The cut isn't really dependent on whether the deck is fabbed or not, and both have squared corners underneath where grass can collect.....along the top of the rear baffle that forms the back of each chamber and along the front baffle since all are welded in. Regardless, the 7 Iron does tend to stay clean pretty well even in bad cutting conditions.

 

I am personally very against stamped decks on any commercial or heavy use mower with the exception of 21” walks. The reason is if you or more likely a careless employee hits something solid, catches a curb wrong, stump, concrete ect with a stamped deck It’s super easy to tweak, bend and even crack. If this happens your pretty much SOL and have to replace the deck. On the other hand, if the deck is fabricated you can cut out and replace, plate over, heat and bend and easily weld to a fabricated deck and “fabricate” repairs.

it’s super difficult to weld to a stamped deck and often heating it causes it to warp more.

if you like to run your mowers to death and the decks gets sand blasted through it’s super easy to fabricate new sections of a fabricated deck. Doesn’t really work for stamped.

Manufactures LOVE stamped decks because it’s substantially cheaper to make in both parts and labor. A huge machine literally presses the metal into the deck mold. Typically—and I am generalizing—stamped decks are of thinner metals due to the fact they need to be pressed into shape, lack reinforcement in critical areas. The stamping process itself weakens the metal overall due to the stress of pressing. Take a paper clip and bend it and notice it snaps easily when bent.

As always there are exceptions to the rules and that’s why I qualified 21” walks. There are a couple of niche manufacturers making fabricated 21”s (or were at one time I sold my dealership in 2014) but the prices are so prohibitive you can buy 2 or 3 stamped 21” walks so doesn’t make sense IMO.

There is a reason price point homeowner ZTRs and riding mowers always use a stamped deck. Cheaper.

IMO for commercial work or heavy use except for 21” walks go fabricated.(if you use a 21” extensively As a main mowers and want Both ruggedness and lightness go with cast aluminum...Toro Super Recycler and Honda come to mind...there may be others )

 

I am personally very against stamped decks on any commercial or heavy use mower with the exception of 21" walks. The reason is if you or more likely a careless employee hits something solid, catches a curb wrong, stump, concrete ect with a stamped deck It's super easy to tweak, bend and even crack. If this happens your pretty much SOL and have to replace the deck. On the other hand, if the deck is fabricated you can cut out and replace, plate over, heat and bend and easily weld to a fabricated deck and "fabricate" repairs.

it's super difficult to weld to a stamped deck and often heating it causes it to warp more.

if you like to run your mowers to death and the decks gets sand blasted through it's super easy to fabricate new sections of a fabricated deck. Doesn't really work for stamped.

Manufactures LOVE stamped decks because it's substantially cheaper to make in both parts and labor. A huge machine literally presses the metal into the deck mold. Typically-and I am generalizing-stamped decks are of thinner metals due to the fact they need to be pressed into shape, lack reinforcement in critical areas. The stamping process itself weakens the metal overall due to the stress of pressing. Take a paper clip and bend it and notice it snaps easily when bent.

As always there are exceptions to the rules and that's why I qualified 21" walks. There are a couple of niche manufacturers making fabricated 21"s (or were at one time I sold my dealership in 2014) but the prices are so prohibitive you can buy 2 or 3 stamped 21" walks so doesn't make sense IMO.

There is a reason price point homeowner ZTRs and riding mowers always use a stamped deck. Cheaper.

IMO for commercial work or heavy use except for 21" walks go fabricated.(if you use a 21" extensively As a main mowers and want Both ruggedness and lightness go with cast aluminum...Toro Super Recycler and Honda come to mind...there may be others )

There's just so much that is wrong with this post and it getsa bandied about on the internet all the time, usually by those with little or no hands on experience with a quality stamped deck.
Stamped decks are every bit as tougher, and most likely tougher than fabbed when made of equal materials. No welds to break or rust out etc. Commercial stamped decks like the 7 Iron and Husky deck are made entirely from 7 gauge steel, and it is very high quality steel. Many, if not most, welded/fabbed decks have 7 gauge wrappers/skirts and ten gauge tops. Exmark decks are made that way and I doubt you will find anyone that says they are poorly made.

The simple truth is, most manu's that use fabbed decks make their wild claims about weak stamped decks because they cannot afford the dies, which run well over 100K and the press that runs well over a million. If they could, they would switch too as it is faster to stamp the shell than to weld it, requires much less labor for welding and handling materials to make the deck etc.

Stamping a deck properly does NOT weaken the steel either. Plus a radiused corner is always stronger than a squared corner all else being equal. The Romans knew that 4000 years ago.

This deck is 30 years old this year, still cutting very nicely, not warped or cracked or rotted out and is only 11 gauge. I have owned it for over 1/3 of its life and know it has cut an enormous amount of grass in that time, not to mention all the grass it cut on the farm before I got it.

 

7 Iron decks have held up well though stamped. Ran toros in the 90's and early 2000's that had stamped decks. They got bent easily until Toro added a bullnose bumper which solved that issue.

 

I know there are JDs devotees who will genuflect before the almighty green. If it works for you great. Give a stamped deck to the average idiot employee, they bend it and break it so get your welder and torches and see how easy it is to repair. On the top of my head only JD stamps commercial decks.....I can’t think of any other manufacturer that does that. Must be a reason.......

JD is absolutely the best at marketing and have unbelievable brand recognition and following. I’m not saying their equipment is bad but IMO the dollar for value just isn’t there.......BUT wait......

A HUGE reason for JDs success in commercial lawn care is they are large enough to in-house finance Or at least back the loans for lawn contractors. When I was 19, with no credit and everyone else said no...Circa 1994/5 ish JD said yes. I wouldn’t have gotten to where I was without JD loaning me a tremendous amount of money which ironically led me to be a rather large dealer and huge pain in Green Souths’ side just a few years later.

when the Great Recession hit I literally went from being a very successful dealer to selling my dealership w my tail between my legs bc JD ate my lunch. Not bc they had better equipment or even prices but BC their finance application was a mirror out in front of the buyer and if he/she could breath fog on the mirror and sign an X they got financed.

 

I know there are JDs devotees who will genuflect before the almighty green. If it works for you great. Give a stamped deck to the average idiot employee, they bend it and break out your welder and torches and see how easy it is to repair. On the top of my head only JD stamps commercial decks.....I can't think of any other manufacturer that does that. Must be a reason.......

JD is absolutely the best at marketing and have unbelievable brand recognition and following. I'm not saying their equipment is bad but IMO the dollar for value just isn't there.......BUT wait......

A HUGE reason for JDs success in commercial lawn care is they are large enough to in-house finance Or at least back the loans for lawn contractors. When I was 19, with no credit and everyone else said no...Circa 1994/5 ish JD said yes. I wouldn't have gotten to where I was without JD loaning me a tremendous amount of money which ironically led me to be a rather large dealer and huge pain in Green Souths' side just a few years later.

when the Great Recession hit I literally went from being a very successful dealer to selling my dealership w my tail between my legs bc JD ate my lunch. Not bc they had better equipment or even prices but BC their finance application was a mirror out in front of the buyer and if he/she could breath fog on the mirror and sign an X they got financed.

Yes, I just told you the reason not many others use stamped deck shells. Ignore the facts if you want to, but they are well established. I also just told you that husky uses stamped deck shells. Well a combination or mostly stamped and a welded front wrapper.

This post of yours is also full of misinformation. JD has a good rep because their mowers are durable, their decks are extremely durable, and both have a 10 year long track record now to back it up with hardly a thing changed on them in that time, and they cut exceptionally well in any condition.

 

I can tell you form 25 years in this business as a lawn contractor with 100 employees at my peak and a lawn commercial maintenance division with over $1m in annual revenue AND being a top 10 dealer by volume for 3of the 4 major lines I sold AND having owned multiple JD ZTRs and walk-behinds w 7 iron decks AND having idiot employees that bent them and attempted welding repairs not work requiring me to purchase a New crate deck........that my experience. First hand.

Frankly, I put more hours on ZTRs in a week than most companies will in a decade. Art Evens flew down to Gainesville in his private jet personally to fly me to his factory and out to dinner. I had many trips paid for by big manufacturers and direct access to their company presidents........so I like to think I learned a thing or two.

if stamped was so good and a competing feature to brag about pretty sure someone else besides the almighty green would be doing it.

 

I can tell you form 25 years in this business as a lawn contractor with 100 employees at my peak and a lawn commercial maintenance division with over $1m in revenue AND being a top 10 dealer by volume for 3of the 4 major lines I sold AND having owned multiple JD ZTRs and walk-behinds w 7 iron decks AND having idiot employees that bent them and attempted welding repairs not work requiring me to purchase a New crate deck........that my experience. First hand.

Frankly, I put more hours on ZTRs in a week than most companies will in a decade.

if stamped was so good and a competing feature to brag about pretty sure someone else besides the almighty green would be doing it.

I call BS on all of your posts. Not worth arguing with any longer.

 

I owned Equipment Direct, Inc in Gainesville Florida. I’m sure someone here knows me. I owned Stephen J OGrady of Florida, Inc for over 20 years and ValuCut. Go to sunbiz.org and do a little research.

I don’t think JD is bad. I can only share my experiences.

 

I forgot about Kubota. I’ve never seen or considered them to be a major player in the commercial lawn care market. That’s definitely a regional thing. Same with grasshopper. I don’t recall ever seeing a stamped deck at GIE on Grasshoppers but I haven’t been in the industry since 2014. I’ve never seen a commercial lawn contractor ever with a grasshopper. Again. Regional preferences.

I still stand by my opinions. They were formed from over 20 years as both a contractor and dealer. The majority of the commercial equipment market is fabricated decks. Obviously not all of it but the greatest percentage of manufacturers and the bulk of the machines sold for commercial work have fabricated decks. The market has spoken.

I don’t think JD are bad machines. I owned several. I think it’s easier to fix and repair a fab deck is what I’m saying.

Except for cost there are no negatives to a fabricated deck. There are negatives to a stamped deck. There are no positives other than cost of a stamped deck to outweigh the negatives IMO.

 

if you dig far enough i think there are positive and negatives to both styles.

i have never had a commercial grade stamped deck machine, only toros and scags with fabbed decks.

my experience with stamped decks has been poor but they were non commercial machines. very thin steel, one bump into a curb or tree root could very easily be the end of the deck.

if i had to choose one (stamped or fab.) fabricated every time. if for no other reason than the ability to easily repair cracks or damage. it could be a difficult deal to repair a stamped deck commercial or not.

 

https://www.lawnsite.com/threads/stamped-vs-fabricated-decks.316674/page-3#post-6225674

 

I forgot about Kubota. I've never seen or considered them to be a major player in the commercial lawn care market. That's definitely a regional thing. Same with grasshopper. I don't recall ever seeing a stamped deck at GIE on Grasshoppers but I haven't been in the industry since 2014. I've never seen a commercial lawn contractor ever with a grasshopper. Again. Regional preferences.

I still stand by my opinions. They were formed from over 20 years as both a contractor and dealer. The majority of the commercial equipment market is fabricated decks. Obviously not all of it but the greatest percentage of manufacturers and the bulk of the machines sold for commercial work have fabricated decks. The market has spoken.

I don't think JD are bad machines. I owned several. I think it's easier to fix and repair a fab deck is what I'm saying.

Except for cost there are no negatives to a fabricated deck. There are negatives to a stamped deck. There are no positives other than cost of a stamped deck to outweigh the negatives IMO.

At least in my area Kubota mowers make a good showing. They're the most durable mower built, the price might keep them from being a big player. Grasshopper mowers are also built like a tank. I don't see as many of them but they're pretty common with parks and maintenance crews.

 

Edit to previous comment. I think all the heavy duty Kubota ZTs are a fabricated deck. Some of the F series have a stamped deck but it’s heavy duty. I’ve got a Howse finish mower that’s stamped from 7 gauge.

 

I generally speaking prefer a stamped deck. That said, if you have uncaring employees who bash the deck into curbs, roots, trees, foundations, etc then a fabbed deck might be in your best interest. For me, the cut on a properly made deep stamped deck always seemed to be better than a fabbed deck.

 

They do. At minimum Kubota and Grasshopper have stamped decks on commercial grade machines. They're not completely stamped but they're not fabricated from flat steel either.

Grasshopper's are fabricated. The use a higher carbon content in the steel which prevents them from successfully stamping a deck. You can bend it to an extent, but it won't stamp without some issues, too stiff. This grade of steel is not exclusive to them however, and this is the primary reason to choose a fabricated deck. Scag, Ferris, many companies use a harder steel. All you have to do is try and beat a few of these decks back into shape from different manufacturers, and it becomes clear...

....JD and Kubota uses soft steel in their decks. I'm with Troy on this one. Go with a fab deck if you can...

 

I can't speak for Kubota, but JD does NOT use soft steel in their decks. Maybe for those cheap little BB store machines they use a lesser grade of steel, but no more so than any other manu of equal cost machines. I have way too much experience with JD decks spanning over 50 years of their existence and know better. The commercial decks are far from soft. Grasshopper may make a fine machine, but their decks aren't fabbed because of the steel used. They are fabbed because they can't afford the press and dies to make all the different sizes and designs they would have to have. That's the long and the short of it, period.

You don't like JD, fine with me, but you can't post BS as fact and not expect to get called on it.

 

I know who owns Scag, never said I didn't. Doesn't mean they are going to (if, in fact that are fluid enough to do so) invest in all what is needed to make stamped decks when they are selling machines just fine with fabbed decks and are set up now to make them that way.

No, assumptions on the fact that companies don't have the capitol to but the presses and dies. I have company insider friends. I know a few things that you or others may not.


I know that the presses are multi million dollar presses and that the dies run will over 100K as I already stated earlier if you'd have taken the time to read.

Never said you claimed to be anyone here in this thread, but you have made those claims in past posts and I do remember them.

I call BS on you pounding decks out and that Kubota and JD decks were easier. You are a JD hater, have made that fact clear, and are full of crap.

I don't want or need anything from you. Never have, never will.

 

If money is no object, go with composite. My buddy builds decks and I helped him with a Deckorators composite deck and it looks amazing. Surprisingly heavy too. Framing is treated, but all the decking, railings, etc are composite. It costs about double compared to cedar but I think the product is superior. Supposedly will last twice as long too... Hope this helps

 

Yes, but can I get that in 60" size and with spindles that will accept all my current blades?:laugh:

 

BTW_ I am not the one going around this site bashing a brand or deck like you do constantly. I have never knocked on fabbed decks and have said repeatedly that most likely my next mower will be a Scag, and they have FABBED decks. I don't knock other brands either. I do post my dislike of the UC deck doe all around cutting, but I have never once said they were poorly built due to being fabbed or only partially 7 gauge steel. I have mentioned on multiple occasions my dislike of the VX4 deck too, at least in 60" size. Never bashed Hustler brand or machines though. You on the other hand, make a semi-regular habit of bashing on JD. I have stated many, many times that I am no fan of JD corporate. In fact, juts the opposite and it is in my past posts for all to see, so no brand fanboy on my part.

 

Man I should have read the comments first lol.

 

Any grade of steel can be stamped. No one is using high carbon steel to make decks though. At the hardness levels high carbon can achieve it becomes too brittle.

High and medium carbon steels are annealed for production and heat treated later. When annealed it's just as workable as mild/low carbon steel.

All the decks and structural material on our mowers is mild steel, along with most of the steel in our other equipment.

The general rule that fabricated decks are tougher is mostly true and it's because of thickness. It's all the same steel but the stamped decks are generally much thinner.

The exceptions to the rule are absolutely using expensive equipment to stamp thick metal. JD isn't skimping on material quality to stamp their 7 irons.

https://www.deere.com/en/landscaping-grounds-care/7-iron-mower/

These guys make monstrosities and need some monstrous components to do it. The cost for a 2,000 ton press is astronomical but critical to their real bread and butter. The lawn dept is fortunate to only need to pay for a few tools to benefit from it.

The same probably goes for Kubota.

 

This has been an informative if slightly antagonistic thread. I have a Kubota ZG20, owned for going on 4 years, which I like quite a bit. I should mention that I bought it used, it is about 14 or 15 years old with only 250 hours. But it has developed some electrical gremlins and I'm thinking of buying a new one. The JD 915 has been at the top of my list, but I have also been looking online at the Kubota ZG 200 series (ZG222 and ZG227). They are really very similar to my ZG20. Almost like Kubota has been locked in a time warp, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Anyway, to get back on point. Starting here:

https://www.kubotausa.com/products/mowers/zero-turn-mowers/zg200

Pick "BUILD MY KUBOTA" spec out a basic ZG222A with 48 inch deck. Choose ZG222, and you have a choice of 2 decks.

48" Stamped Deck

48" Fabricated Deck

If you choose Fabricated Deck, you wind up with a "Final Cash Price" of $8,599. Stamped Deck winds up at $7,960. That's $639 more for the fabricated deck. And the Summary says "W/48 INCH PRO DECK" versus "48 INCH STAMP DECK".

Makes me wonder just how different the 2 decks really are? I don't think they would expect anyone to pay the extra $639 unless there was a significant difference. Then again, I have seen many many companies do very strange things that did not make sense, so …

And no, I don't think this is making a case that fabricated is better than stamped. Just, in this case, more expensive.

 

In your situation, the fabbed deck may actually be heavier duty. It all depends on who makes the deck and from what gauge metal.

 

well going from a fabbed deck on the Bob cat to the cheap stamped deck on the craps man is a big difference in cutting speed and build up , both have gator 6's and my bobcats deck is clean, and a little build up on the edges of the baffles , the stamped one not enough room for airflow and no real baffles to seperate the blades and it builds up and plugs , even after cleaning it and covering it with a deck slide lube , do a crab grass lawn and you have to scrape it

just to let it be known the craftsman ( AYP ) deck is 22 years old and held up pretty good under people who don't know how to mow ( tried to mow a rail road tie and tried to move a 4" tall concrete curb at transport speed and spun the mower out ) worth of abuse . no cracks on the deck or mounts on it , spindles on the other hand argggh ( I have fixed the problem by making them lubricated types instead of sealed bearing )

 

as for making decks dies are expensive , but they figure the cost in when they design them as fabbed decks need brake presses to bend the parts and they are not cheap either ,

an 200 ton press is a baby compared to what the auto industry uses . we have a truck part supplier in the area they have a 3 story 800 ton press that can punch and form in 1 hit . and thats 3/16 HRS , when I hauled steel never hauled much Cold rolled to stamping plants ( only for appliances or auto ) , mostly hot rolled and the process often work hardened the metal .

 

as for making decks dies are expensive , but they figure the cost in when they design them as fabbed decks need brake presses to bend the parts and they are not cheap either ,

an 200 ton press is a baby compared to what the auto industry uses . we have a truck part supplier in the area they have a 3 story 800 ton press that can punch and form in 1 hit . and thats 3/16 HRS , when I hauled steel never hauled much Cold rolled to stamping plants ( only for appliances or auto ) , mostly hot rolled and the process often work hardened the metal .

Slow down.

The tractor guys have 2,000 ton presses.

That said, you are correct that dies are costly.

The advantage fab has is innovation. Minor changes in design can easily be made. There's not a lot of bending in fabbed decks either, much easier to weld.

 

The press JD uses to stamp their commercial decks is a 2000 ton press. Comparing fabbed decks to stamped HO decks isn't an apples to apples comparison, but it is what most here seem to do.