*edit* I'm adding the GT rebuild to this thread too.
The 44C that was on my 682 was REALLY noisy when I got it so I decided to go ahead and rebuild it... then I saw how much the replacement spindles were ($70 each) and didn't even include new spindle cups or anything else. So I decided to just keep an eye out for a decent deck and if nothing popped up I would get the new spindles before spring. Here is my GT:
Here is what the deck looked like after I cleaned it up... LOTS of deep rust pitting but only one little spot rusted through, also one of the brackets was boogered up pretty good on a past repair:
Yesterday I stumbled upon a deck on CL that was only about 20 minutes away. The CL pic looked decent and the guy said the spindle felt good and tight. I picked it up for only $25. Got it stripped down and sure enough the spindles are in great shape. The deck was toast but all the bolted on parts were in really good shape, it must have been rebuilt somewhere along the line. Plus you can't beat that price!
Next up is to repair the hacked up bracket and I might move the two front wheel brackets onto my older 44C. I've got a buddy down the street that I'm going to have sandblast all the corners that I couldn't get the wire wheel.
Edited by twostep, February 21, 2013 - 11:16 PM.