OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Tech Talk Welding Up a Mower Base or Deck

I seem to be collecting powerTorques with good engines but rusted decks. I'd like to have a go at welding a patch. Apart from removing the petrol tank, what other cautions, tips etc. can you recommend? Did a search here but couldn't find much but figure that others have made these repairs before.

Firstly can you weld?
Do you have a welder or access to one?
If so is it an arc or mig?

Strip it down to the base, with a small grinder cut out all the rusted section and then fabricate a patch to get the right shape, may take several pieces welded together to get the shape right. Mig is easier to do this work but it can also be done with arc

Thanks for the replies, can weld but very much an amateur. Have arc welding set up as well as oxy but running very low on acetylene. These days I only weld once or twice a year so try to avoid it if there's an other solution. Have been looking for a couple of decks in good condition but no luck. Now have at least 3 mowers with good engines but poor decks. I guess there isn't another solution here ie has to be welded?

Oxy is good to work with but far to expensive for hobby work, only time I use my oxy these days is to weld up fuel tanks. Depending on where in Melb if you want to you could bring it to my place and I will show you how to do it

I reckon your in for trouble welding them as they are thin and rusty and your using arc. I had the welding supplies make me an adapter many moons ago that screws into a 9kg bbq cylinder and adapts to my acetylene gauge works a treat and no rental on cylinder but LPG has less heat than acetylene and cutting tips are different. I use LPG cylinders for the house and at the moment they are $88 for 45KG and no rental charge. Much better value than a bbq gas. If you go down this path you might find it easier to bronze a patch on rather than arc welding. It's a shame because I threw 2 good power torque bases out a few weeks ago.
You could always try getting some 1.6 or 2mm arc rods so you can run them on low amps. I get mine from the market 2.5kg box for under $10.

Slash, which market do you get those cheap rods, I've been paying $20

Geelong sunday market. 2mm 2kg swec brand. They're not as nice as austarc I use at work but a very nice rod and only $7. The 2mm are rated at 40-70 amp so should be nice on the light material the bases are made from.

Tiger, you're far from the first to observe this issue with Victa PowerTorque steel decks.

The ODK consensus is pretty much that once they have rusted out around that left handle mount, near the left rear wheel, they are too far gone to be salvageable. The metal there is quite a complex shape, which makes it very difficult and time-consuming to form/fabricate a patch.

That area traps clippings, and as few owners now hose out the underside after use [as even Victa still recommends], it's the first part to rust through. However, by the time that occurs, there is almost always substantial loss of metal thickness elsewhere in the deck - which also needs repair, before the mower can be considered to be in 'saleable condition'.

So attempting repairs quickly becomes a waste of effort. 'Rusty air' [corrosion-thinned sheet metal] doesn't weld at all well, especially with 'stick' [MMA] welding. Then there's the time and materials to prep and repaint afterwards...

All mowers get to the point of being 'beyond economic repair', but this type of light gauge pressed steel deck reaches it sooner rather than later. Just part of the 'throwaway' design era.

In contrast, the steel decks used on 1970's Victas [only on the Utility models though] were heavier gauge and didn't have 'clipping trap' crannies, so many are still serviceable.

As slashnburn says, oxy-LPG is quite good for brazing and cutting [flame temperature is too low for fusion welding of steel], and much cheaper to run than oxy-acetylene.
A dedicated LPG welding reg, which screws straight into a POL valve [as on 9kg LPG bottles] runs under $70 from BOC via FleaBay.

Great information, Norm I'm in the eastern suburbs, if there's no other option I'll weld up the deck. For those who have done this before how long does it take on average to make these repairs with welding, I will be selling the mowers most likely and just conscious of labour time.

Thanks Gadge didn't see your post until I'd posted mine. It puts things into perspective. I'm sure I read here about someone who used Builders Bog but that might have been for a catcher. I have tried even on this Board to get some Powertorque decks but had no luck. I don't have many options but will probably consider some second hand decks.

Tiger, as Gadge said it's not economical unless your time rich even then I also reckon it will be moth eaten and not worth your time. I'd put those motors on a shelf and wait for a good base.
I didn't realise the gauge was that cheap. I reckon my adapter was around $15 but that was 15 years ago.

I'm time rich but now I realize you want to on sell them it is totally impractical, repairing this low value stuff isn't worth worrying about unless you just wanted to restore it for a collection, then time and cost become irrelevant and you can repair anything

Your dead right. The way I see it I'd prefer to spend my time on something I see as more worthy than a power torque base but each to his own. I for one have spent far too much time fixing lots of things no one else would spend time on simply because I enjoyed the challenge.