Mower chain bracket

[rd_macgregor]

The first couple of years I used my 6' Walco Whistler mower I bent the rear wheel forks. My dealer said the problem came from when I went over a rise and the mower deck lifted so the rear wheel swiveled around backwards, then slammed down as the tractor went down the other side of the rise, or, worse, went through a following dip.
The solution seemed to be to back off the chain tension a long way so the wheel would stay on the ground no matter how sharp a rise I went over. This worked OK last year, but this year when I went through the bottom of a fairly sharp dip in one of my pastures, the already slack chain went really, really slack...enough so that the chain slipped under the PTO housing. It didn't take long for the bolt heads on the slip clutch to grind through a chain link and bisect my mower toplink chain.
A few days later, while uprooting weeds in the garden (where a barn used to be), I unearthed a rusty old bracket (from who knows what) that inspired me to make a retainer for the chain. I cleaned up the bracket, installed a new chain inside an old bike inner tube and here is my "fix" for the mower chain problem. Now I should be able to put in plenty of slack without worrying about the chain dropping under the PTO shield.

BOB

 

[jimgerken]

That looks like a good solution. I was looking for vinyl-covered chain the other day and did not find it, where did you find that?

 

[beenthere]

Great solution to the rotary mower deck steel strap problem. I have two chains on mine, that go past the gear box on each side, down to the frame.

Yours is a clean and neat fix. Thanks for posting.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

I was looking for vinyl-covered chain the other day and did not find it, where did you find that?

Here's the answer to that:

I cleaned up the bracket, installed a new chain inside an old bike inner tube and here is my "fix" for the mower chain problem

 

[rd_macgregor]

The local bike shop always has old inner tubes they're throwing out. The real challenge was getting the chain through the tube! It was quite a struggle, but now it kind of looks like rubber shrink-wrap; it is quieter and keeps the chain from knocking even more paint off the gearbox.
BOB