His is fine other than the plate, but to fix it right, I would need to knock off all the plate, get it down to the frame, and the weld the outside channels back on. Honestly I like their design with the C-channel side rails, because that's where everyone else's deck fails, but the plate's gotta survive too.
I have my eye on this Dunham EG60 cutter, and the deck is 3/16"ish plate and free of rust.
View attachment 344376
Gearbox is smooth and deck is in great shape other than the obvious surface rust. But I kinda worry that will add too much weight for his anemic Ford 8N. But I can get it for not much more than the material to fix his, and can probably get $100-200 for the busted King Kutter. Also, has anyone priced 5ft bush hogs lately? Cheapest new one I could find was $1150! Last I checked they were like $600-700 all day long (but it has been a few years).