8N wheel finish

This evening I decided to mow the grass while it was 90 degrees and managed to do about a third of the yard inside the fence before I lost interest.

Then I decided to tackle the wheel on the 8N by myself. I got the bolts and new battery holder today from Just 8Ns so could do this – I thought. The wheel center weighs about forty or fifty pounds, I think. I put it in the tire rim and put one bolt at a time in place. Of course it did not fit any better than the one for the other wheel so I got the trusty sledge hammer out and adjusted the center to fit the rim. This time I wore ear protection as it gets pretty loud when the steel meets steel. With just a few light taps (and several hard smashes) the center fit perfectly in the rim. The air impact tool snugged it in place using the new bolts, nuts, and washers. A few squirts of gray paint and the wheel was ready to go back on the 8N on the right side.

Okay, here is a challenge for you. How does one person hold a 200 pound wheel in place while either jacking up or letting down the tractor to align the wheel with the hub? Easy, hold one wheel in one hand and work the jack with the other. Yes, it is not that easy and I am going to feel the pain in the morning, but I got it done. The impact wrench again snugged the nuts on the lugs and I was able to let the jack down (after removing the jack stands) and take these neat pictures. When I finished it had cooled to 88 degrees.

Tractor Boy