I had the same situation on a 10 year old mower that still had a good
running B&S engine. I bought a new mower to replace it but kept the old
one in the storage shed in the hope I would find someone that needed the
engine. Anyway, last year I bought a place in the country and ended up
having two properties for almost four months until I retired and made
the move. So, needing a second mower, I dug out the old one and found
that the rust had extended about two thirds of the way around the deck.
I removed the engine, wheels, brackets and everything else that would
come off the deck and used a wire wheel on a drill to remove the paint
and as much rust as possible. I then bought heavy weight fibre glass
cloth and epoxy resin and completely encapsulated the deck, both top and
bottom. After sanding and using a drill to open up the mounting holes
for the parts I had taken off I spray painted it with a good quality
enamel. After reassembling everything and installing a new blade I used
that mower all last year and well into the fall and have had no further
problem with it.

Since we have over two acres to cut at our new place, the wife would use
the new self propelled mower that I had bought and I would use the old
one. It takes about four hours to do a cutting (planning on getting a
riding mower this year) and I tended to use the old mower in the heavier
stuff along the tree line and for mulching leaves in the fall. It has
stood up well. The fall pre-storage maintenance revealed no cracking or
problems with the fibre glassed deck.

In all , it cost me about thirty dollars to repair it and I expect it
will last quite a few years until the motor finally wears out. One word
of caution, epoxy resin is much stronger and less brittle than polyester
resin. But, the epoxy resin must be really well mixed for it to cure
properly and achieve full strength. If you do what I did then take your
time doing it and lay the fibre glass in strips about three to four
inches wide ensuring it makes contact with the underlying areas as you
apply it.

Good luck,

Jack

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. Out of curiosity, I called the company and found out
that a replacement deck would cost $125. I believe I paid about $200
for the mower.

As a handy guy, I would like some ideas on how to go about patching
the rusted portion of the deck. I would like to know what I should
use to patch it and where I can get it from I plan to use rivets
or screws to attach the metal patch.

Al Kondo