Retreads Required
After a few years, now, it became apparent that Coxy needed new front tyres. I fitted the first one, today. I had a spare wheel, so I'd put the new tyre on that, so I could do a swap next time there was a blade change. That happened today. Several observations are made below, based on that task.
The wheel assembly seemed inordinately heavy. Once split apart, it became obvious why. It was almost full of very mature and very smelly silage.
After a clean out, the view was different. Amazing how much glug was inside.
When the split plastic rims are assembled, there is a locating grove, into which the raised inside ring of the tyre fits, to help locate it positively. But the between-rim-halves fit was not very tight.
Using a sharp chisel, about one sixteenth of an inch was removed from the three bosses on one side, so that the rims, when screwed together, squeezed the tyre more tightly. (One boss only marked)
I hope that will help keep the grass clippings out. That also means the wheel is reduced in thickness, so a packing shim / washer is needed when the wheel is re-fitted to the axle, to reduce end float. I used copper wire as a retainer, as steel split (cotter) pins rust tight in the holes that I drilled, when I replaced the starlok washers, a couple of years back.