Bolens G11XL Deck Repair

Sawdust

Jim from Kentucky
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This deck is in great shape except for two spots I'm patching & the rollers. I've never done this before or do I weld very well. I patched these two areas. The long one worked out better than the small square one. I'm thinking the deck metal was much thinner near this area. I kept burning through but eventually got it plugged good.
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After I cleaned the welds up I spread a thin layer of JB Weld to fill in some voids.
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I need to get this lift handle off so I can replace the spring under the button. I have been pulling, soaking, & heating for over a week now but still not coming off.
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Next up I'm going to make some rollers. These are too bad to do anything with. If I replaced them it would cost me more than the tractor. I'm thinking of cutting some pieces of 2" PVC pipe with hardwood inserts in each end of each piece with a 3/4" bushing. I might try to coat them with the black Flex Seal spray.
 
Looks good.
Don't be hard on yourself on the welds.

They'll work. Stick welder?
 
Looks good.
Don't be hard on yourself on the welds.

They'll work. Stick welder?
I'm a lot better with my old Lincoln tombstone & thicker metal. I just got my Hobart 140 Mig. I have trouble with getting the wire speed & heat regulated usually too much of one or the other. I've had it back to a shop twice under warranty because of the wire speed circuit board being bad.
 
What size wire? I usually use .030 in my 140. Heat on 3 (2 if burning through). Speed 20-25.
 
What size wire? I usually use .030 in my 140. Heat on 3 (2 if burning through). Speed 20-25.
I was going back & forth with the heat on 2&3 WS stayed around 20-25 but I'm using .035 wire. Should I go with the .030 for thin metal I have both. I've done pretty good with other projects.
 
Well like most of my many projects sometimes they take awhile. Someone welded one of the arms to the 3/4” bar. I had to grind that off to remove the bar.
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I started out making six 3/4” thick solid oak discs to slip into each end of the three rollers. To keep it simple rather than making several for the center area I just made one long one then two short ones on the outside.
I bolted three together then spun them down on my drill press using a wood rasp then used my finish sander to get them to fit. I only had to sand about a 1/32” off to fit.
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I’m using a 3/4” metal conduit which I had to drill a 1 1/32” hole in the center of the wood disc to except the conduit. Because I already drilled a 1/4” hole in the middle of the wood disc my forstner bit wouldn’t track that hole. Using my forstner bit I drilled a hole through a piece of scrap wood. I centered the discs on the back side of the hole then brad nailed it. This hole in the scrap kept the bit centered while it drilled the disc behind it.
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I epoxied one wood disc on the end of the conduit then slid that down inside the 2” pvc pipe. On the other end I epoxied the remaining wood disc.
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I recessed the wood disc on one end of each end roller. This will prevent the cotter pin on the end of the bar from sticking out. I will be spraying some expansion foam inside the long roller to give it some rigidity. Maybe tomorrow I can also spray coat some bed liner on the rollers to finish. Thanks for looking.
 
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