Tail Wheel dragging

[MikeA57]

While cutting food plots at our hunting property a couple of weeks ago I came around the bend and almost ran over my tail wheel which had broken the pin holding it on and was laying on the ground. We didn't have much left to do so I picked it up and kept on cutting. I also broke off the rusted exhaust pipe off the muffler that day which I finally got fixed tonight and I started looking at the tail wheel. This is what I saw:



The wheel just drags along and of course doesn't spin. I'm thinking I busted the bearings in it. Does it look that way to you guys? I've never liked that wheel. It's about 1" too big and it catches on the back of the BH housing when I back up. It also has no bushing in the collar where the shaft goes through and the hole in the shaft is too small to hold a bolt or pin that I think is big enough to keep from shearing. I guess it needs to shear but it just seems too small. If I were to go with a smaller wheel, what size would you recommend?

EDIT: I went out and measured the tail wheel and it's 3 3/4" by 15" and the distance from the center of the shaft to the back of the BH is 13 1/2".

Thanks guys!

 

[Sysop]

It looks like the bearing in the wheel hub is shot, but it also appears the shaft that goes up into the tube on the cutter may also be bent. If it is bent it will not rotate in the tube properly, this could be the cause of the bearing failure and could also cause alignment issues allowing the wheel to hit the cutter when backing up as you describe. I had a similar issue once. With mine, once the shaft became bent and it wouldn't spin in the tube properly, it started tearing the "corners" off the wheel where it would not rotate fully and be pushed or pulled sideways. I'm sure had I continued using it, or the edges of the wheel were harder, the bearings in mine would have done the same as yours.