Never had a stamped deck. Any benefits? Do they pack w grass like fab decks? Do they cut better or same?
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.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 )
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.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.
I call BS on all of your posts. Not worth arguing with any longer.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.
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.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.
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...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.
Slow down.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 .