Replacing a front wheel?

[Generac and Stratton]

Wheelhorse from around 1998 or '97. I built a tractor shovel and have been putting close to 350-400 pounds over the nose and after about 40 hours of usage, noticed one of the front wheels was canted. Popped the plastic cover off and something blew out as the only thing keeping the rim on the axle nub was the cotter pin. Never messed with front wheels on a riding mower before so no idea if these are supposed to have pressed-in ball bearings? Or does it have some type of journal bearing it relies on? Rim has grease fitting so which seems odd for pressed in bearings.

Whatever blew out, appears to have deformed the rim's hub in the process. Should I just replace the entire rim? Are these things universal or brand-specific? i.e. can I walk into a Tractor Supply or Harbor Freight and grab one? Or do these put offsets on rims and run different axle shaft journal diameters?

 

[Rivets]

Post the unit model and serial numbers so we can see the ty of wheels you have.

 

[Generac and Stratton]

Model: 73429

Ser: 200000405

 

[reynoldston]

Wheelhorse from around 1998 or '97. I built a tractor shovel and have been putting close to 350-400 pounds over the nose and after about 40 hours of usage, noticed one of the front wheels was canted. Popped the plastic cover off and something blew out as the only thing keeping the rim on the axle nub was the cotter pin. Never messed with front wheels on a riding mower before so no idea if these are supposed to have pressed-in ball bearings? Or does it have some type of journal bearing it relies on? Rim has grease fitting so which seems odd for pressed in bearings.

Whatever blew out, appears to have deformed the rim's hub in the process. Should I just replace the entire rim? Are these things universal or brand-specific? i.e. can I walk into a Tractor Supply or Harbor Freight and grab one? Or do these put offsets on rims and run different axle shaft journal diameters?

This is a Wheelhorse 312 in which it has tubeless front tires so the wheel is sealed with ball bearings, So yes you need new wheels if you can find them?

 

[Generac and Stratton]

Thanks. Detailed rim info is kinda hard to find or I'm typing the wrong things into search as everything pulls up 8 in. swaps, lacks the spindle info, etc..

Appears it's a 3/4" spindle with 3.75" length (4.25" total length) if measuring to the cotter pin hole. Tire on there is 16 x 6.00.

Will just go with a universal Arnold rim locally as I need to be able to run the tractor tomorrow. Lowes appears to have 4 in stock with a 440 pound rating each (rim/tire combo) so will go grab those and hope it holds up rest of the year.

 

[Generac and Stratton]

Ended up with some Arnold 16 x 6.5 from Lowe's. Sits about an inch higher up front and tire is thinner than oem, and runs a journal bearing. Ended up using bronze bushings (one per side) to compensate for the rim's hub only being about 3" long. Bronze bushings were thankfully exact fit (bushing + new rim = same hub length as stock) and push the tire out about 3/4" and gives a nice "tractor" look vs. the stock marshmallow tires. Looks stock with grease caps on though probably no good for guys running a belly mower. Also noticed the slight rake is putting weight over the rear better and the extra ground clearance is nice.