MMM and the 3 wheel dolly casters?

[ReallyBigWoofers]

All,

I did not come up with this idea, I got it from some else on this site.

If you have a FEL., lift the loader up, tip the bucket down, lower the loader down and lift the front wheels off the ground.

The MMM comes right out, very very easy.

Woofers

 

[Tom_H]

If you have a FEL., lift the loader up, tip the bucket down, lower the loader down and lift the front wheels off the ground.

The MMM comes right out, very very easy.

That would be handy if you always keep the FEL on, including when you mow, but putting the FEL on just so you can get the MMM on or off, then removing the FEL is an awful lot of extra work. Having the MMM on a dolly allows me to angle the MMM at just the right angle to engage the PTO shaft before alligning and docking the deck to the tractor. When removing the MMM, it is easier to just roll the MMM out from under the tractor, allowing the drive shaft to slide apart. Once the MMM is clear, just reach underneath and easily detatch the other half of the shaft from the PTO. That's far less work than using the FEL.

 

[fishpick]

I'm sold - for $20 - I'm off to Lowes at lunch today to get a set of 4... maybe I'll even try them this weekend in the new barn!

 

[Tom_H]

Awhile back, in response to this thread, morpheus sent me a p.m. asking for pics of my MMM dolly. I finally got around to doing some pics today and decided they would fit best in this dormant old thread.

The plywood is (or something close to) half-inch. I just traced the sillhouette of the MMM skirt and cut with a jigsaw. There are 12 2" swivel casters. Originally, when the deck sat on the dolly, the blades were pinned against the plywood and could not move. This prevented me from being able to turn the PTO coupling while attaching it to the stud. The three holes are immediately below the spindle bolts. The trim along the front edge lifts the front lip of the skirt just enough to take the remaining pressure off the blades.

It is not necessary to rotate the anti-scalp wheels on the corners. The dolly rolls easily away from the tractor when detatching. I just push a little with my foot, allowing the split drive shaft to separate. It's then easy to take the remaining part of the shaft and the coupler off.

When attaching, I have the shaft back together and push into place with my foot. The shaft and coupler are both well pre-lubed. It is pretty easy to angle the deck in a way that lets me get my head and both arms under the left side of the tractor. I pre-cock the coupling and use extremely delicate finesse to tilt-rock the coupling back and forth while simultaneously pushing and rotating three or four degrees back and forth. If it doesn't go, I try to use a lighter, rather than heavier, touch. It usually slips on in about three seconds. Then the connection and lift points are pretty easy to line up because of the dolly.

 

[Stargazer]

Hi:

After reading about some people saying wheels come off the 4 3 wheeled dollies I went ahead and got 4 4" pvc end caps(apx $2 each) and drilled a hole and with bolt washers nut put into center of dolly. Havn't used this way yet but think pretty hard to get wheels to hop out! Also using FEL to lift front up make a world of difference also.

Pat R

 

[fishpick]

I'm interested to hear how this works... I'm not picturing it in my mind being a huge success - but- totaly interested!

 

[texbaylea]

My experience has been somewhat different. I had a set of four that I bought maybe 20 years ago and they worked well but they disappeared (except for one) some where along the way. I bought a new set and promptly bent two. I have a smooth concrete floor but I had not really swept it before I tried to move a piece of equipment that did not weigh more than 100#.

The metal guage for the triangular stamping is much lighter guage than my old dolly. The new on has the plastisol covering (to hide how thin the metal is?) that the old one does not have. Plus the ones I bought have plastic wheels vs metal for the older one. I consider the new ones to be a cheap knock off of a good idea.

Vernon

 

[orangebluegreen]

A bit off topic but might save another from the aggravation I just had.

My deck is the suspended type like some of those pictured here so the gauge wheels don't swivel while mowing like the ground contact decks. The first year in use I left it on while doing some pretty nasty loader work through mud and water. I tried to remove it a year later and when I went to turn the wheels for slide-out I found the main stud was seized in it's eyelet on the deck. One of them I couldn't get loose so I left it until now. I spent all day yesterday with a sledge hammer and heat trying to drive it out.....no amount of beating on it would budge it, had to grind off the end because I had mushroomed it with the hammer. I ended up having to take my reciprocating saw and cutting the mount vertically in order to free it. I have never had anything seize that solid. The three I was able to get out and grease last year have remained just fine and can be removed by hand. Just got rid of my ox/acet tanks and need new ones, if I had those I likely could have gotten it hot enough to remove, but a propane torch wouldn't come close.

If not rotating the pins/wheels to slide out your deck, make certain they are free and greased in their eyelet mounts, at least when new and clearances are tight.

 

[Sen8or]

Why not just buy four new pins for the wheels, raise the Mid Mount up, pull out the pins and re-insert in the top hole of the wheel peg, then let it drop in the sleeve and put the extra pin in the bottom hole of the peg. This way the wheels can't fall off when MMM is raised/lowered. It also allows the wheels to rotate 360 degress letting the MMM easily slide under the tractor. Once you have it positioned back on the tractor just put the pins back in the sleeve to keep the antiscalp in check and put the extra pin in free hole of the wheel peg.