Caster Wheels for Undermount Mowers

[Ironlegs]

I have used a Woods L59 undermount mower on a Super A for twenty years. The original set of mower "caster wheels" wore-out after about eighteen years of mowing about eight acres of rough grass and weeds. I was shocked at the prices of replacement OEM caster wheels...only hard rubber tires on sheet metal wheels...no caster forks, cross bolts, mounting brackets. Anyway, last summer, one of the friction nuts loosened on one of the new tires/wheels, the cross-bolt fell away and one new tire/wheel went under the deck while mowing and was destroyed. Facing the high cost of replacement again, I am searching for and considering all available alternatives. Do the Forum readers have any suggestions on replacement mower caster wheels?

[Denny Clayton]

They are only meant to used to keep the mower from bottoming out. They should not be run to hold the mower up, but rather about an inch or so off the ground. Use the hydraulics to hold the mower up, especially on rougher ground.

[Ironlegs]

Amen on the running height of the mower caster wheels...my property has a lengthy frontage on a tar and chip township road with very narrow gravel shoulders. Mowing the weeds on the eighteen inch wide shoulders necessitates running the wheel positioned over the pavement and on the surface which probably caused most of the tire wear. Eighteen years of use feels like reasonable service. I still have the worn caster wheels (which I used to get me through the remainder of the mowing season). The replacement wheels (Woods) were really nice looking and worked well...they're just so expensive that all alternatives must be pursued.