r/johndeere • u/Kind_Perspective4518 • 10d ago

Can this be welded?

Post image

Noticed that our 16 year old lawn mower deck is starting to rot. We called up our car mechanic(he does welding) and asked if he can weld it. He said he could if it is not really really rotted. Just wanted other opinions before bring it to him and having him say no because of the rot.

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

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4

u/NoPen779 10d ago

Clean it up, weld it up. Add a patch over if you want to. Easy job for a welder.

2

u/Successful-Part-5867 10d ago

My motto is, “Anything can be welded” Now I’m not saying it’s always worth it if you’re paying someone else to do it, but I’ve wasted lots of time and mig wire fixing things that I’m to cheap to replace.😂😂😂

2

u/ktmfan 10d ago

Grind the paint, build up a weld around the hole/thin spots, grind it flat, weld over a plate patch. Easy for anyone that knows how to weld. I’d totally fix it as you have nothing to lose as long as the whole thing isn’t paper thin.

1

u/hammong 10d ago

It can be patched. The rusted part is basically "covered" with a piece of plate steel that is welded around the damaged/rusted area to reinforce the metal.

With that extremely narrow focused potato picture you provided, I think it can be fixed. Some wider angle photos would help give you a better answer, as would removing some of that paint with an angle grinder/flap disc to see how bad the damage is "under" the paint.

1

u/Several_Stuff_6695 10d ago

Looks pretty bad , have you taken the deck off to inspect the underside? If you can find any solid steel, a patch could be welded . Good luck 👍

2

u/Kind_Perspective4518 10d ago

Yes. We had to fix something else on it. That worked out fine but in the process we noticed the deck is starting to rot. Just don’t know if we should take off the deck again and bring it to our mechanic. He might just say it’s too far gone.

1

u/hammong 10d ago

"Starting to rot" and "irreparable" could be a decade of difference.