How to spot touchup a L.B. deck

The 10550 Lawnboy I bought off Craigslist had typical abrasion caused by somebody running the mower against a house or brick retaining wall. Here is a how to sequence of repairing the damaged paint for somebody who has never attempted this, so it's fairly simplistic.

1. Clean the entire deck. I use Mr. Clean in water as hot as will come out of the faucet. Pic DSC00097 shows the damaged area after the deck was cleaned.

2. Sand the damaged area with a 5" plastic disk sander made for a hand drill. Don't use too rough a sanding disk, 120 grit works well. Pic DSC00098 shows what the damaged area should look like after sanding.

3. Mask off the areas on the mower you don't want paint on, including any decals. Work carefully, as I hate seeing overspray on parts that shouldn't be painted. Pic DSC00099 shows what the masking job should look like.

4. Prime the repair area with primer. I used Rust-Oleum painters touch 2X ultra cover flat gray. I used about 8 coats with wet sanding done with 400 grit sandpaper after every 2nd or 3rd coat. Pic DSC000100 shows the repair after priming.

5. Paint the area with VHT engine enamel Grabber Green. Use light coats, don't try to spray a heavy coat as you'll inevitably cause the paint to run. Several light coats are better than one or two heavy coats. Pic DSC00101 shows the area after the color coat.

6. Allow the paint to dry for 2 hours before removing the masking tape and newspaper. Pic DSC00102 shows the completed repair.

As you can tell from the area just to the right of the warning decal, it is a shade lighter than the original paint. I was told the primer color affects the color coat shade. I'll have to test a piece of bare aluminum with flat white primer, gray primer and red oxide primer one day to see if that's true. The repair overall looks pretty good. I use this mower weekly, so it's not like it's a Henry Ford museum piece.

Regards

Jeff

Thanks for the pics and information on the painting process. I might have to clean up my dura force as the deck has a much bigger area than yours did to fix.

Do you do cars? Good job.

Thanks Lewis / Motoman.

LOL,,,I used to paint cars back in my twenties. Owning several late 60's and 70's muscle cars in Michigan, meant you fought a loosing battle on rust repair, so I got plenty of practice with auto body repair. My DeVilbiss JGA-502 spray gun was the first tool I ever bought at about 19 years of age.

Regards

Jeff

Thanks for the instructional. I found this thread by searching on "Lawnboy touch up paint."

Just learned I can get Grabber Green and it is a good match.

I see Jacks has a spray can of Lawnboy Leaf green. I am sure I can get a Dupli-Color or VHT Grabber Green at my local parts store and be done.

Thanks.

Which 2 colors would my Lawnboy need? Plus maybe a different LF wheel.:laughing:

Hello,

Rattle cans (spray paint in a can), do an OK job of painting decks and some guys have done phenomenal jobs restoring their classic/antique mowers with them, but I prefer automotive spray guns to do an outstanding job. Here is a pic of my restored Toro.

The key to any great paint job is surface preparation, real deep gouges need Bondo or other plastic body filler, somewhat lesser surface imperfections can use spot putty or a high build primer. The color coat only magnifies ANY surface imperfections. Your hand can often times feel imperfections better than your eye.

Regards

Jeff

Great job jp1961. What is the paint and thinner ratio when mixing for cup gun? When I was lot younger I remember timing the paint for thinness. Is that an issue anymore? Thanks.

Hello,

Thanks. I bought a quart of "Toro Red" at a N.A.P.A. auto parts dealer, I believe it was enamel, which used enamel reducer. Different paint types use different thinners, so follow the manufactures recommendations, as lacquer is different than enamel.

Yeah, I remember using the timed drip method to thin paint.

N.A.P.A. I believe has the various paint codes for lawn equipment too, so they should be able to fairly closely match the factory color.

Regards

Jeff

jp1961 said:

Hello,

Thanks. I bought a quart of "Toro Red" at a N.A.P.A. auto parts dealer, I believe it was enamel, which used enamel reducer. Different paint types use different thinners, so follow the manufactures recommendations, as lacquer is different than enamel.

Yeah, I remember using the timed drip method to thin paint.

N.A.P.A. I believe has the various paint codes for lawn equipment too, so they should be able to fairly closely match the factory color.

Regards

Jeff

Click to expand...

Thanks. Cool Beans.