San Antonio Lawn Care/Equipment Thread

[lb1947]

Yeah, it makes a big difference cost-wise. A new tire is approximately $8 while a new wheel is around $30. Replacing 3 tires cost me $24. Had I opted to replace the entire wheel for all three, it would have cost me $90. I only paid $58 for the whole mower a few years ago (I bought it used) so it's a cost-to-benefit thing. One source for these parts is Honda wheels and tires . If bought through them, I don't know how much additional it would have cost to cover shipping. I bought mine from a local parts dealer, but only paid $8 per tire total.

[lb1947]

Now that I have spiffy new tires on my Honda HR214 self-propelled walk-behind mower, it has developed a new problem. Starting just recently one or the other of the rear wheels will frequently (but not always) lockup when I try to make a directional change; i.e., raise front of mower slightly, then turn mower to left or right to change direction. When the mower is propelled forward or pulled backward, the rear wheels turn fine. Does anyone have any ideas as to what could be wrong? Thanks.

[TrapperL]

Yeah, the rear axle is pretty much a straight, solid type with ratchets on the rear wheels. If these don't release when backing up or turning, they appear to be locked up. I'd suggest taking the rear wheels off and looking for the 2 pieces of metal that are spring loaded that provide the release of the wheel and clean them out. Probably a wire brush will do the trick. You can't use any type of lube here that is wet as it will attract dirt and mess it up even worse. I generally use graphite on all of my yard equipment and that's available at the home stores in a tube for fairly cheap money. This part would have been replaced with the rear wheels and is part of the rear wheel.

[Goominim]

Originally Posted by BroadStreet/PattisonAve

I'm looking at buying a new mower. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I bought but my Murray lawnmower with a Briggs and Stratton engine in 1999. It's still going strong and starts after the first or second pull everytime. I did have to replace the handle (probably my fault for being too rough on it), but that has been the only failure worth mentioning. It's a 6HP model, with a 20" cut. I paid $300 for the mower back then, as I recall.

[lb1947]

Thanks for the advice, TrapperL. I'll see if I can get the rear wheels off and clean things up in there plus lube with graphite.

In the long run I may find that just changing the rear wheels' tires vice replacing both wheels with new ones may not have been the cheapest way to go after all.

Once I get my lawnmower going again, I have a used Troy-Bilt straight shaft grass trimmer powered by a 2-cycle engine which I picked up cheap ($5.60) that I need to get up and running (or at least see if it will work). I'm reluctantly becoming a power tool repairman for lawn equipment; I'd rather be inside where it's cool, working on computer hardware! So standby for questions on Troy-Bilt grass trimmers.

[dbbd]

Trapper gave some good advice, but I'd like to give you one more thing to check for.

I don't have the same mower, mine is an 8 year old Toro/Tecumseh that I had the same problem with.. Check the teeth on the gears and make sure they aren't chipped/broken with the metal still floating around in there. It happened to me this spring and ended up replacing the wheel. Hopefully that's not the case after going through all that trouble to get the rubber on the rim.

In the future, if you are going to just replace the rubber on the wheel, once you get the old one off, get the new one on as tight as it will go, remove the wheel and put it on a flat surface. Then get a rubber mallet and CAREFULLY tap the rim down into the wheel.