The frozen whelk thread

[purse]

I hope someone could give me some insight or knowledge on how to get a frozen rear wheel off a garden tractor. Specifically it is a. Old MTD .
I have tried everything from PB Blaster to heat to pounding it. Nothing no budge.
My next try would be to get an air chisel to the back of it. But I wanted to see if anybody had any other ideas?
Jim

Heat up the rim front and rear cherry red around axle . Once hot Quinn

I hope someone could give me some insight or knowledge on how to get a frozen rear wheel off a garden tractor. Specifically it is a. Old MTD .
I have tried everything from PB Blaster to heat to pounding it. Nothing no budge.
My next try would be to get an air chisel to the back of it. But I wanted to see if anybody had any other ideas?
Jim

heat up rim front and rear around the axle quench with water. You may have to due it a few times then use an air chisel. Should walk off the axle. Bye heating and cooling it’s turning the rust to a powder. More likely the rim will need to be touched up with paint. Good luck !

 

[witkop]

A alternate way of heating the assembly is to send more than a few amps through the shaft with a welding transformer.Shaft expands, shrinks, expands, shrinks if you use it in cycles.You willl be limited by the duty cycle of the welder.Alternatively you can adapt an old microwave transformer(s) to very low voltage/high current.Look for DIY spot welders on youtube for ideas.

 

[Piros1]

I’ve not worked on this particular mower but based on what you are saying it sounds like the wheel may have a tapered hub. Regardless if you have a solid shaft rather than the pipe you will get a better impact on the hub of the wheel. If it were mine I would heat the hub up quickly until red and then try to drive it off.
I have in similar situations if you don’t a good torch heat it then spray with a good penetrating oil and let it creep in. Try to tap off If that doesn’t work heat it up again and try to drive it off. The key to heating something like this is to heat it to a red hot as quick as possible so not to heat the shaft then drive it off.

 

[JAZ]

I hope someone could give me some insight or knowledge on how to get a frozen rear wheel off a garden tractor. Specifically it is a. Old MTD .
I have tried everything from PB Blaster to heat to pounding it. Nothing no budge.
My next try would be to get an air chisel to the back of it. But I wanted to see if anybody had any other ideas?
Jim

Try brake fluid. Hit it with hammer, more brake fluid then let set for a day. Might work.

 

[Bertrrr]

Make sure it's not a LH threaded bolt

 

[Handy7rick]

I hope someone could give me some insight or knowledge on how to get a frozen rear wheel off a garden tractor. Specifically it is a. Old MTD .
I have tried everything from PB Blaster to heat to pounding it. Nothing no budge.
My next try would be to get an air chisel to the back of it. But I wanted to see if anybody had any other ideas?
Jim

Best rust inhibitor is brake fluid. Believe me next to heat , it’s the best!

 

[Handy7rick]

Best rust inhibitor is brake fluid. Believe me next to heat , it’s the best!

 

[ESully]

I went through this with my neighbors Craftsman Lawn Tractor. It was not easy. Tried all the methods here. Heating, cooling, penetrating oil, gear puller, hammer & chisel, etc. I did not want to pound too hard on the rim from behind as I worried about the transmission.
I went to a friends service station to ask him for advice, and told my friend I would be back soon. He decided to beat on the back of the rim with a chisel and big hammer while I was gone. When I got back my I found he had knocked something loose in the transmission, as the axle now moved. This was a hydro-static transmission.
So anyway, I had to pull the whole transmission out and take it all apart. On the good side I was finally able to get the rim off now that I had the axle out, and fortunately the only damage was to an internal 'C' clip. New rim was needed, that old one did not want to move after 20 years. Mower's transmission is still working well 3 years later.

 

[Curtisun]

I had a rear wheel just like your description. I done about the same things people are saying to do and I had a 5 lb sledge hammer and used a steel bar along with someone prying at same time and it would not budge.
What I ended up doing was taking a cutting torch and cutting the rim off the axle without damaging the splines. But it takes someone with a lot of experience with a torch not to damage the shaft.

 

[Oddjob]

I have no experience with this wheel set up. Can you get the bolt out? Your picture shows the wheel and tire with no bolt. If you can get the bolt out then maybe try a gear puller. Buy a longer bolt with the same threads and put a dimple in the middle of the head for the puller’s bolt tip to fit in. Then screw in the long bolt and hook the pullers arms to the rim. I think you can borrow a big puller from Autozone for no money if you don’t have one.