I have a light duty Deere LX5 rotary mower and I've bent the tail wheel and the bracket holding the tail wheel so now it won't rotate and just digs into the ground. I've taken off the tail wheel assembly and don't have the heat or a big enough hammer to get it back into shape. Can I just mow without the tail wheel? Any downside or damage I'm gonna do? I'm not even sure what the wheel is doing for me when it's working right.
Mowing Use rotary mower without tailwheel?
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kebo
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Probably won't hurt the hydraulic lift to run the mower without a tailwheel, but I wouldn't do it. Unless you have extra weight on the frontend that's gonna make the front end lighter all the time, which could make the steering a bit tricky. One purpose of the tail wheel is to help give a consistent cutting height.
Soundguy
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I deally the tailwheel carries part of the mower weight, and the 3pt adjusts front height.. you loose alot of 'adjustment' control from your right hand by not using the tail wheel.
got a plumbers torch? you'd be surprised what patience and blue flame can do.. that and a pipe wrench ont he end of a 4' pipe.. lotsa leverage..
soundguy
got a plumbers torch? you'd be surprised what patience and blue flame can do.. that and a pipe wrench ont he end of a 4' pipe.. lotsa leverage..
soundguy
Bird
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I suspect this is another of those situations in which "Yep, you can do it, but you ain't gonna like it."
radioman
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I suspect this is another of those situations in which "Yep, you can do it, but you ain't gonna like it."
i agree.Turkeyman
Silver Member
I have done the same thing to my MX-6 twice. I will not use it without a tail wheel and it took a lot of heat to get it back working the first time.
TrippleT
Gold Member
I would either get a torch and heat it, or take it to the local welding shop.
It was designed for the tailwheel so it needs to be there. As Soundguy pointed out you could lose a lot of adjustment to. I also think you would be stressing your lift arms to a degree. Just my take on it.
It was designed for the tailwheel so it needs to be there. As Soundguy pointed out you could lose a lot of adjustment to. I also think you would be stressing your lift arms to a degree. Just my take on it.
Soundguy
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have some patience.. metal heats up pretty slow the larger it is.. but it holds heat real good.. let it 'soak' for a good 5-10 minutes.. then start bending on it..
soundguy
stevem5215
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I've bent the wheels on the finish mower a couple times. A BFH sledge can do a pretty good job on them but I've broken at least one doing that and had to buy a new U bracket for the wheel. But it is doable.
Steve
Steve
