mmm?


Have the mower OFF and raised to the highest setting. I run the pipe under there by hand with the water stream going up of...getting myself a little wet of course. The small drilled hole in the elbow gives a relatively strong stream. Not strong enough to get water in the bearings but washes off the matted grass pretty good. I'm hoping the slip plate makes the finish slicker and all the grass will come off.

Tomorrow I'll stand my deck up, sharpen the blades, and give it a thorough cleaning before spraying on the slip plate.

When I figure out how to post pictures, I'll show you exactly what I made and how it's used.

Do you know if these sites people use to post their picture charge $$ ?

kj

 

[thatguy]

<deleted text>

When I figure out how to post pictures, I'll show you exactly what I made and how it's used.

Do you know if these sites people use to post their picture charge $$ ?

kj

Thanks.. I think I have a better idea now, but would love to see pics..

You can post pics on TBN at no charge.. At the bottom you will see a button for 'manage attachments' click it and a pop up window will open - navigate to the pic you have on your computer and select it.. then 'upload' it.. Now close the window and finish your post..

Some forums do not / cannot host pics.. In that case you will need to use a third party site such as photobucket

brian

 

[Hematite]

has anybody tried ez slide? russ

I'm going to give Ez-Slide a try this year. Looks like it would work VERY well.

EZ-Slide Alkyd Based Graphite Lubricating Paint

 

[thatguy]

I'm going to give Ez-Slide a try this year. Looks like it would work VERY well.

EZ-Slide Alkyd Based Graphite Lubricating Paint

Keep us updated on how it works out..

Brian

 

[Hematite]

Keep us updated on how it works out..

Brian

Will do, Brian. I bought the spray cans but, after thinking about it, the quart can and a good paintbrush might have been a better choice. I'll also take some pics.

 

[caliber1]

Where do you find the EZ slide locally? I have never seen it down here and would like to give it a shot on my deck.

 

[Hematite]

Tractor Supply:
This is the oil based formula RB9512:
EZ-Slide Graphite Based Coating, 12 oz. Aerosol - 2120034 | Tractor Supply Company
:thumbsup:

They also have the quarts.

 

[Kubota-guy1911]

Here are 3 pics of what I made to wash out the bottom of my mower deck. 1/2" black pipe with a garden hose adapter on one end and a 3/16" hole drilled in an elbow on the other end. I have a ball valve on the end of my garden hose. If you don't, add one to the pipe before the garden hose adapter is screwed on.

Thanks Brian on the tip to upload pics.
kj

 

[6thgpSF]

I did a mowerdeck on an old craftsman this winter but haven't tried it out yet,I bought the quart size at a farm & home center called Orscheln.If you get on ez slide web site they will tell you the nearest place to you were it's sold.you can't get it online but they do respond to your e-mail.My brother works for american yearbook and applied some to concrete floor where a lot of glue gets spilled and he said it works great scraping the glue off the floor. russ

 

[AlbertaDan]

Has anyone ever tried to undercoat the mower deck? It may sound expensive but a rubberized coating may work. The same stuff they use to line pickup beds may work. It has a kind of soft springy consistency and may stand up to the abuse that mowings give the bottom side.

 

[Red Beast]

whitey (post #17) used a rhino rubberised coat with effect.

 

[bigdad]

Brian,

I have had more than reasonable success with Slip Plate/EZ Glide type products over 35 years. It isn't 100% effective as there are certain places on every deck that really get hammered with "stuff" and it removes the coating. For the most part though, it works for me. You can't beat the stuff for hard surface to hard surface wear. Where oil and grease draw dirt and sand, this stuff is dry. I like it for plastic\nylon rollers like anti scalp rollers too.

I powerwash my deck at the end of the season. (I don't have time or energy to remove the deck completely through the season so periodic scraping is important.) Once the deck is dry, I brush paint the coating on as heavy as I can get it on. Two coats. BTW, the stuff drys real fast. I coat all of it, blades etc. I occasionally use the spray can for small stuff, but it doesn't go on heavy enough for the deck.

After it's dry, I grease everything real well making sure that the spindle cups are full etc. Grease last as the coating doesn't like to stick to goo. Then I take the tension off of the belt and stow it upright for the winter.

I sure am impressed with that washing pipe device and the idea of the bed liner application. I may just have the whole deck top and bottom squirted! Big thanks to the Gents that shared those ideas.

Got another coat of Slip Plate on fri, sat, and sunday.. I will see how it holds up this summer..

Brian

 

[Hematite]

I did the nasty job of cleaning the rust, etc. off and painting the bottom of the deck. The cleaning took MUCH longer than expected. I used the EZ-Slide spray cans to coat the steel.

I would recommend, instead, to use a quart can and paint it on with a brush. That's what I will do in the Fall. The spray cans produce a very uneven surface texture that I don't like. We'll see how it holds up over the Summer.

 

[thatguy]

Here is what my deck looked like after 3 fresh coats of slip plate this spring..

Brian

 

[Red Beast]

that looks schmick Brian.

 

[Gittyup]

I just avoid water like the plague. I'm of the opinion that washing after every use is more harmful than good, unless you have a way to dry it all over very fast. There are too many pockets that will hold the water. My mower deck has never been washed. It's now in it's 17th season and no rust of any significance. It is stored indoors, and I simply scrape off the main crust each spring when I sharpen the blades. It isn't necessary nor worth it to be so meticulous about it.

Treat my tractor the same way. I've washed it maybe 4 times in the 16+ years I've owned it. When you wipe off the dust, the finish still looks almost new, and no rust anywhere.

I did use slip plate the first season. But, quickly came to realize that it was a waste of time and money. Don't know about the bedliner option. Probably good if you get it applied such that it will not trap water.

I do, however, use fluid film on all nonpainted (irridited steel) parts, applied from a spray can about twice a year. Those aren't rusting either.