Mower Deck Baffle
 

Hey there,

I have three 38 inch mower decks and they all need the baffle. Was going to go to the steel yard and buy some stock to make them, but I have no way of bending them to the proper dimensions. Does anyone know how I would go about doing this?

Mine are all completely gone, so I don't even know what radius to use while bending and I really don't want to guess.

I wonder if you could tack weld one end and bend it and tack as you go. The baffles are about 1" shy of the end of the blades. Get the area clean and take a marker and hold it about 1" from the end of the blades and turn each blade to make your outlines until the blades over lap. Then weld the baffles to the lines.

That's exactly how I did mine, just used some spare flat stock.
I could still see the remnants of the original baffle welds, started at one side, tacked and worked the flat stock to the other side.

The steel would be easy to bend.

Just pre-bend it to the approximate shape. Weld the end and bend to the required location as you continue "adjust bending" through the arc.

Do not try to have a continuous weld bead from one end to the other.

A continuous weld will cause a lot of thermal distortion.

Try to just add the number and length of the original welds.

:bigthink:

Just how important are these baffles the deck on my 805 doesn't have them and seems to cut fine, the one that goes under my 124 still has them. I was debating on putting them back in the 805 but it cuts so good I was wondering why I should bother.

With them it will improve the cut and discharge.

I may need to try something different because I have never welded anything and don't have a welder. Probably will have to find someone who can weld it for me.

Anyone know the thickness and height of stock to use?

I got some flat stock and am making a pattern to bend it. I found a large roller I can use to help bend it.

The flat stock I have is 2 inches wide. Is that going to be too tall for the deck? It's almost as tall as the deck is.

Mower baffles are the talk of the week.:BangPC:

Nik,