Cheap retread for mower wheels

[olderdan]

I bought a second hand Honda self drive mower for a bargain price and am pleased with it apart from the drive wheels have no tread left so has trouble getting a grip. I can buy replacements for more than I paid for the machine so I thought about cutting new treads in them, not on as the wheels are just plastic not thick enough to cut new treads. My lawn is sloping so I really need some grip on the way up.
I saw a YouTube vid of a guy who used some rubber stair treads which gave me some ideas and decided to try a mountain bike tyre of the foldable soft walled type just using the tread, losing the side walls and screw them on to the plastic wheel perimeter, this will by my calculations tilt the mower forward by 1.5 deg which is of no importance to me. I used full strength silicon adhesive and some self drilling uPVC window hinge screws made for fixing into plastic, The wheels have an internal ring gear also plastic so too much grip will stress that more so I will have to be more careful in use. I have used it twice so far and its looking good, I dont know how long this fix will last but if it fails I promise to own up.

[DIYer]

Thanks olderdan! We've added your Lawnmower Tires to our Farm and Garden category,
as well as to your builder page: olderdan's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Lawnmower Tires by olderdan

tags: lawnmower, tire

[Scrounga]

I think that’s a winner for sure. Clever man

[nhengineer]

Hey OlderDan,

I did something similar to a drop spreader that I converted to driveway sander except I just used the self-threading screws (without the stair tread) to act as snow tread studs. Even though wet sand is a bit more dense than powdered, dry fertilizer, it seems like it will work OK but I can't tell, of course, until next winter.

[diyfixman]

You see that you know what you're doing

[mbshop]

Looks like a good fix. Gotta try something before just tossing things and spending unnessecary $$$$$$.

[Scrounga]

That’s awesome and I think the tread is just right. It’s a Honda so it should last you many more years and I bet the new “tires” will still be on it when it finally wears out.

[olderdan]

That’s awesome and I think the tread is just right. It’s a Honda so it should last you many more years and I bet the new “tires” will still be on it when it finally wears out.

I have actually sold that mower last summer for twice what I paid for it, got fed up with stripping the carburettor due to ethanol contamination, its a tiny carb and very prone, having tried additives and stabilisers with no improvementsI have now reluctantly gone battery powered.

[Scrounga]

We have gone battery as well for our small patch. So much more convenient������