What to do if the body is rusting away on my yard works lawn mower 6.5HP

the real problem here is not the amount of ac water on the frame but the salt from frozen roads accumulating at this point and not being readily washed away or neutralized
Every vehicle with metal sub frames suffers rust at various points
Yes it is dangerous and if the rust is in the body shell as well as the sub frames , there is no cheap fix
it is best to consider junking it and for that you have a couple of options
you can find a good body shell and sub frame and transferring all of your good gear into it or
if the gear is as worn as the body is rusted , junk it and get a later model car

What you should pay depends entirely on the mileage, mechanical condition, body work condition and interior condition of the car.

Be very careful buying a car like that and having a professional mechanical and body work inspection done on it before you buy.

The rust around the headlights is very bad and there will likely be other bad rust in the vehicle you cannot see. It is important to get the car up on a hoist/lift so you can inspect the underside of the vehicle.

Just repairing the front fenders to remove the rust and repaint will be expensive to do properly so never under estimate how much you will need to spend to fix rust issues. There is bound to be other rust in the body work you have not found yet and, as mentioned, it is imperative to inspect the underside of the car thoroughly.

tow it. cars have sat much longer and been brought back to life.

I keep my eyes open for a mower that is junk suich as one the motor is shot and make sure it's about the same type as the one your changing and there are four bolts that you take out of the mower base that holds the motor in place take them out and undo the cables and replace the new base. Some times the handles are interchangable as well.

Jeff:

First make sure that you are loosening the blade bolt (Are you turning it in the right direction?) Turn the mower on it's side and lodge a piece of wood between the blade and the body of the machine and really crank on that wrench. The blade bolt is probably rusted in the crankshaft.

Lift the hood of your mower and look for the wire that goes from your ignition switch to the mower body. This is your ground wire . See that the bolt to body is thight, no rust under the bolt, the wire is not cutor broken away. Also check the connector at the ignition switch, there could be rust at this point. If the ground proves OK then you are at an ignition switch fault and most likely will need to switch the switch.

depending on where you are in the world it can be more expencive to replace the deck than to buy a new machine

no generator or alternator power generated by magnetic pulse[magneto]on the top of motor the fly wheel has magnetic inserts that pass thru a armature/coil causing a pulse sometimes the flywheel gets surface rust but that would also affect spark --check connections and test battery battery may not be holding charge or loose or corrosion in wiring can cause battery problem

if you are talking about the section that the engine is mounted on you can replace the whole thing with a used one from a junkyard in most cases it costs 250 dollars for part not including installation not easy you will have to suspend engine in the air for this you need a special tool.

Yes it can be fixed. Try some basics first.
1) Check under belt drive cover for excess debris
2) Belt and Idler pulley condition
3) Control cable operation
a) rusted, frozen, broken, disconnected

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