Kudos to you for gettin' 'er done! I have a similar deck for my 318 that I have been patching year to year to keep it going. The front has gotten so thin that the mule drive brackets were barely hanging on. I finally took the dive, made a hammer form and made a new panel out of 12 gauge, about 36 inches wide and around 12 deep before trimming to fit. The new panel goes from the bottom lip around the top and ends where the top covers sit. I'm not a great welder but I can lay a decent bead on solid metal once in a while. I get by on booger welds or grind them down and do them over if cosmetics matter. It took a lot of time and effort since I pulled the deck completely apart and replaced the spindle bearings and a bunch of fasteners. Everything got stripped, repaired and repainted. The deck looks new and is rock solid. The mule drive brackets and one of the anti-scalp wheel brackets are now welded on new metal. I am sure I'll get another 20 years out of it with regular maintenance. These 300 series decks are getting harder and harder to find used and many are in rough shape. Even so, they are commanding a high price. My 318 is a great machine and I want to keep it and my implements going until I take my dirt nap.
