RE: (ET) Mower deck rollers or something else?

["Pieter Litchfield" <plitch attglobal net>]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

I too suffered from "scalp wounds" from the rear cross bar support - even
with 2 5/8" OD rollers.  I added a hard slippery surface to my worn rollers
by slitting 2" PVC pipe, forced it onto the roller, and adding a sliver of
PVC held by wood screws to fill in the gap.  ground a radius on the ends of
the PVC, and it worked OK.  Wear on the inside (shaft) is as big a problem
with reduced clearances as wear on the outside of the roller.  I think,
however, that ball bearings would have an extremely short life due to the
amount of dirt and desbris that visits the roller area.  I am thinking of
engineering a replacement bracket that would mount the ball shaped wheels
that modern decks ofetn use.  These are not true casters (no swivel), but
their very round cross section allows them a lot of sideways slippage -
probably more than the rollers.


>  -----Original Message-----
> From:         owner-elec-trak cosmos5 phy tufts edu
> [mailto:owner-elec-trak cosmos5 phy tufts edu] 
> Sent: Sunday, April 30, 2000 08:57 AM
> To:   Elec-Trak@Cosmos5. Phy. Tufts. Edu
> Subject:      Re: (ET) Mower deck rollers or something else?
> 
> I think part of the problem with the rear rollers is that they are too
> long, and have too much rolling friction. Have you ever seen the conveyor
> rollers they use to unload trucks? These have many small rollers like
> roller skate wheels. What do you think about replacing the 6" ET rollers
> with a bunch of 1" rollers with 1/4" spacers between? What about adding
> ball bearings to the 6" rollers?
> 
> Rick Barnes
> Aloha, Oregon
> 
> E15 Elec-Trak
> 1980 Cushman Titan