mower deck dust shields? yes, or no?

[hurleyii 227]

Yes I know wrong season but I'm working on being fully ready for spring! Especially since it should be early. I live in an area with Sandylome and sand. I've felt that they would be just an issue but man the sand really packs under my pulleys without them!

[720nut 4,225]

Seems to me then that it would make sense to run them, my .02

[steve-wis 637]

Assuming you are talking about the sheet metal covers over the pulleys and belt that connect the spindles together. I always have them on, but take them off and clean fairly often, at least a couple of times a summer. I also clean them when done for the year so I am ready for spring, and any grass clippings under there don't hold moisture for it to rust all winter.

Steve

[hoss5350 0]

I mow my lawn with a Sunstar with a 48" deck. I also had the problem of the grass and sand build up under the covers. After several attempts with the band saw butchering the covers up attempting to make access holes, I finally decided just to take them off. I also used to wash my deck top with the water hose after mowing now I use the air hose to blow the crude out from under the pulleys. I think they are good for safety purposes so if you have kids using the tractor you should leave them on, however they really do cause troubles for what's underneath them.

[Kenh 37]

Water is a bad thing to use on a deck that has been freshly run. As in you hose it off within minutes of finishing mowing. The water cools the bearings and as they cool water is drawn into the bearings right past the seal. Same reason boat trailers have bearing issues. Hot wheels dunked into water....... Have you ever had a 55 gallon drum all sealed up and it has water in it? Same principle. Hot day and then some rain the water gets sucked right past the seal on the bung.

I only wash my deck once or maybe twice a year. At the end and mid season. It gets blown off with compressed air a couple times a month or whenever I feel it needs it. It only gets water when everything is "cold".

Ken

[PhanDad 3,622]

IMO, best is to adapt the stock Simplicity deck covers to be like the A/C 300/400 and A/C built Homelite decks which only have the outer spindles covered as shown in this NOS A/C 400 deck I picked up a few years ago:

I've cut a small slice off the outer part and a large slice off the inner part of the Simplicity deck covers. This allows you to easily blow off the built up grass clippings, leaves, etc without removing the covers (and the deck from the tractor). It's much more convenient than the stock covers and almost as safe. I don't have a sand issue as hurleyii does, but I would think you could blow the sand off as long as it didn't get wet and "pack".

[TomSchmit 55]

PhanDad's approach is interesting, but I like to have those moving parts covered for safety ... a pant cuff caught in the belt could

be a serious problem.

I use bathroom caulk and small pieces of inner tube rubber to seal up

all the holes, gaps and cracks that let in the grass and sand.

This keeps it quite clean under the covers for many years, then I

remove covers to clean them out every 5 years or so.

Tom

[TimJr 206]

I use the air compressor with a blow gun to blow out the dry chaff after I mow. Keeps it clean enough. On the 48" deck for a 7000/7100 series, the one cover has a belt guide built into it. I just can't remember which side off the top of my head.

[hurleyii 227]

I think I like Phandads approach. Allows me to spray PB on the idler pulley and blow dust out. I have considered the sealing option to though but I was thinking along the lines of a bottle of liquid rubber, plastidip from Napa hand painted or eye dropped on to the dust shields so it's permanent. Only problem I see is if it's starts raining. If it's not a down poor I got work to be done and mowing doesn't stop if possible .

[simGTH16 6]

I completely reworked my 42" deck on my simplicity GTH16 with all new parts two years ago , every pulley , baffle , bearing I mean all of it ,was quite expensive but worth it ,never cut so good, I am a believer in no shields , makes it much easier to blow the deck off with air after EVERY use, also agree with no water right after you get done using it ,very good point , very bad for bearings and seals. I only wash mine twice a year with water and give it a good coat of wax on the surface(prob over doing in it !), but the wax makes dust blow right off when your finished cutting and keeps the rust away.

[Brettw 1,134]

I am on the same page as Bill. I have a deck where they cut the majority of the covers off where it would be "safe" and just have the covers over the exposed pulley / belt area. Works good and I can clean it with the blow gun pretty quick and keep it dry.

[steve-wis 637]

Fully agree with the compressed air instead of water. My main mower is a 627 yeoman with 32 inch deck. This has full covers on it. There is a small opening in the front, and of course the opening where the center spindle is. I have found that a couple of times a summer keeps it more than clean enough. My Allis T816 deck has the two smaller covers that are just over the outside spindles. These still need to be blown out occasionally.

Steve

[hurleyii 227]

Sounds like im going to have to experiment with my dust amd dirt to see what works best!