Kees 48" Commercial Mower Deck Repair.

[Don52]

My friend Rich from work has owned a Kees commercial mower to mow his one acre lot for the past 15 years. He got the mower from the previous owner, who owned it for 10 years. The front wheels are supported by wheel weldments that attach to the mower deck. Over the years the mower deck has thinned out due to rust and the deck cracked where the wheel weldments attach to it. Below is a picture of a Kees commercial mower.

1. Kees Commercial Mower

Below is a picture of the cracked right side of the mower deck. If you look carefully on the right side you can see the three slotted holes, where the wheel weldments attach.

2. Cracked deck on right side
To beef up this weak section I bent up some metal to weld to the inside of the deck
I decided to leave the old sheet metal in place to give me the location for the wheel weldment mounting holes. The first step was to move the front face of the deck back into position and close up the crack. I used the bar clamp arrangement shown below.

3. Using a bar clamp to close the crack

Once crack was closed and the deck was back in position I welded up the corner of the chute to hold the deck in place.

4. Welding up corner of chute

5. Close up of chute weld

[Don52]

Next I welded up the back side of the corner of the chute support.

6. Open crack on back corner of chute

7. Crack MIG welded

The MIG weld followed the crack as it should, but it left a space between the weld and the previous fillet weld, which looked like I miss located the weld, so I went over it with a TIG weld to straighten out the fillet weld.

8. Crack TIG Welded

The next step is to weld the previously bent up piece to the inside of the right corner of the mower deck. I have found it helpful to use a lot of clamps to pull the old metal against the new metal so there is no crack to fill with the weld.

9. First piece clamped and welded


10. Second piece Welded

[Don52]

I noticed that the two surfaces that support the right wheel weldment were at an acute angle, so that the weldment bracket didn't sit flat. To solve the problem I cut off the thin old metal from the area that supports the right wheel weldment and welded in a 2nd piece of metal on the outside that was bent to exactly 90°.
To bend the 2nd piece, I used my 20 ton HF arbor press with the Swag finger brake kit and the Swag Flat top adjustable bottom V die. The adjustable bottom die allows you to control the radius when you air bend sheet metal with a sharp punch. The narrower the opening the tighter the radius.

11. Bending sheet metal

12. Swag Finger Brake

13. Swag Flat Top

I clamped the wheel weldment to the 2nd piece of sheet metal and then transfer punched the hole location. Then I predrilled the holes on my milling machine. I used a shaper gage to keep the 2nd piece from bending due to the drilling pressure.

14. Drilling 2nd piece

Next I clamped the 2nd piece to the mower deck using screws through the previously drilled holes. The holes in the mower deck were slotted so I had no trouble with alignment.

15. 2nd Piece clamped with screws

[Don52]

16. Close up of 2nd piece clamped to deck

With the wheel weldment still in place I welded the 2nd piece to the inner new sheet metal and the thin old outer skin. In essence I used weld to fill the gap between the 2nd piece and the inner piece so that the wheel weldment would sit flat on the surface.

17. Welding of 2nd Piece from top


18 Welding of 2nd Piece from front

Next I welded a piece to the left side of the mower deck. In this case the slotted holes were in thicker metal so I cut out the very rusted piece on the outside of the front of the deck.

19. Piece welded to inside of the left side

20. Cut out piece on the left side

[Don52]

21. Close up of weld on cutout

22. The piece that I cut out

I noticed that the metal just above the left wheel weldment was cracked so I ground it out and welded it up. Most likely it got cracked due to additional stress because the right side wasn't supporting its load.

23. Cracks above left wheel weldment support ground out

24. Cracks above left wheel weldment support welded up

The center section between the pieces that I welded on the left and right was also thin so I welded pieces to the inside. The rust was thick and in a continuous layer, but it had to be removed to weld to the outer skin. After trying a variety of different methods I found that the needle scaler worked best. I would have preferred to remove the thinner metal in the center section, but I didn't want to add more hours to the job.

25. Needle scaler good for removing heavy rust

[Don52]

26. Two pieces added to center

27. Close up of center welds

Next I cut off and replaced the chute guide.

28. Old chute guide

29. Welds on inside of chute guide

30. Welds on outside of chute guide

[Don52]

The last step was painting it.
31. Painting deck

32. All painted.

My friend Rich sharpened and balanced the blades and put it back together again. I wondered about the name "Kutter" on top of the pulley cover it must be the model of the mower. I painted over the "Kees" decal on the mower deck after I repaired it, so I know that it is a Kees commercial mower. Below is the 48" Kees commercial mower back together. The grass cutting height is back up to where it originally was because the deck no longer sags.

33. Back together again

[Aeronca41]

Don, as usual, I can't figure out what's better--your beautiful work or the fantastic pictures and narrative. Thanks for posting! Very nice!

I bet if that were Ryan's work, he'd have made Rich paint it himself......

[ryanjones2150]

I hate painting.

I'm building a fueling station for a customer that has a commercial lawn business. He doesn't want to pay for powder coating, but I don't care. I'm not painting it. Im sending to the powder coater first thing Monday morning.

The two banes of my existence....painting and drum brakes.

[ryanjones2150]

Excellent post, Don.

I still hate painting.

[Franz©]

I hate painting.

I'm building a fueling station for a customer that has a commercial lawn business. He doesn't want to pay for powder coating, but I don't care. I'm not painting it. Im sending to the powder coater first thing Monday morning.

The two banes of my existence....painting and drum brakes.

Drum brakes GOOD.

What is this thing you call paint?

How many gallons per minute will the fuel dispenser move? Pump or pressurized container? Gravity feed? Venturi for speed?
Is the fuel system CalCompliant, or will it actually move fuel?

[ryanjones2150]

It's a gravity fed system. Looks like a miniature man-lift. If it was mine, I would've used a barrel and a pump, but this customer is pretty awesome. He always wants oddball stuff built and doesn't care how much it costs.

[Franz©]

Someplace around here I got a book (ancient paper communication system) that says "There is NO Gravity; Mother Earth just Sucks".
I think we gotta accept that cause it's printed on paper and ain't on the internet.

I like guys who gotta build rapid tractor fillers from retired propane tanks. Very little impresses me like a bottom tap on a tank full of liquid without a reliable shutoff unless it's a tank full of Ammonia under pressure going down the road with the connection valve open cause they're only going a few miles.

Sorry, I ain't allowed to weld on tanks, don't have an R stamp and got no plans to get one.

[mongobird]

Don52, THANK YOU so much for posting all the pictures. I am studying, as I have a rotted 3 pt hitch deck which is in my project queue for summer.

Thanks also for the bending tip with the HF press. I will have to look into that. I have a 12 ton from when HF first opened up, and I need to see if I can get that to work. It would be a great help if it would.

Again, thanks for the examples and comments!