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Anyone want to share your fix for wobbly wheels. I have used up my supply of good wheels.

Have taken a strip of aluminum flashing material and made a bushing for the inside of the all plastic wheel. Roll it around the bolt to get it to size. Might need to ream out the bore a little bit, need lube every so often. A strip of brass might do it better if you have it.

Hello,

A better fix might be to use a sintered bronze bushing if the plastic wheel has enough meat to do so. I think better hardware store sell these bushings in various sizes.

Drill out the wheel and press in the bronze bushing.

Regards

Jeff

jp1961 said:

Hello,

A better fix might be to use a sintered bronze bushing if the plastic wheel has enough meat to do so. I think better hardware store sell these bushings in various sizes.

Drill out the wheel and press in the bronze bushing.

Regards

Jeff

Click to expand...

Here are some photos of this method I submitted in a post from 8/17. The wheel hole was drilled out with a 5/8 inch bit.

Thanks everyone. I will try the sheet metal first and look for the bronze bushings at the hardware store Wednesday.. There is little worse than wobbly wheels.
Doug

I bored out the wheels on my old 22" MTD, & pressed in some sleeves I had laying around.

The sleeves are made outta bronze. Still working good, I do pop off the wheels at service time & grease the axle bolts. It ain't rocket science..

Folks,
My brother did a nice job of drilling out my four wheels to 5/8" (as mentioned above) and pressing in bronze bushings from True-Value. Nice and "true".



Rocky

Lawn-Boy Rocky said:

Folks,
My brother did a nice job of drilling out my four wheels to 5/8" (as mentioned above) and pressing in bronze bushings from True-Value. Nice and "true".

Rocky

Click to expand...

Rocky- Better than store bought new wheels for sure.. :thumbsup:

I'm assuming the felt-type spacers for these wheels are nothing available anymore?
Would a copper sleeve suffice vs bronze? I ask because I have various small pcs laying about that could be used as such.
I have one 19-in with these style wheels and they are in fact, wobbly and it bugs me. I had planned on looking into a cause and fix for the issue.

Copper will work fine, but likely will wear quicker being softer.. But if you use it post up how it is doing, I have a lot of copper as well..

Mow'N Weeds said:

I'm assuming the felt-type spacers for these wheels are nothing available anymore?
Would a copper sleeve suffice vs bronze? I ask because I have various small pcs laying about that could be used as such.
I have one 19-in with these style wheels and they are in fact, wobbly and it bugs me. I had planned on looking into a cause and fix for the issue.

Click to expand...

I would just go with the bronze at ~$2.50 a corner instead of copper.
And yes my updated set-up still uses the factory felt washers in place.
Rocky

Mow'N Weeds said:

I'm assuming the felt-type spacers for these wheels are nothing available anymore?
Would a copper sleeve suffice vs bronze? I ask because I have various small pcs laying about that could be used as such.
I have one 19-in with these style wheels and they are in fact, wobbly and it bugs me. I had planned on looking into a cause and fix for the issue.

Click to expand...

I have used copper tubing to re-bush many worn out lawnmower wheels. It works great. I just get tube to match the OD of the mounting bolt, cut to length, and drill out the wheel so that the bushing is a light press fit.
I had one mower where I literally wore out the tread and the bushing was still tight. I do start the year by pulling the wheels apart, clean, then grease them.
Bob

The problem folks get into when boring out the plastic hub center is with be concentric with the wheel/tire assembly. I've seen bushed wheels with horrible wobble, some in both directions (X & Y). Even drill press boring can get "off" and causes issues. Minor off-centering at the bolt hole translates into major/visual wobble at the tire. If available, a three-jaw chuck on a small lathe is still the best bet as shown in previous post pictures.
Good luck,
Rocky

True, but not like you are push mowing at 40 mph..