mf2320 mower gauge wheel

[beargap]

I have a GC2400 with the FEL and the 54" 2320 mower deck. Yesterday I was surprised to see the front left gauge or caster wheel was gone...just the bracket that attaches to the deck was there. I've never had a wheel fall off any of the 3 tractors used for mowing, so I spent an hour or more walking around the farm where I had driven the tractor, mostly hauling logs and rarely mowing, but to no avail. I have no idea how this could come off, and not be noticed as I would surely have driven over it when it happened. This morning I thought I better see what the replacement cost would be. On my 2 tractors with Woods mowers, I expected them to be high, and replacing the wheels on one of those a year ago set me back around $70, each. Imagine my shock when I looked up the cost to replace this one small wheel assembly...$350!! Holy smokes! Is there an alternative out there. I was literally blown away.

 

[Dmacleo]

was it the wheel came off the "axle" or did top restraining clip break and whole assy came off?
the wheel 4265519M91 shows as approx $118 and the 2 bushings, washer, end clip can really be anything.


disregard I misread your post about what was missing, yeah you need axles and everything. yeah that fork (as they call it) lists as 152$ alone and thats with no wheel. bushings, etc. the pin alone is approx 79 $.
HOLY CRAP LOL
I'd gather al your friends and family and rewalk the areas MANY times LOL

 

[lpakiz]

…….With a metal detector……

 

[blackd]

Take a look at Kubota gauge wheel assembly to see if it is usable. IIRC the fork shaft is shorter but still long enough to be used. You might lose some of the height adjustment range.

 

[beargap]

Well, miracles do happen. Over 3 days I spent hours in the fields and on every trail I had used that tractor this year, even using a weed eater to cut back taller grass to see if the wheel was hiding, but to no avail. Today I was going to pull the other front wheel to take around to other dealers (the Massey dealer 30 miles away seems to no longer carry the brand, anyway) to see if a Kubota or JD wheel would work. I found it was impossible to pull that wheel on level ground even with the deck fully raised, so off again revisiting any place where I would cross a ditch or go over large rocks. Sure enough, on one of the woods trails I found it kicked back in the undergrowth off the side of the trail. The rubber wheel was pretty chewed up, so this happened when I was passing there and had the deck up but running the blades to clip the tall weeds. As I went over the rocks it was high enough in the center to drop the wheel (no telling where the cotter pin and metal pin were lost) and the it was grabbed by a blade and hurled into the woods. It is back on and usable, but I will replace the iffy pin with a PTO-style square safety pin as used on the back wheels and keep an eye open for a less expensive wheel.

 

[Dmacleo]

cool deal

 

[JWR]

Happy ending ! Suggest look at

for maint on those wheels. I would definitely use some sort of fail-safe pins and make darn sure the assembly cannot come off. By the way, at those prices I would have to consider finding more reasonably priced wheels & swivels (if this ever happens again) and have a weldong/fabrication shop adapt them to your deck. The $350 is utterly absurd. You can probably search around [on the web] and find a beat up old deck with the wheels and swivels intact for that kind of money and buy it for parts.

 

[beargap]

The original metal pin with cotter pin was replaced by the safety pin shown installed on the deck. I can see how the original cotter pic might have snagged on brush and pulled out without being noticed, then it was just a matter of time before the pin vibrated out.Then the whole assembly was just waiting for a dip to drop off. The safety pin, now on all 4 wheels, should resist that.

 

[GeneV]

Those retaining clips get yanked out by weeds, I've learned that the hard way. I just replace them with a shcs screw and a nut, that wheel ain't going anywhere.

 

[Dmacleo]

my MF2326 mid mount uses these and they come off hard.



massey part number 4260289M1 and should be around 4$ each.
same clip used the 2325. may fit yours.

 

[GeneV]

my MF2326 mid mount uses these and they come off hard.

View attachment 706841

massey part number 4260289M1 and should be around 4$ each.
same clip used the 2325. may fit yours.

Yup, that's mine too, and they yanked right a few times now when mowing next to cattails around my pond.

 

[Dmacleo]

Yup, that's mine too, and they yanked right a few times now when mowing next to cattails around my pond.

wow I've nailed mine with spruce brush and limbs and they never moved

 

[GeneV]

Yeh I guess it was just my luck maybe. Either way, screw and nut, problem solved.

 

[JWR]

my MF2326 mid mount uses these and they come off hard.

View attachment 706841

massey part number 4260289M1 and should be around 4$ each.
same clip used the 2325. may fit yours.

I do not see any way that one of those spring type concentric circular clips would ever comp off unintentionally. I've seen many over the last 3 or 4 decades and never saw one of those come off without human assistance.

 

[irvingj]

Mine also has those spring-wound clip things. What a PITA to remove... but I've never lost one, either....

 

[Chem_E]

I bought these wheels on Amazon for about $10 each.

Maxpower 335098B Deck Wheel for John Deere M111489, AM-116299, M11149​

Had to bore out the holes using a 7/8" (I think) twist bit in a variable speed hand drill. Drill slow, only a few RPM as the plastic comes out in one ribbon. If you have a better drill press than mine and a jig to clamp the wheel, that might work too. I added a single 7/8" washer on either side. They do slide side to side on the axle a bit so a few more washers might be helpful, but they do work. Did that last fall so nearly one full mowing season and still working.

 

[JWR]

I bought these wheels on Amazon for about $10 each.

Maxpower 335098B Deck Wheel for John Deere M111489, AM-116299, M11149​

Had to bore out the holes using a 7/8" (I think) twist bit in a variable speed hand drill. Drill slow, only a few RPM as the plastic comes out in one ribbon. If you have a better drill press than mine and a jig to clamp the wheel, that might work too. I added a single 7/8" washer on either side. They do slide side to side on the axle a bit so a few more washers might be helpful, but they do work. Did that last fall so nearly one full mowing season and still working.

I bought a set for my Kubota BX2200 MMM deck from Amazon at about that same price. The set included the special bolts for each wheel which fit the Kubota deck and of course the wheels they came in. No drilling involved. Surely that same kind of set is sold for the Massey deck. I'd look harder before doing any drilling on wheels intended for some other intended host deck.

 

[irvingj]

I had a different set of problems with my 2325 MMM. First, the snap ring at the base of one of the swivel wheels (front) apparently fell off(??), so the whole thing dropped down and the washer fell off and was lost. Had to drill out a large washer to get that to fit, but daughter's R&D outfit had a snap ring... so that was a fairly easy fix.

While putting the MMM up for the winter, I discovered that on the rear wheels, the slotted spring pin that holds the wheels onto the axles (all four wheels use this method) had been ground away by rubbing on the washer(s) over the years, no doubt because of the sandy nature of the backfill put in around the house when it was built.

Half of the pin was ground away, half-way through... but the lower section was completely gone. Turned the wheel over in my hand to get at the grease fitting... and one of the washers dropped right off! (WTH??) Then I saw the pins were worn away.

So-- if that ever happens: pins are metric, 5mm. Closest I could find locally was 3/16" (Tractor Supply), which worked, but the fit is not so tight. Have some 5mm x 40mm pins on order (Grainger).

Fist pic is front wheel, showing the pin the way it's supposed to look. Second pic is one of the rears -- note that the lower half of the pin is completely gone. Third pic is from MF parts diagram. Fourth pic is one of the 2 pins after it was removed & cleaned up.

 

[GeneV]

I had a different set of problems with my 2325 MMM. First, the snap ring at the base of one of the swivel wheels (front) apparently fell off(??), so the whole thing dropped down and the washer fell off and was lost. Had to drill out a large washer to get that to fit, but daughter's R&D outfit had a snap ring... so that was a fairly easy fix.

While putting the MMM up for the winter, I discovered that on the rear wheels, the slotted spring pin that holds the wheels onto the axles (all four wheels use this method) had been ground away by rubbing on the washer(s) over the years, no doubt because of the sandy nature of the backfill put in around the house when it was built.

Half of the pin was ground away, half-way through... but the lower section was completely gone. Turned the wheel over in my hand to get at the grease fitting... and one of the washers dropped right off! (WTH??) Then I saw the pins were worn away.

So-- if that ever happens: pins are metric, 5mm. Closest I could find locally was 3/16" (Tractor Supply), which worked, but the fit is not so tight. Have some 5mm x 40mm pins on order (Grainger).

Fist pic is front wheel, showing the pin the way it's supposed to look. Second pic is one of the rears -- note that the lower half of the pin is completely gone. Third pic is from MF parts diagram. Fourth pic is one of the 2 pins after it was removed & cleaned up.

View attachment 722130 View attachment 722131 View attachment 722132 View attachment 722133

Well you got the 5mm spring pins ordered already. I was gonna say, just hit ebay, I find stuff like that pretty cheap on ebay.

 

[irvingj]

Got the pins from Grainger yesterday, and my assumption was correct, they need to be 5mm. Old new ones (3/16) came out very easily; suspect I could have pulled them out with a pair of needle-nose pliers so they probably wouldn't have lasted long. New 5mm pins definitely needed some force to tap them in. Good to go. BTW, pins were 5mm x 40 mm and I have extras (pack of 25) if anybody needs a couple.