Question for the lawn and garden equipment pro's; Has the price of some repair parts gone nuts or what???

Recently discovered the mower deck on my 30" Murray rider (mid-engine) has badly rusted out to the point I am going to replace it. Mea culpa; I think it spent most of the winter with last summer's cuttings resting on top of the deck, although it is 10 years old. The replacement deck, with shipping and tax, comes to over $400! That's not a deck assembly, but just the bare deck. Still a lot less than replacing the mower, but GEEZ! Can't believe a simple piece of stamped steel is that pricey. Think I'll brush on a coat of some pickup truck bedliner goop while I'm swapping over attaching parts from the old one.

 

Maybe you can find a similar junk mower cheaper. I preach to the kids about spraying off the underside of the deck after they get done mowing, some listen, some don't

I use a push mower and normally get 10-15 yrs service out of one. I've never had a deck rust out...... can't say the same for the mowers of our kids that don't listen

 

$400 doesn't surprise me. Murray parts seem to have gone up a bit since they went out of business and Briggs took over the parts end. What size is it? I may have a good one laying around at my shop.

 

Thats really crazy to read...$400? Wow...

Shipping of a good used one would be far less than that.

Is there a clearing house for these kind of things like they have for used auto parts?

 

I spray the underside with WD-40 a few times a year. Not sure if it helps prevent rust but the grass doesn't stick as much.

 

You can also use cooking spray.....hey...it works in NASCAR...lol.

 

Already ordered, cheese, but thanks for the offer; next time I'll whine here first. Can't be too PO'd about it since I'm partly (or mostly) to blame for not keeping it cleaned off. Even the tow guy does stupid stuff sometimes. I hunted high and low on line and couldn't come up with anything better, but found a lot of them priced $150 OVER what I paid. Sears was lowest at $380+tax & shipping. A lot of the others were priced at around $530+; before I paid THAT much I would have probably replaced the mower (or started paying a lawn service).

 

Aw shoot. I have several 42" murrays around here w/parts on them and a decent deck or two. Probably have a 46" and 40" too. (don't know if that's your size or not). Funny that Sears was the lowest. They're funny that way... sometimes their prices are ghastly, other times quite reasonable (in comparison).

There are clearing houses for stuff like that. They generally only sell to businesses, and I do recall seeing lots of murray decks being sold by them a few years ago, but I guess the surplus has been liquidated by now, as I never see them for sale in their catalogs anymore.

 

Yeah, I was surprised, too. Mine's a 1-blade 30". I promise I won't need to be doing THIS again.

 

Well, here's an update. After waiting 9 days and contacting them twice, come to find out they credited my account yesterday because it's no longer available in spite of the website still showing it "In stock". Very frustrating. Going to haul the deck down to my tow buddy's place and try to weld some patches on it to last the mowing season. Going to have to scrap a running/driving mower because the next lowest price anywhere is in the $500 range. Can't see spending $500 for repair on a 9 year old unit.