Snow Blade and the wheels

MossRoad · Mar 26, 2015

The pneumatic tires like mine came with roll off the rims on all of my wheeled attachments, (mower, brush hog and snow plow). I think it has nothing to do with down pressure. It happens when I go over small, sharp inclines and turn at the same time. Or, say, a large rock or stump. As the caster tries to pivot, the sidewall of the tire pushes against something and if the angle is right, the caster doesn't pivot and it pops the seal and down it goes instantly..... GRRRRR!!!!! :laughing:

I put solid hand-truck tires on one set of casters and they work great. I rotate that set of casters between my brush hog and snow plow, as they aren't used in the same season and I'm too cheap to buy another set. I should get them for my finish mower, though, as I pop them at least twice a month.

I wrap a ratcheting tie-down strap around the popped tire and that squeezed it enough to inflate it. I wonder if I can tube that small of a tire? Probably. Ah, I'm too lazy to check!

ponytug · Mar 26, 2015

You can get small tubes. I've got some small wheels that take a 4.25" tube.
Ask me if you want a tube...

All the best,

Peter

MossRoad · Mar 26, 2015

Where did you get the tubes?

ponytug · Mar 27, 2015

Amazon, and I think Global Industrial. I fished around a bit trying to find a source where the shipping was less than the tube. They are for dollies, hand carts, etc. If you don't have a tube to match from, start with the tire size, and some of the descriptions will mention the tire size that it fits.

All the best,

Peter

MossRoad · Mar 27, 2015

Thanks, I'll poke around. :thumbsup:

cqaigy2 · Mar 28, 2015

I picked up some inner tubes at Harbour Freight, that fit those smaller tires.

MossRoad · Mar 29, 2015

Thanks!

KentT · Apr 4, 2015

I have the old style blade and similar vintage as MR's. As he alluded to, the biggest issue with using that configuration, especially when plowing my gravel driveway, is that when you angle the blade it changes the whole geometry of the setup. You can use the shims on the casters to set the blade height (in relation to the caster wheels) with the blade straight - then when you angle the blade the leading/front tip of the bladeg oes down and the rear tip goes up. This makes them pretty much useless for controlling blade height. I find that I often just leave mine set high, and try to manually control everything with the lift and tilt cylinders and controls. With them down, you can't do that because one or the other caster wheel will contact the ground before you can get that part of the blade at the height you want...

Moving the casters closer to the blade in the new design likely reduced this issue...

jfischer · Apr 4, 2015

When I did have the blade on it in the garage, on a good flat floor I set it so the blade was a hair off the ground, maybe 1/2" to 1", which I have found is good for gravel. The caster wheels were in contact with the floor. When I did an angle right or left, I don't think I saw it moving up or down on the ends, and the caster wheels were still in contact with the concrete.

I will check again, before I put it away for the Summer Season, and see if that is so, or I was just thinking it.

MossRoad · Apr 7, 2015

jfischer said:
When I did have the blade on it in the garage, on a good flat floor I set it so the blade was a hair off the ground, maybe 1/2" to 1", which I have found is good for gravel. The caster wheels were in contact with the floor. When I did an angle right or left, I don't think I saw it moving up or down on the ends, and the caster wheels were still in contact with the concrete.

I will check again, before I put it away for the Summer Season, and see if that is so, or I was just thinking it.

If that's how its working when you angle it, pat yourself on the back, make note of how many shims are above and below and enjoy!