Composition of black anti-scalping wheels on BX belly mower?

[pgmrdan]

Are those black plastic wheels made of Delrin or some other easily machinable plastic?

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I checked cda and they're 'only' $27...wheel and bushings, so not a bad deal....
You could use Delrin or UHMW, but check what a block of it costs AND what is YOUR time worth ??

I suspect the OEM ones are cast ( injection molded )

 

[pgmrdan]

I checked cda and they're 'only' $27...wheel and bushings, so not a bad deal....
You could use Delrin or UHMW, but check what a block of it costs AND what is YOUR time worth ??

I suspect the OEM ones are cast ( injection molded )

The cost of the wheel plus tax was less than $15. Took about 10 minutes to replace and grease and much of that time was going up and down the basement stairs and finding the correct size wrenches.

Must have hit a stump that ripped out the zerk fitting.

If it's a machinable plastic I could easily replace the old zerk fitting with a slightly larger one. I'll keep the old wheel and use it as a paper weight until I need it.

Easy to replace with the new one and the new one was relatively inexpensive.

 

[Henro]

The cost of the wheel plus tax was less than $15. Took about 10 minutes to replace and grease and much of that time was going up and down the basement stairs and finding the correct size wrenches.

Must have hit a stump that ripped out the zerk fitting.

If it's a machinable plastic I could easily replace the old zerk fitting with a slightly larger one. I'll keep the old wheel and use it as a paper weight until I need it.

Easy to replace with the new one and the new one was relatively inexpensive.

My old style Gage wheels don’t have grease fittings. But after 22 years, I only replaced them one time a number years ago.

I think the biggest issue is setting them properly for whatever height you plan to cut at.

No expert here but I set mine properly according to the manual and it seems to look like they will be good for another number of years.

I think the biggest problem is that people don’t set them properly for the cutting height they’re using, and therefore they turn into ground contact height wheels, and wear out rather quickly.

I could be off base on this, but it wouldn’t be the first time and I accept that!

 

[DustyRusty]

I could be off base on this, but it wouldn’t be the first time and I accept that!

Nor will it be the last time!

 

[lugbolt]

On mine I chucked each wheel in the lathe and cut a recess in them, then put a seal in. That was, gosh, 2009 I think? They are still tighter than two coats of paint. The deck is rusted out but the wheels is still in great shape. I sold the mower to a friend in 2015 but I still service it twice a year.

 

[pgmrdan]

On mine I chucked each wheel in the lathe and cut a recess in them, then put a seal in. That was, gosh, 2009 I think? They are still tighter than two coats of paint. The deck is rusted out but the wheels is still in great shape. I sold the mower to a friend in 2015 but I still service it twice a year.

I was simply going to drill out a larger hole for the zerk fitting and retap. Sounds like it should handle that with no issue.

Thanks!