pacer 3,177 #1 Posted August 10, 2015 I'm in the process of rebuilding a 48" deck - about my 5th one! - and thought I'd share a couple fixes I've come up with that are relatively easy to do with common items from around most of our shops.The 'roller' wheels on back and front of the deck really take a beating and after I paid out a pretty hefty sum for new ones -- well I thought I could do something better. This is for the solid wheels that have a white bushing on each end that is almost always worn out. I had a piece of 1/2" schedule 80 PVC around the shop (my air line is run with it) and since it has the 1/2" inside is about 7/8" outside it makes an ideal replacement bushing. I chuck it up in the metal lathe - a wood lathe should do just as well - and trim the outside down to my worn wheels inside diameter for about 3/4-1" and cut it off. Here I measure every opening because of the wear, it will vary from .750 to .800. so I trim off what ever is needed to get a good snug fit. This will leave a slight shoulder similar to the original ones. So if the wheels are worn then the axles are more than likely worn too. I get a piece of 1/2' rod and a piece of sheet metal from the scrap pile and a couple minutes on the drill press and a quick spot weld and I have a new axle.My decks get a lot of abuse on the left side from rubbing against the edge of my concrete driveway where I try to get too close, so on my last couple of rebuilds I added a 'guard', Another piece of 1/2" rod from the pile and another few minutes on the welder and I should have enough protection. 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JPWH 6,365 #2 Posted August 11, 2015 Good idea, thanks for sharing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PaulC 342 #3 Posted August 13, 2015 These are nice mods! I did the same thing for the steel axles. I think later model decks wheel horse made them this away also which is a lot easier to manufacture then the bent rods with the flattened end.How do the wheel bushings hold up long term? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Don1977 605 #4 Posted August 16, 2015 The old 75 series decks use the flat strip. I just grind off the end of the shaft and weld and punch them out. Weld in a new shaft,I went to Dogwood rollers with brass bushings around 15 years ago. I just add new shafts and bushings to the front rollers this year.I was replacing the thin plastic rollers at least one each year. The wood rollers are sill in good shape. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
