Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Wow, found someone else with my problem. I have gone through a lot of lawnmowers and keep having the same problem with the wheels. I also have no use for a self-propelled mower and I also don't use a bag. I bought a non-self-propelled Honda mower that doesn't have a bag. I wear out wheels constantly. I've found them a little cheaper online that what you quoted. I have a problem with the wobbly wheels and have seen a YouTube video about using a short piece 1/2 inch copper water pipe as a bushing. I haven't tried it yet.
It seems that self-propelled mowers have much higher quality wheels. The ball bearing wheels on my mower don't seem to make a difference. I also mow across a driveway and turn my mower around out on the road, which wears the wheels out.
The Honda mower runs fine and starts up easily. I just assumed that paying almost $400 for a push mower would get me better wheels that don't wobble. I am curious if I could use the more expensive Honda wheels on my mower. I just don't remember having this my trouble with lawnmower wheels back in the 1970s.
I think the self propelled mowers tend to have bearings cause they are powered and would wear super fast without.
Apparently I cant post a link to a product, but do search for Arnold 490-321-0003. Thats the 7 inch wheel and for some reason cheaper than other sizes even smaller ones. These are the old 1960s/1970s style steel center wheels with replaceable bearings. They come in other sizes, think 5 inch upto 12 inch. Shop around, prices can vary quite a bit. Also measure width of your hub to make sure the bolt/axle is long enough on your mower. If its too long you can shim with flat washers of course.
These were what I was mentioning replacing the plastic wonders on my Murray mower in first post. It just seems unpleasant to have to pay $60 to replace wheels on what was $150 mower a couple years ago. The 12" version of Arnold wheel is $20. After ONE YEAR of use the plastic wheels wobbly. I mean fine if manufacturer feels need to use plastic, but at least put olite bronze bushings in the wheels or the short bit copper pipe.....
Now these are the design wheel used in 70s but those were USA made and these no doubt are Chinese. So your mileage may vary.
I think the real bearings are way to go if possible. I know back in old days nobody tried to lube them, they were supposedly sealed at factory with all lube they needed for life. Yea... maybe the USA version, but Chinese manufacturers arent known for attention to detail. Most of these you can get bit oil/ATF in the seam between the center and the metal seal. I have gotten some old rusted ones moving by drilling a 1/8" hole in the seal and getting some oil/ATF forced in with oil squirter can and then hold center of bearing with vise grips and turn outer edge of bearing with pliers. Back and forth, eventually they start turning freely like they were meant to do. Obviously once you free them up, either seal the hole or regularly put couple squirts oil in the hole before use. I suppose you could use grease with blunt needle end on grease gun. One guy on youtube suggested using bar oil made for chain saw, its very tacky and holds on longer. He also suggested oiling sealed bearings using a vacuum pump like used to evacuate car air conditioner system. Dont have to drill holes, as you release the bearing in cup oil, it will suck oil into the vacuum inside the bearing. Or he suggests other alternatives.
I had a push mower (I don't do self propelled) with the big plastic back wheels. I was mowing my 1/2 acre yard plus an old family cemetery for about 10 years and didn't have any trouble with the wheels. I ended up having to replace one after grandson's friend thought he'd hit the wheel with a baseball bat 8 or 10 times.
I had a push mower (I don't do self propelled) with the big plastic back wheels. I was mowing my 1/2 acre yard plus an old family cemetery for about 10 years and didn't have any trouble with the wheels. I ended up having to replace one after grandson's friend thought he'd hit the wheel with a baseball bat 8 or 10 times.
Must be some difference in plastic used. But how you are supposed to determine that as a consumer before purchase is beyond me.
Also some big plastic wheels do have the replaceable sealed bearings just like the metal center wheels.
I found the Arnold 7" Universal Replacement Steel Wheel with 55 lb. Load Rating on Amazon for $7.85. I'm hoping it fits.
Measure first, both diameter of wheel, thinking maybe some hondas used 8 inch wheels on back and 7 inch in front? And more important, measure width of hub, make sure it isnt too wide for your axle. Me personally, I have a welder, I will make it fit, but if you dont weld, its better to measure. Offset of hub also matters though probably only a problem if yours has some extreme offset. Oh the other thing might want to measure diameter of hole of your current wheels. It might not be half inch, might be some metric size, bigger or smaller. Though suspect its half inch or metric equivalent which should be 13mm?. Honda mowers though were known for using non standard sizes, the crankshaft on engines on genuine Honda mower were oddball metric size rather than common 7/8 or 1 inch on most small engines. Meaning used engines salvaged from Honda mower might be hard to adapt to anything else. Same with finding replacement engine for a Honda mower. Actually rather clever way to keep Honda customers more reliant on their local dealer.
Well, nobody touched on the cause of this problem, friction. plastic rotating on a metal shaft, no surprise the plastic is going to wear out fast. Solution? Oil the wheels twice per mowing season, and the plastic wheels will last 15 years. Best to use a small squeeze bottle (a used tri-flow bottle works great) with the little straw tube to guide, regular 5-30 motor oil works fine. Best way to oil the wheel, lift up one side and put a block under it so the wheels turn free, check for play in the wheel, pull the wheel and hold while you fill in the gap with oil, spin the wheel. Do both sides of each wheel, deck side and bolt side, spin the wheel, give it a second squirt of oil and spin it again. Might take 5 or 10 minutes to do all 4 wheels. I still have the same plastic wheels on my old Yard Machine MTD from 2006, they are kinda wobbly now but I bet I can get another couple years out of them, lol.
Well, nobody touched on the cause of this problem, friction. plastic rotating on a metal shaft, no surprise the plastic is going to wear out fast. Solution? Oil the wheels twice per mowing season, and the plastic wheels will last 15 years. Best to use a small squeeze bottle (a used tri-flow bottle works great) with the little straw tube to guide, regular 5-30 motor oil works fine. Best way to oil the wheel, lift up one side and put a block under it so the wheels turn free, check for play in the wheel, pull the wheel and hold while you fill in the gap with oil, spin the wheel. Do both sides of each wheel, deck side and bolt side, spin the wheel, give it a second squirt of oil and spin it again. Might take 5 or 10 minutes to do all 4 wheels. I still have the same plastic wheels on my old Yard Machine MTD from 2006, they are kinda wobbly now but I bet I can get another couple years out of them, lol.
Too late to close the barn door, that horse has already left. In other words the plastic wheels at this point have the gobbly wobbles. So either I drill out the wheels and drive in some short lengths of copper pipe or oilite bushings. Or suppose if I were glutton for punishment, make plywood centers for the wheels and add bearings though the outer "solid tire" is so "low profile", not thinking this is worth the effort. Or replace the wheels with the old school 12 inch metal center Arnold wheels with factory bearings. Guessing those wheels would outlast the mower. I will measure the axles and think about it for a while. I have my old Yazoo which works fine though its old enough there is always something to tinker with on it. Hey its from the 1950s so has an excuse.... And could piece together another mower if I just absolutely needed to, have couple spare engines.
By the way not being used to plastic wheel drag (the Yazoo has wheel bearings), I did try lubing them last summer twice. Took wheels clear off. Tried both oil and grease on the axle. Didnt think to try the bar oil. But yea it helped a bit with the drag, but not for very long. It obviously didnt prevent much wear. I assume these wheels are simply the cheapest of the cheap and kinda hopeless even brand new. I seriously wonder how long Briggs/Murray expected this mower to last? It was obviously aimed at people looking for cheapest new mower possible. I did mention didnt I that it was given to me basically brand new. My friend bought it early in season before she actually needed a mower. She couldnt get it started new out of box and by time she found this out, too late to return it. The warranty is a joke and I live too far away to play handyman. She was always a loyal Briggs customer up until this mower, her dad always bought Briggs. So much for retaining customer loyalty. She now owns a much more expensive Honda. My jaw kinda dropped when she told me what it cost. But hey it works and works well for her, not going to criticize such a purchase. She is meticulous about maintaining it.
Yes, the previous mower I had before the Yard Machine had plastic wheels that wore out fast, so I made sure to oil the wheels on my Yard Machine so it did not suffer the same fate. One thing I notice on most plastic wheels, the outside of wheel where the bolt head is, they always put a cheap plastic protector cap on there to keep dirt out, and all of those fall off and get lost within a few years time. So dirt and sand gets in there and increases the friction. But it's not like there is high RPM's on a lawnmower wheel, you push it along at 2 MPH so if you keep them lubed, it will take much longer to wear them out. Axel grease would be better, but you would have to remove the wheels to apply, which is a pain, oil works just as good, but must be done more often. I never even bother to clean off the old gunk before I apply fresh oil, just apply twice a season and this has worked fine for me. On a related matter, oil the wheel height adjuster mechanism once in a while too, because those will seize up and rust if you don't. I need to lower the blade height once a year in the fall to do a good job mulching the leaves.
Keep learning. Just figured out the bearings that come in the wheels with replaceable bearings tend to be the cheapest of cheap. Commonly called unground, they have metal wrap around seal that also acts as the outer bearing race. These tend to come with slop built in and have least longevity. Next step up is the ground type with rubber/plastic seal. These have almost no noticable slop (or rather shouldnt have any) and will last longer or until the seal fails. The best are ground but with metal seal. Though they too come in different qualities, the best have very close tolerances and capable of 20k rpm. The lesser ones lesser tolerances and more like limit of 1000rpm. Still obviously fine for wheelbarrow or mower.
Anyway say that Arnold wheel, no doubt comes from factory with the "unground" type (no idea if it does, but highly likely), but you could replace them with much better ground bearing for very little extra money.
Yes, the previous mower I had before the Yard Machine had plastic wheels that wore out fast, so I made sure to oil the wheels on my Yard Machine so it did not suffer the same fate. One thing I notice on most plastic wheels, the outside of wheel where the bolt head is, they always put a cheap plastic protector cap on there to keep dirt out, and all of those fall off and get lost within a few years time. So dirt and sand gets in there and increases the friction. But it's not like there is high RPM's on a lawnmower wheel, you push it along at 2 MPH so if you keep them lubed, it will take much longer to wear them out. Axel grease would be better, but you would have to remove the wheels to apply, which is a pain, oil works just as good, but must be done more often. I never even bother to clean off the old gunk before I apply fresh oil, just apply twice a season and this has worked fine for me. On a related matter, oil the wheel height adjuster mechanism once in a while too, because those will seize up and rust if you don't. I need to lower the blade height once a year in the fall to do a good job mulching the leaves.
You know mine is cheap cause it just has the bolt with a nut on end that holds wheel on. No fancy protector hubcap. Not absolutely sure my mower has height adjuster. Think it does cause I remember setting it high as possible and wishing it would go up one more notch. They limit height so some idiot user is less likely to stick his toe under mower deck with blade turning. But some cheap mowers just have four or five drilled holes and you have to take out the bolt that holds the wheel to adjust height by moving it to another hole.
I wonder if those wheel bolts/axles are hardened. If one could drill a hole down center of bolt to about center of wheel and then a perpendicular hole at that point, then thread a zerk on end of the bolt... You could just give them a shot of grease from grease gun every once in a while. Be kind of a pain to set it up, but make lubing the plastic wheels whole lot easier. Mild steel no problem if one has a drill press to keep hole straight, hardened steel, probably not.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
