Couple questions - deck leveling, mulch blades, and deck painting

rgd said:

Regarding those blades...I have a set on my exmark. I really like them as they seem to cut up the clippings to a finer consistency without making so much vacuum that the crap comes out from in front of the deck as well as the chute. The other high lift blades will cover me with debris....makes mowing miserable. But....we have very sandy soil, so I know that plays into it some. That sandy soil also affects the longevity...the top of the "sail" lift area of the blade will get paper thin in a season.

Allso...make sure the front of the blade/deck is 1/4" lower than the rear. The rear hangers have an adjustment on the j hooks w/ springs .The part that attaches to the rear deck

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Thanks rgd, good info. I was also told that if I wasn't going to use the full mulching kit (blades plus the blocker) that I should consider wearing a mask as the grass would "float around like fine confetti". LOL... And yes, in the leveling instructions it does state to make sure the front is lower than the rear. I miss my older deck that had a roller across the front of the deck, along with the wheels at the corners in front, as that way if you lowered it too low the deck would not touch the ground. With this one, well, whomever bought it first (I bought it at 6 months old with only 93 hours on it) they improperly installed the deck wheels - they were mounted on the highest holes so if you lowered the deck it would literally drag on the ground. That is probably what started the paint flaking.

andy b. said:

Deere factory yellow (available at the dealer) is pretty tough. When I restored my 40U about ten years ago I used all Deere paint on it. In the 9 years I used the tractor, I never scratched through the paint or had any chip off, and I did my best to try. :lol: You do need to scuff the surface and be sure it's clean so the paint adheres well.

I'm not positive, but I wonder if the factory painting process IS powder coating, especially for things like mower decks and smaller parts.

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I don't believe this deck is powder coated as the paint is literally flaking off in pieces around 4"x4". Today it was misting while I was mowing so I had to run the tractor over to the side and wash her down after I was done. No jet wash, just a hose with a nice spout-head on it. More paint flaked off and all around the right side, above the grass exit and all the way back to the rear side is now totally exposed - NO PRIMER ON IT! So, going to take it and get it blasted clean before I paint it - thinking I'll paint it as the pricing on powder coating is quite high, and rather than spend hours sanding it I'm going to have them do it for me. Underneath, I'm considering doing a 'rubber dip' on it - I have a crate of the rubber dipping sauce you use for tools to make them non-conductive. If prepared appropriately, which 95% of my tools have been, then the rubber NEVER comes off. So, maybe I'll do that, don't really know yet. Either way, when I paint the up side of the deck, I have planned 2 primer coats, 12 coats of yellow (hopefully I can find John Deere Yellow), and 8 clear coats. That's how I paint everything. I'll do wet sanding between each coat, and color sanding on the final, then polishing on the last. I'm actually thinking of painting the entire tractor, even though it really doesn't need it - it's just that the paint on it isn't all that fancy, so thinking about going John Deere Green with tons of metal flakes in the clear coat... your thoughts???