One of the drive wheels on my self-propelled mower started coming apart the other day. I tend to be hard on equipment, treating it like it was made of quality materials and can take some punishment. That’s why I like to buy older tools at auctions; they can handle heavier use than most new tools. Most of this mower is metal, but the wheels are plastic. I would hook the wheel on fence posts and let the mower pull itself around them, mowing close, and it kinda chewed up the wheel.

So a new wheel comes with the gear already pressed into it, and runs $40-50. I didn’t really want to spend that much, and I didn’t want to wait for one to ship anyway, so I thought I’d try to make a replacement. I built it with scrap plywood and a few bolts, and it works as good as new, so I’m pretty happy with it. The video is some clips of the process. Sorry about the crummy audio at the beginning; it does get better.