| Reading these posts about the 'angle iron' decks makes me recall my first ET, a 12s in 1972. Used it happily until '81, stored it when we moved to HK. Cleaned before I left, three years later the deck underside was heavily rusted. I'm not the scientist on these pages, just a humble salesman, but thought that GE could have used a better alloyed steel. In '99 I bought a Wheel Horse deck that must have been 20+ years old (star shape indents), faded red topside and only surface rusted underneath. Guy admitted it had been sitting outside in a yard full of ET parts for eons.
Back in the day I worked summers in sheet metal production for my future father-in-law at Industrial Acoustics, Bronx NY. Due to US Navy contracts I knew we used alloyed steel for strength and corrosion resistance. I'll bet there is no nickel in the angle iron decks but that it could be found in my Wheel Horse model, to control corrosion and add strength.
And a thought about vibration. A few years ago I bought ET mower blades from WheelHorse, $76. Such a racket! Fortunately, Harold has blades made to oem specs. Peace and quiet, relatively speaking and at the time, $54.
Jack
On May 7, 2016, at 7:21 AM, Briggs, Michael wrote:
I'm planning on doing some rebuilding/improving of my deck this year. I have some welding to do, since there is cracking around where one of the arms connects to the deck. This is the earlier deck style with angle iron, and no star shaped indents for structural rigidity. I'm not using the shields underneath the deck (can't remember where I put them.... hard to lose something that big), which I know would add some structural rigidity. The side cover plate tore apart after I accidentally mower a little too close to something, and an edge got caught (it already had a little part ripped and pulling away, due to an earlier incident. Gotta be more careful). I'm planning on getting a replacement though.
Anyway - I'm thinking of a couple changes (hopefully improvements) so far:
2. Add some angle iron for structural rigidity (unless I find and decide to use the under-deck shields). It seems like it would be helpful to weld on a long piece of angle iron going along the entire rear of the deck, just ahead of where the rubber flap attaches.
3. Hmmm.... I know there was a three.... crap... oh yeah - would it be beneficial to put rubber gaskets between the mower mounting flanges and the deck itself, to try to reduce vibration imparted to the deck? Or would the slight wiggle room perhaps make things worse.... hmmm.... has anyone tried this?
That's all I've thought of so far - at least that I can remember right now. :)
Thanks!
Mike
P.S. That deck motor was sooooo much easier to get apart once I was informed that the screws on the bottom are really just the other end of the long bolts that come out the top, so removing the nuts from the top would get them loose. :)
Michael S. Briggs, PhD UNH Physics Department (603) 862-2828
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