Rear wheels on 60" finishMower

Piedmont3 · Mar 30, 2006

Rear wheels on 60\" finishMower

I have problems with the solid back wheels on the finish mower. I seem to bend one or the other of the bolts that are axles once a month. maybe I am mowing to fast, or turning to sharp and fast, or maybe it is just the rough ground I am mowing. I mow with the joystick in float, always in float going forward, turning, always.
I have a sack of replacement bolts, grade 3 or grade 5 I think...
I am afraid to put grade 8 blots in there because I don't want to bend the mower deck.
any ideas???

tracdoc · Mar 30, 2006

Re: Rear wheels on 60\" finishMower

How much residual "play" (motion in the long axis of the bolt) is in the axle bolt after you finish up tightening all the nuts?

At one end, if the nuts on both sides are too tight, the wheel will bind and not turn freely. At the other, if there is too much motion from side to side (long axis of bolt), the result will be a bent bolt. If you use a harder bolt, and there is still too much play, the bolt might not bend, but the bolt motion could bore out and deform the deck height hole in the deck. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

There surely must be a better design for these, perhaps a no-lube sleeve bearing. I too had problems, and gradually learned to tighten up the wheel until it just starts to bind, and then back off a quarter turn or less. I use a lot of Never-Seez on all threads both sides, and then proceed to tighten the h*** out of the nuts. I hate changing cutting height for this precise reason.

Piedmont3 · Mar 30, 2006

Re: Rear wheels on 60\" finishMower

I tighten the nuts on the axles about like you. I tighten it until it is tight and then loosen it until I can roll the wheel with my hand, NOT spin the wheel freely, just roll it without too much force with my hand. When I am mowing they roll fine with the weight of the mower and the movement of the tractor.

I have been trying to design/draw/think of a type of swiveling setup to replace these with. Every thing I come up with is either to large to work in the space available between the mower and the tractor, or to flimsy to handle the rough ground I mow. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif BUT I will not quit until I can find a way to make it work the way I want it to. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

MossRoad · Mar 30, 2006

Re: Rear wheels on 60\" finishMower

Bummer on the wheel bolts. As I said in the other post, I'm surprised the wheels don't break before the bolts. I have mine on the 2nd highet setting and haven't had any problems with them. Have you noticed when they break? Turning, bump or no rhyme or reason?

Piedmont3 · Mar 30, 2006

Re: Rear wheels on 60\" finishMower

I seem to notice them when I turn a corner and look back to see how much out of line I turned the corner. I will see the rutts in the grass and then I look at the wheels and see that one of them is bent or is missing. There is no pattern to which one bends sometimes it is the inside corner wheel and sometimes the outside.
I tend to have to back up quite often at the corners and trim the edges so the corner doesn't end up looking like some kind of Bell shaped thing when I come around the next time. But I think that is my inexperience /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif in using a front mount mower as opposed to the RFM and MMM I had before.

KentT · Mar 30, 2006

Re: Rear wheels on 60\" finishMower

I wonder if "smooth, round-shouldered" tires might help with your problem. Something like this:

I'm guessing that you're bending the axle bolts when you turn sharply... slick, round shoulders might "scoot" rather than dig in...

tracdoc · Mar 30, 2006

Re: Rear wheels on 60\" finishMower

Kent,

Where can one buy those neat wheels, and is there a size comparable to the OEM plastic wheels? They appear to be pneumatic, not solid. Is that correct?

Thanks much

KentT · Mar 30, 2006

Re: Rear wheels on 60\" finishMower

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Kent,

Where can one buy those neat wheels, and is there a size comparable to the OEM plastic wheels? They appear to be pneumatic, not solid. Is that correct?

Thanks much )</font>
That was a picture of pneumatic ones that I grabbed from Northern Tool, just as an example. I suggest you look at McMaster Carr -- they have a huge selection of industrial wheels.

McMaster Carr -- use Search for wheels

For example here's rubber tread wheels with grease fittings, from page 1237:

BobRip · Apr 1, 2006

Re: Rear wheels on 60\" finishMower

Kent, I added grease fittings to the rear wheels on my brush cutter mower. I think they are like the other PT mowers for 422/425. I noticed the bolts would get warm after a fairly short distance. I would have to spray silicon lube in very often. There is a flat spot on the wheel that I drilled into the center. I then screwed a grease fitting on it. It looks like the picture that you have posted has a similar fitting.
I don't know if this will help with the bolt bending, but it should reduce at least some of the forces on the bolt and was easy to do since the wheel is plastic.

Bob Rip

Piedmont3 · Apr 3, 2006

Re: Rear wheels on 60\" finishMower

I have thought about taking the hard plastic wheels off of the mower and grinding/sanding the edges off to make them more rounded. My only cocern is would I be making it worse because of the narrowing of the suface contact that would take place. ? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
I have also considered drilling the wheels to add a grease zirk to help the axle stay cooler. I bought a package of zirks but haven't had time to drill the wheels yet. The next time I have to replace an axle I will add the zirk and see if that helps.
I haven't had/gotten to start mowing yet this spring. When I do I will have to watch the wheels to see if they are under any undue stress.
Thank you all, for your suggestions. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif