Until I figure out a better bearing arrangement for these wheels, this is what I did.
The first pic shows how my "axles" for the caster wheels were just shot. There are two cast iron bushings that are a light press into the wheel. Then a shaft slides through which should be non-rotating and clamped to the caster yoke by the 1/2" bolt.
I chucked up the small flanged cast iron bushings in my lathe and bored the ID up to 1". Then I took a piece of cold rolled 1" bar and center drilled it to 1/2" and cut the length to fit the yoke. I cleaned out all the "lapping compound" grease that was inside the wheel hub, bolted it together and filled up the wheel cavity with grease.
It's not the greatest bearing arrangement as grease needs to find it's way between the "axle shaft" and the cast iron bushing to keep from wearing. If that hub doesn't get continuous grease gun attention, the axles will look like the first pic. I bought my decks used, so all wear happened by PO's
The first pic shows how my "axles" for the caster wheels were just shot. There are two cast iron bushings that are a light press into the wheel. Then a shaft slides through which should be non-rotating and clamped to the caster yoke by the 1/2" bolt.
I chucked up the small flanged cast iron bushings in my lathe and bored the ID up to 1". Then I took a piece of cold rolled 1" bar and center drilled it to 1/2" and cut the length to fit the yoke. I cleaned out all the "lapping compound" grease that was inside the wheel hub, bolted it together and filled up the wheel cavity with grease.
It's not the greatest bearing arrangement as grease needs to find it's way between the "axle shaft" and the cast iron bushing to keep from wearing. If that hub doesn't get continuous grease gun attention, the axles will look like the first pic. I bought my decks used, so all wear happened by PO's
