I have a 22" Murray walk-behind mulching mower (not self-propelled). My engine is fine. So is everything else but the deck itself, which is cracked around the front wheel mountings. This makes the wheels all wobbly. It’s going to give out completely before much longer.
Now, either my Google-fu is utterly failing me, or this is a mower part you can only buy on Ebay. Is this not an OEM part you can get on the open market?
I don’t have an answer for you, but you should be able to get it welded. It would probably only cost $10 or $15 and be considerably less work then swapping out the entire deck.
Actually, that’s a hell of a good idea. Thanks!
If you can’t find a welder or handyman type person (don’t forget to think about any friends that can weld), the next place to look is auto body places. Specifically ones that do custom work. If it were me, I would clean the grass off, toss it in my car and just take it somewhere (as opposed to calling around). If we’re just talking about a small crack that just going to need to be cleaned up (sanded) and welded I wouldn’t expect to pay too much for it, it doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to hold.
I’d hit up an exhaust shop rather than a body shop.
There are so many mower repair places around here you nearly trip over them. I’m sure you have a few near you, too, rather than bothering the guys at the auto-body shop!
I came to tell you to weld it also, but finding someone (other than me) to do it for $10-15 is somewhat unrealistic. I’ve been known to weld stuff for 12-packs of beer (see below). I weld strong, not pretty.
Most “reputable” welders won’t put the helmet on for less than $50.
I did wonder about that price range. Seemed crazy low.
If we’re just talking about a small cracks, just need to be cleaned up (sand) and welding I wouldn’t expect it costs is too big, it doesn’t have to be beautiful, only hold you…
Guess the two welders I use aren’t ‘reputable’ then. I never paid more then $10 or $15 for anything. In fact, the one guy that I used for a long time always charged $4 for small projects. Small being when I would bring in one of the guards from something like this that needed to be be fixed or a motor with a broken mount. I think he charged us more like $15 or $20 when we would drop off our big steel 2’ x 5’ carts and ask him to weld a 3 of the wheels back on.
I’ll repeat the opinion that it MIGHT be weldable, probably around a $50 job. If the deck is really rotted/rusty (as opposed to simply broken) welding won’t work. Rust doesn’t weld, only makes the holes bigger. Give it to a local handyman/welder and let him give his opinion.
Probably great guys and good welders, but I’m guessing they have day jobs. Didn’t mean to disrespect your guys.
Funny thing is, sometimes a $4 (or 12-pack) weld is *every bit as good *as a $50 weld.
Nope, one owns a shop that does custom auto body work on classic cars but the one that does the $4 stuff is a full time welder. He closed up shop about a year ago but he had his own welding shop that was open all day. Did lots of big jobs and then did this little putsy walk-in stuff for a few bucks as well. From what I can tell he’d probably been doing it all his life (looked like he was in his 70’s).
I should probably add that the city that I’m in used to be extremely blue collar with lots of huge factories so there’s a lot of this kind of stuff still floating around. For example, this welder probably made his real money fixing stuff for the factories and since he was always welding stuff, he could afford to just tack a bracket back on or weld a lawnmower deck back together quickly for a couple of bucks that he just stuck in his pocket.
Even now, when I would take something to him, there was no talking about pricing, no negotiating, no getting his equipment, he was always doing something and from the time I walked in to the time I walked out was usually less then 2 minutes.
Like I said, it doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to hold. If it’s just a lawnmower deck, I couldn’t care less how sloppy it is as long as it doesn’t come apart. Hell, that’s a great place to let the new kid get some real world practice.
I had the exact same problem on my mower - deck cracked around the front wheel, making it wobble all over the place.
I had a coworker who knows how to weld patch it up. Not pretty, but effective.
I guess I only mention it to inform you that after a few mowings on the weld, it appears to be holding up perfectly fine.
