jim writes:

Al Kondo wrote:

I have a 5 year old mower that I purchased from K Mart. It has a B &
S engine that still runs great. The problem is that a part of the
deck has rusted through. It is about a 9" portion of the "well" of
the deck. I feel that it can easily function with a little support
and patching.
[snip]

Al Kondo
on those K-mart type mowers the deck is the first thing to go.. they
built on a cheap sheet metal deck..

Ayup. OP wants to do this on the cheap so buying a new one doesn't seem to be
an option.

Here's what my father-in-law does:

Get the local trash pickup schedules for a 5 mile radius. Drive around on
trash day and look for mowers put out by the curb.

Pick up the mower (after inspecting it to make sure it's the same width as
yours and condition of the deck).

Chuck it in the trunk/pickup bed and drive home. Unbolt the motor and attach
your motor (and/or blade).

Presto, new mower. Cost: 1-2 hours of your time. Plus you've got an engine
which probably only needs a little service to run. Oh, and probably a blade
which, when reground and sharpened, will last 2-3 seasons.

IME about 25% of the mowers (or any yard machine) left out for the trash guys
only new plugs/gas/or a tweak of the carb settings to run.

Meh, I'm a cheap bassid. When my food processor broke (crappy plastic gearing)
I salvaged the motor and switch, got a pulley and used it to power my meat
grinder.

Best,

Marc