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

[Chris Meier <ChrisM pptvision com>]

I thought I mentioned this in a previous message, but I can't
seem to find it.  Has anyone tried shortening the 'tube' that
the bar (holding the rollers) slides into?  The 'tubes' on my
mower deck are nearly 3" long, if the deck angles only
slightly when turning, the end of the 'tube' can dig in.  I
expect new rollers will help my machine (rollers are unevenly
worn, have large (worn) inner diameters, etc), but I wonder
if anyone has tried shortening those support tubes to 2" or
less, or whatever length would keep the bar from slipping out
or fatiguing the tubes?

On Sunday, April 30, 2000 6:02 PM, Pieter Litchfield
[SMTP:plitch attglobal net] wrote:
> 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