44A Deck spindles

[Lee Arnold]

Fertilizer is the biggest problem with Decks rotting

That's why my decks last so long!

 

[hydroharry]

Hey Steve - where is that pic of your center deck spindle that doesn't have a grease fitting, or even a hole for a grease fitting? You said you would post it on Wed.

 

[danderson]

My grass never dries out. I bought a MoJack and clean the deck every time I mow.

 

[jkoenig]

Doug,

I bought one of those too. I had no plans to. I didn’t even know they existed, but I happened upon one for under $12, and I “took a chance”.

 

[danderson]

Doug,

I bought one of those too. I had no plans to. I didn’t even know they existed, but I happened upon one for under $12, and I “took a chance”.

I have the hand crank one. I’m going to have to upgrade to the hydraulic one soon. Getting old.

 

[jkoenig]

Mine is manual as well. Don’t they have a conversion for using an electric drill to raise and lower them?

 

[danderson]

The newer ones have a 3/8 square drive in the top of the screw to use an electric drill. Mine doesn’t have that. Could probably replace the screw with a newer model.

 

[Mark Evans]

A company called Magna Welding out of Wichita, Kansas has the best hard surfacing rod two coat blades or plowshares with !!!! Mark E.

 

[kphill]

Why would you want to hardface your blades with weld when they are already case hardened?... Just a few strokes with a file is all you need to sharpen blades...

 

[Stevenovick1]

Harry I must have been Hilusinating. I went out tonight and checked the 149 deck. They all have grease fittings. My Bad

 

[Stevenovick1]

I thought you were supposed to go over edge of blade with a fine file once to get the knife edge off it. So it does not dull fast.

 

[kphill]

I thought you were supposed to go over edge of blade with a fine file once to get the knife edge off it. So it does not dull fast.

No, You just need to file out the nicks and make shure the edge is good... Also if you build the blade edge with weld it is really gonna make it hard to balance them again.. Just normal sharpening and your blades should last for many years...

 

[gary noblit]

not trying to bust any ones ideas but...I've burned on 100s of lbs of hard surface rod on loader buckets,crane buckets ,dozer blades, etc.....I personally am not good enough to get close to a fine cutting edge without distorting the edge and when you were done it would be necessary to grind a cutting edge back on.Not to mention what the heat would do to the rest of the blade,as in change the temper.If you have ever tried to drill good quality blades you'll find they are quite hard already.(I've been known to make knife blades from them) I use a 4" grinder and move it continously to keep from burning a spot which will change the temper....If one doesn't mow rocks and sticks they hold up very well. to each his own......

 

[kphill]

I worked at a place where we used to hardface valve seats for huge valves for steel mills and power plants and then have the machine shop turn them down to seal but my point is that a mower blade is case hardened.. Case hardening is when you take mild steel and hardening the outer surface (case) and leave the inner surface (soft) What this does is make a blade that will be able to sharpen and stay sharp as it has a hard outer surface, but when it hits a hard object like a rock helps prevent it from shearing off.. Many poket knives and cutlery are made this way as well.. To try and weld a bead on the cutting edge only changes the metallurgy of this but also makes a blade that would be hard to balance..

 

[bwilkinson]

not trying to bust any ones ideas but...I've burned on 100s of lbs of hard surface rod on loader buckets,crane buckets ,dozer blades, etc.....I personally am not good enough to get close to a fine cutting edge without distorting the edge and when you were done it would be necessary to grind a cutting edge back on.Not to mention what the heat would do to the rest of the blade,as in change the temper.If you have ever tried to drill good quality blades you'll find they are quite hard already.(I've been known to make knife blades from them) I use a 4" grinder and move it continously to keep from burning a spot which will change the temper....If one doesn't mow rocks and sticks they hold up very well. to each his own......

Any welding on mower blades will change the structure of the molecules. Blades will break at the edge of the heat zone.

 

[PACub100]

If I were to guestimate, mower blades would probably be made of a low alloy steel (I'm thinking 1040 - 1070 grade), water quenched / tempered to a mid HRC 30's - 40. Welding a bead on the knife edge would change the temper of the blade, but only within a short distance of the bead. To weld the bead and immediately water quench it, I would figure it to be perfectly acceptable to use as a mower blade.

As for sharpening the blades (any blade for that matter), I always grind against the edge, not with it for compressive strength.
Gary is correct, keep the part or grinder moving, short, repeated strokes...avoid the pretty rainbow colors in the shiny steel when grinding.

 

[gary noblit]

trying to be better informed I chased the subject of "what are mower blades made of ?"Yep, spent an hr reading everything I could find ..The consensus of opinion is good blades are made from medium carbon steel tempered to rc from 35 to 48...cheaps are made of low carbon..none are made of high carbon because of likely breaking issue if they hit any thing....none that I found were case hardened.... don't take my word for it go looking your self...

 

[kphill]

When you take medium carbon steel and temper it to 35-48 rockwell you are case hardening it.. If you need a example of the process, Go to Wikipedia and look up case hardening.. [ QUOTE="gary noblit, post: 232795, member: 15311"]
trying to be better informed I chased the subject of "what are mower blades made of ?"Yep, spent an hr reading everything I could find ..The consensus of opinion is good blades are made from medium carbon steel tempered to rc from 35 to 48...cheaps are made of low carbon..none are made of high carbon because of likely breaking issue if they hit any thing....none that I found were case hardened.... don't take my word for it go looking your self...
[/QUOTE]

 

[PACub100]

When you take medium carbon steel and temper it to 35-48 rockwell you are case hardening it.. If you need a example of the process, Go to Wikipedia and look up case hardening.. [ QUOTE="gary noblit, post: 232795, member: 15311"]
trying to be better informed I chased the subject of "what are mower blades made of ?"Yep, spent an hr reading everything I could find ..The consensus of opinion is good blades are made from medium carbon steel tempered to rc from 35 to 48...cheaps are made of low carbon..none are made of high carbon because of likely breaking issue if they hit any thing....none that I found were case hardened.... don't take my word for it go looking your self...

[/QUOTE]
Case hardening is taking a low to medium carbon steel and heat treating it in a high carbon atmosphere therefore infusing carbon and creating an "M&M shell" of a surface. Low carbon, low alloy steel (like a 1018 grade for example) that is case hardened is carbonitrided by adding ammonia to the mix, creating a super dense carburized surface. A case hardened steel reaches hardness of HRC 60+ depending on the grade.
Tempering is simply drawing a steel to a certain hardness after austenitizing (heat treatment) - the higher the temp, the softer the hardness.

Mower blades would not be case hardened as the casing would be brittle, chip, split and be totally useless the moment you hit a rock or something with significant hardness.

 

[kphill]

Tempering is done after the metal is hardened and takes some of the hardness away and also relieves stress and makes it less brittle.. but yes the ateel is hardened..