Wheel said I’m done

[johnjk]

One of the gauge wheels on my MMM decided Sunday was its last day. My “yard” is pretty rough so bumps from the deck are always present. On the second lap, where I am close to gravel, it started throwing rocks. Quickly stopped but I already has some nice shrapnel cuts to my face. Good thing I was wearing eye protection. Went in to clean up and when I came back I saw I had lost a tire. The rim was plowing a furrow in the rock feeding it in to the blade. Raised the deck and back to the barn. I ended up ordering 2 tire assemblies from Messicks since my dealer said he could more get them. Now we wait. Spent a couple hours Sunday looking for aftermarket but didn’t find much that looked like they would work without modification either to the shaft or new wheel. Pricy buggers and I ordered 2. Shipping was around $10 for FedEx. Still less than a new finish mower. Will pull the blades and put a new edge on them as well.

 

[johnjk]

New parts arrived yesterday. Looks like I have a project today

 

[SDT]

One of the gauge wheels on my MMM decided Sunday was its last day. My “yard” is pretty rough so bumps from the deck are always present. On the second lap, where I am close to gravel, it started throwing rocks. Quickly stopped but I already has some nice shrapnel cuts to my face. Good thing I was wearing eye protection. Went in to clean up and when I came back I saw I had lost a tire. The rim was plowing a furrow in the rock feeding it in to the blade. Raised the deck and back to the barn. I ended up ordering 2 tire assemblies from Messicks since my dealer said he could more get them. Now we wait. Spent a couple hours Sunday looking for aftermarket but didn’t find much that looked like they would work without modification either to the shaft or new wheel. Pricy buggers and I ordered 2. Shipping was around $10 for FedEx. Still less than a new finish mower. Will pull the blades and put a new edge on them as well.

You got your money's worth out of those.

Yes, they are expensive.

Sometimes you need to ream the bushings in the new tire/wheel assembly to assure preoper rotation of the wheel.

 

[johnjk]

New wheels from Messicks slid right on. Judging by the shaft wear both the prior owner and I missed that shaft zerk. It was fully packed with crud but once clean it flowed grease easily. Far enough in I can’t get the lock n lube on it. Wire wheeled off all the rust and dirt. Replaced the hardware that came with the kit, packed the hub till I could see grease out of both sides of the wheel and job done. 35 min to do both and lube all the points on the deck. Tonight I’m doing some maintenance reading to see what else I’ve missed. I may look for replacement arms but the plan is to just keep it lubed and see how long the deck lasts. I figure it was purchased in 1997. Had a couple spacers and a cotter pin left over from the universal kit. In to the parts bin with those and the old washers.