The Green Teamster: Taking the wheels off my International Harvestor #9 mower

Y'all might remember that I acquired an IH #9 mower last year. I haven't really touched it in 6 months (Blog Entry Here). I tried a few times since then to pull the wheels off, but to no avail. I only had a gear puller, and the wheels were just big enough that when I started to get it tight, one of the 3 arms would pop off. This lead to it sitting for quite a while.

Yesterday I was at the local hardware store, and I asked them if they had anything like that. The clerk informed me that they didn't, but then added "You could probably rent one from O'Reilly's." Why had I never thought of this. Brilliant. I went right over to O'Reilly's Auto Parts, and rented a big puller.

According to my Lynn Miller Book (The Horsedrawn Mower Book), it said to never apply heat. Just use a puller and apply lots of penetrating oil. He states that eventually, it will give way (cited his worst case of taking 3 days of constant pressure and penetrating oil). I got the new puller on it, and cranked it tight. To my surprise, none of the arms popped off. It got real tight in a hurry. I had been applying PB Blaster generously to it, and decided to leave it tight with pressure, and do a few jobs around the house.

One trick I should state that I did, was to use a nut between the puller and the axle. The puller has a fine point on it, and the axle center also has a bump on it. I put a nut between them to keep the puller centered on the axle as I tightened it. And it did get tight!! The nut smashed completely flat because of all the pressure being put on it.

I tightened bit by bit, and the axle seemed determined to stay frozen in place like it has been for who knows how long. Then, as I gave it a turn, a small *POP* sounded, and to my surprise, I could see that there was a line now between the axle and the hub. IT MOVED! WOO HOO!

Puller and a breaker bar with 19mm socket.

If you look close (click on the picture) you'll see a bit of a gap between the wheel and the body of the mower. It's slowly coming off.

It was NOT easy going after that. This hub was hanging on for all it was worth. It took another 15 minutes of hard turns before the hub was finally freed from the axle. I was so excited. Hurray! I finally removed the wheel. When the hub popped off, I saw why the wheel wasn't clicking like it was supposed to. Grease had hardened and had frozen the tines in place. They had then glued themselves to the wheel. One wheel down ... one to go.

The bare axle. A sight I was glad to see.

Here's the inside view of the hub and tines. Two tines were stuck to the wheel.

Here's the wheel. A very gunked up surface.

Now, usually once you have success doing something once, it's a walk in the park next time ... right? WRONG!!! The second wheel was a PAIN IN THE ASS!!! (yes ... that's 3 exclamation points)

It all started off good. But as the new nut smashed itself into the axle, it moved towards the key that was protruding a bit. As it got tighter, it slid more and more, till the threads were grinding on the wheel key. It was Very difficult to turn. I'm going to section this second wheel into 2 categories ... What I Should Have Done, and What I did.

WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE:

I should have lined things up right, and applied lots of pressure and lots of PB Blaster. When it got so hard to turn the breaker bar that I couldn't turn it anymore, I should have stopped, and allowed time for the PB Blaster to get in there and do it's job. I should have waited it out a bit more, and been patient.

WHAT I DID:

With one wheel off, my mind was set that wheel #2 was coming off too. When I couldn't turn the pry bar anymore, I held the prybar still, and used my foot and hand to rotate the wheel. This kept tightening the puller, but it was very hard to do. I did this over and over. Then I noticed something bad. the puller's center threaded piece was bending under such extreme pressure. it was slipping to the side. It was getting dark, and I was not happy.

I pulled the puller off, only to find that the nut between the puller and the axle had been smashed into none existence. This then flattened the center threaded part of the puller into a completely flat surface. Also, the center bar had a slight bend to it now. I took it into the garage, tightened it into the vice. and put a ratchet on it. I applied grease to the threads, and began to loosen it, and tighten it. This was hard work, but it bent the rod back straight (well, straight enough). I went out and tried to put it on the wheel again, but the flat surface on the puller would not stay centered on the axle. Back into the garage and the vice, and I used a grinder to put a point on it. I then got another nut that was sized right, and tried again.

It was dark by this time, and my brain decided that there was probably a better way to turn the wheel where I didn't have to hand onto it. I got an old piece of pipe and stuck it on the ratchet handle. I then started turning the wheel with the center threaded part of the puller centered on the axle. it got tight, and tighter, and tighter. I noticed the nut was being smashed to smithereens again, but this time the puller stayed centered. I got excited, thinking that I was making headway, but still no movement of the wheel. Things got so tight that I thought that the puller itself was going to explode somehow. I kept turning the wheel though (which was much easier than moving the breaker bar)

You can see the pipe on a ratchet and the puller on straight.

Another view of the setup that got it to pop

Then ... it happened. a big *POP* and the hub moved. WOO HOO! Oh man was I excited to hear that. From there, I just kept turning the wheel. It would get tighter, and tighter, and then ... *pop* ... it would give a little more. It did that over and over until the hub was freed. It was another 15 minutes of turning from the first pop till the hub was freed. I was so glad to have the second wheel off.

On the second hub, one of the springs had broken completely in half. As with the other side, the tines were stuck in place with 50 year old grease.

These wheels were seriously stuck on this mower. I'm very glad to have them off. Now I can clean the surfaces all up, and get it back together. Maybe there's a chance I could use it this year. :)