IH Cub Cadet 125
Mower Repair - October 2002

GOAL: Repair damage and remove surface rust. Paint deck to halt further rust damage until a more complete restoration can take place. All things considered, the deck is in pretty good shape.

The first mowing job ended rather abruptly when I nailed a rock at Arunah Hill.  Mowing rocks on The Hill is not uncommon, but this one took out the center Spindle Housinhg.

All three Spindle Housing attachment points are broken.
There must have been a pre-existing condition with at least one point broken with the large Center Pulley concealing the damage.
I don’t think that the Arunah Hill impact was enough to blast all three attachment points. (see next picture)

Note the chew hole in the Center Housing.  It doesn’t take a genius to connect this damage with that of the Spindle Housing. BUT WAIT, there’s more......

... this is left side of the Center Housing showing another previous repair. The tab was not only welded back onto the Housing, it was also welded to the deck!
This will not do!
I found a good used replacement.

The Deck, Covers and Quick Release cleaned and painted.

The right Wheel has been cleaned - mostly by scraping off the dead rubber.

A nearly finished Deck just prior to installing the Spindles.