Mower deck wheels keep coming off!

[Dave A.]

Hello!

The issue is with my Lawn Boy LT12H lawn tractor.

For some reason, one of the deck wheels will occasionally come off of the deck. The wheel on each side is held onto its shaft with an external snap ring which seats into a groove in the shaft. I'll be merrily driving along, and suddenly realize that I'm scalping the grass, and will turn to see the wheel lying behind me. This has happened a few times last year, and once this year.

Also, there are some extremely thin washers on the shaft, between the wheel and the deck itself. I was always able to locate them when the wheel came off in the past, but wasn't so lucky and lost them this time. Are they an easily found, fairly standard item?

Any ideas or input appreciated. Meanwhile, I'd better stock up on some more snap rings! :thumbdown:

 

[tomsteve]

your local ace hardware should have a selection of both washers and snap rings. might also want to drill a small hole in the shaft for the wheel and put a cotter pin in there to keep the wheel on.

 

[Dave A.]

your local ace hardware should have a selection of both washers and snap rings. might also want to drill a small hole in the shaft for the wheel and put a cotter pin in there to keep the wheel on.

Thanks for the response, tomsteve!

I'll stop by my local Ace store tomorrow. I stopped by the nearest Home Depot this afternoon (I had bought a couple of snap rings there last year), but couldn't locate any in the hardware drawers. The guy working there couldn't have been any less interested in helping me, and seemed more concerned about getting me out of the way. He and a co-worker had barricaded one end of the aisle, and were bringing a forklift, which I had to squeeze past to exit the aisle.

OK, rant over. :wink: You know, I had thought about drilling through the shaft and running a cotter pin through it...that might be a more permanent solution. We've had this lawn tractor since 1989, though we didn't use it much in recent years. We're now using it at a different location, and it seems to lose the wheel at the edge of a driveway that has some pretty coarse rock...maybe that is a factor.

Again, thanks for the ideas! :thumbsup: