I have a 54" ZT Elites and the deck wheels are worn and it looks like the mounting bolts might be a bit bent, so I'm looking to replace them. I normally like to stick to OEM parts, but the squared off design they use occasionally dig in when turning on uneven surfaces, so I was thinking the crowned design of a lot of the aftermarket would work better. Has anyone found a good quality aftermarket wheel/bolt assembly?
Replacement Deck Wheels
- Thread starter Pat6366
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BigBlueEdge
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The gauge wheels on my Rogue's deck are the rounded type. Maybe you can just get those to replace the ones on your Elite?
FYI: The gage wheels are not supposed to have continuous contact with the ground. If you are cutting at 3" or less, move the wheels to the top mounting holes. For anything over 3" move them to the lowest mounting holes.
ILENGINE
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People seem to think they are suppose to set the cutting height, and that may of been true on older decks that floated on the ground and like some Snapper/simplicity mowers of years past with their full length deck rollers. But anti-scalp wheels would be a better definition of their use.
StarTech
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From the OP post I gather he is correctly using the gauge wheels as he said they sometimes dig in. Even here with my uneven lawn gauge wheels make contact on turns about half the time but I got moles which I have largely ran off now. A few ago I put up some signs as a joke giving them directions to the neighbor lawns. And for some reason it seems to work. Maybe they can read.
Now I do have customers that have them set with near full contact. But customers are aware of the wear issues involve but their sod is so thick that it takes this to cut even or they would be scalping the sod in places. To me their sod is like a plush carpet where your feet sinks into the pile.
A regular seeded lawn is a whole different beast. And I prefer a seeded lawn over sod lawn any day. It is a healthier lawn in my opinion that requires less watering and feed.
With this in mind square face deck wheels on the leading edge do tend to tear up a lawn since basically the deck slides side ways in sharp turns. I have only seen square wheels on the rear of older MTD decks here where there is less prone of this side ways movement.
But even those nose rollers on some Husqvarna riders can tear the lawn at times but are usually already damage from tree root impacts. Beside I do a lot deck wheel bracket repairs because tree root impacts. And matter I just destroy two deck blades on my personal mower because a dang tree root hidden the grass. I hit it dead center of the deck.
Now I do have customers that have them set with near full contact. But customers are aware of the wear issues involve but their sod is so thick that it takes this to cut even or they would be scalping the sod in places. To me their sod is like a plush carpet where your feet sinks into the pile.
A regular seeded lawn is a whole different beast. And I prefer a seeded lawn over sod lawn any day. It is a healthier lawn in my opinion that requires less watering and feed.
With this in mind square face deck wheels on the leading edge do tend to tear up a lawn since basically the deck slides side ways in sharp turns. I have only seen square wheels on the rear of older MTD decks here where there is less prone of this side ways movement.
But even those nose rollers on some Husqvarna riders can tear the lawn at times but are usually already damage from tree root impacts. Beside I do a lot deck wheel bracket repairs because tree root impacts. And matter I just destroy two deck blades on my personal mower because a dang tree root hidden the grass. I hit it dead center of the deck.