Ability to Repair: The Mower Wheel, Part Two

I picked up the flange and sleeve bushings mentioned in Ability to Repair: the Mower Wheel.  The sleeve was easy to insert into the flange bushing using a bench vise.  The flange was too wide to fit into a recess in the mower wheel.  I found a 1/2" rod, wrapped tape around it to secure the flange bushing, then used a grinder to reduce the flange diameter.  

The hardest part was getting the bushing assembly into the plastic wheel.  My Workmate had a large enough opening, but it took a fair amount of pressure, to the point where I was concerned that I might damage the Workmate.  However, the bushing assembly finally went in far enough that I could seat the bushing with a hammer and wood block.  My local hardware store had 1/2" spacer washers that were thin enough so I could take up the slack on the axle, along with a cotter pin variety pack had the right size pins to secure the wheel to the axle.  

I was fortunate that I was able to find Stephen Bullock at Canadian Bearings who was willing to track down a combination of bearings that would fit.  Often, it is the smaller shops where staff are willing to spend the extra time.  In addition to the vise, Workmate, and grinder, I had a caliper that allowed me to accurately measure the diameter and depth of the mower wheel opening.  There are a growing number of organisations that help people repair things by providing both tools and guidance, such as https://repaircafetoronto.ca/,  https://www.newmakeit.com/, and https://www.newmarketpl.ca/en/services/maker-hub.aspx, although finding one locally can be a challenge.