[Smolenski7]

I have a 50" deck on my Prestige. The deck is showing signs of age, but is in great working order. The underside has a lot of surface rust, almost no paint left, but there is very little deep pitting and absolutely no flaking. The top side has some paint chipping off in spots and as a result a little rust in those areas as well.

I would like to fix up the deck, but I certainly don't feel the need to restore it to brand new condition. My plan is to:

1. Sand the underside and other spots on the top with a Cup Wire Brush and a Radial Wire Brush attached to my drill.

2. Apply some kind of rust converter.

3. Spray on a primer coat.

4. Spray Simplicity orange.

Does this seem like a good plan?

Does anyone have any suggestions about what rust converter to use? Or, is it even a necessary step?

If I use the rust converter, is the primer necessary?

Any suggestions/tips would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[rhenning]

Good plan. POR or Rustoleum Extend work good for converters. Both will be worn off after a season of mowing. Paint just doesn't stay on the underside of decks. Just a fact of life. Roger

 

[grandpajay]

I may be wrong here, but my limited observation is that the really bad/deep rust happens on the top side with wet grass percolating in the low spots and corners. The underside gets the recurring surface rust but gets blasted off once in a while. A little scraping periodically helps there.

When I rebuilt my deck, I drilled a few 5/16" holes at the low spots in the deck to help drain any standing water. I blow off the deck with the leaf blower after mowing to reduce the grass agitating the top side paint. I like POR15 (with proper prep) and it will protect the metal on the underside where not directly in the grass blasting zones. But nothing holds up on the high wear spots. I would consider painting the underside every couple of years, anyway. Nothing to lose doing that. Jay

 

[MrGiggles]

I may be wrong here, but my limited observation is that the really bad/deep rust happens on the top side with wet grass percolating in the low spots and corners. The underside gets the recurring surface rust but gets blasted off once in a while. A little scraping periodically helps there.

When I rebuilt my deck, I drilled a few 5/16" holes at the low spots in the deck to help drain any standing water. I blow off the deck with the leaf blower after mowing to reduce the grass agitating the top side paint. I like POR15 (with proper prep) and it will protect the metal on the underside where not directly in the grass blasting zones. But nothing holds up on the high wear spots. I would consider painting the underside every couple of years, anyway. Nothing to lose doing that. Jay

This is what I have seen as well.

Decks normally rust out from clippings and water that collect on the top of the deck.

The bottom side of the deck is polished while mowing. You might be able to spray a rust inhibitor on the bottom side during the off season to keep the surface rust at bay, but no coating on earth will survive that environment.

If I were going through all of the trouble of removing the deck, I would have it bead blasted. A paint job is only as good as the prep work, and that's the cleanest slate to start with.

 

[locknut]

I have a 50" deck on my Prestige. The deck is showing signs of age, but is in great working order. The underside has a lot of surface rust, almost no paint left, but there is very little deep pitting and absolutely no flaking. The top side has some paint chipping off in spots and as a result a little rust in those areas as well.

I would like to fix up the deck, but I certainly don't feel the need to restore it to brand new condition. My plan is to:

1. Sand the underside and other spots on the top with a Cup Wire Brush and a Radial Wire Brush attached to my drill.

2. Apply some kind of rust converter.

3. Spray on a primer coat.

4. Spray Simplicity orange.

Does this seem like a good plan?

Does anyone have any suggestions about what rust converter to use? Or, is it even a necessary step?

If I use the rust converter, is the primer necessary?

Any suggestions/tips would be appreciated.

Thanks.

I've done several decks and what I do is similar to what you're thinking.First,I power wash the underside,maybe wire brush the worst spots,let dry and brush on a rust converter.Let that dry for a day then do another coat and let dry for another day.Over that,I brush on a heavy coat of rusty red primer and recoat with another coat after a day.Done.Simplicity paint is costly and worthless under a deck.Save it for the topside using the same as above process.

Decks nearly always rust out from the underside from wet grass/dirt clinging to the suface dead air areas,usually close to the spindles.If you keep these areas clean and coated well the deck will never rust through.

 

[Smolenski7]

Thanks for all of the advice.

Is Por-15 a Rust converter, or does it simply prevent rust from forming in the future? From what I have read, a rust converter will change the iron oxide (rust) into magnetite, which is why the surface turns black. It seems I would rather have that than to simply hide the rust under a coating.

Decks normally rust out from clippings and water that collect on the top of the deck.

Yep, totally agree. That's why one of the first things I did was to remove the large flat mower housing. I don't see the purpose of it. The only thing it does is trap the grass, dirt, and water so that the deck rusts.

2.

 

[grandpajay]

Is Por-15 a Rust converter, or does it simply prevent rust from forming in the future?

I believe POR15 is not a "rust converter" but is an oxygen/moisture "sealer". I'm pretty satisfied with several years of POR experience. It's quite durable and takes some doing to grind away for welding modifications. Over the years, most rust that I have "converted" returns to rusty rather quickly.

I cut down the deck cover and opened the ends to allow blowing out of collected debris. I'm maintaining a bit of the appearance of safety. Jay

 

[timflury]

I would like to fix up the deck, but I certainly don't feel the need to restore it to brand new condition. My plan is to:

1. Sand the underside and other spots on the top with a Cup Wire Brush and a Radial Wire Brush attached to my drill.

2. Apply some kind of rust converter.

3. Spray on a primer coat.

4. Spray Simplicity orange.

Does this seem like a good plan?

Does anyone have any suggestions about what rust converter to use? Or, is it even a necessary step?

If I use the rust converter, is the primer necessary?

Any suggestions/tips would be appreciated.

Thanks.

I used Loctite Rust Neutralizer on my deck about four years ago followed by some red oxide primer, and some Persian Orange paint I had laying around. The paint is still intact and there is no separation of coatings under the deck that I can see. Does it looks restored??? No, restoration is a process that is much more involved than a decent repair.


Most important is to follow the directions on the Neutralizer.

How old is the deck?

http://www.amazon.com/Loctite-633877-Extend-Neutralizer-Aerosol/product-reviews/B001AZLA08

 

[Smolenski7]

Deck is 10 years old. The bottom has rust covering 95% of the surface. It's mostly light though and very little pitting. The top has some rust and loose paint as well, mainly around the arbors.

I plan on starting this project sometime in December, after I'm definitely done using the tractor for the year.

 

[Smolenski7]

So I'm thinking about starting this project within the next week or two.

I think I have decided to use the KBS System Sampler to take care of the rust, however, I haven't decided what to do about the paint. I think I would like to spray the whole top as well just because if I spot paint those rusty areas, they will always show and bother me forever.

I have done a bit of searching around and have discovered Duplicolor Chevy Orange 1620. Does anyone have any experience with how well it will match a my Prestige built in 2006?

 

[WOGT185]

I spent quite a bit of time restoring a bunt on walk behind 52" deck, and one thing that I learned is that the wire brushes get to a point where they just polish the rust. Pic 1 is what I started with, 2 is wire brushed ( and I thought mostly rust free), 3 is actually bare metal after sanding with flapper on angle grinder. I spent a lot of time wire brushing once before and then used rust converter, which worked pretty well but doesn't make for the nicest surface to paint and actually have the paint left after mowing. I would just sand it to begin with if I ever did a deck again.