How not to treat a grass collector

If you want to spent an afternoon bending 25mm steel tube back into a precise shape with long pieces of wood, read on.

Whilst cutting under shrubs with the ride-on, it seems as though the grass collector emptying lever got caught up with a branch. As this lever is made from 25mm tube, you can run a car over it and it won't bend. However, the torque in a 600cc twin means that the force gets transmitted to the next weakest thing, and this is sufficient to wrench the collector off the rear of the ride-on, dump all the grass, and re-work the frame into something approaching a Christmas novelty toy. The bottom would lock in, but the top frame was too twisted to get close to locking by about 50mm. Closest on RHS.  RHS was badly bent, and I used the LHS to get the shape back. Then removed the twist to get the top bit to bit into the catches, then re-bend the RHS to get the top cover to fit.



The left of the picture is RHS on the mower.

This 25mm tube frame is manufactured to a tolerance of around 1mm to ensure it fits and locks to the ride-on correctly. I'm not convinced it's back to the original shape as I can't say I've ever spent time admiring it. It does fit, and works ok now. Just need to weld a support bar back on and paint all the bits of powder I've scraped off.
All the 25mm tube is 2.3mm wall
£124 to replace it

Motolug trailer

Just come back from a 1400km trip with the trailer and 2 bikes. The bikes did 810km.

2 new tyres for this trip, and 1 bearing.

Going, the mt07 on the left and mt09 on the right. The mt09 didn't fit into the loading system properly and I had to drop the rear holder back a notch. Coming back, the mt09 went into the left side by mistake and wouldn't fit as the holder was set for the mt07. However, once strapped up, it fitted easily. Note that the front part of the loading system on the left side is marked and must be fitted on the left side. The rocking part has to go with the double rubber protectors facing the rear. The manual is silent on the correct way around, and most of the photos of that part have no rubber bits. The one photo that does, shows the rockers the other way around. I tried the mt07 the 'shown' way and it won't work. Both bikes have the same tyres 120/70 17.

1 bar strap, 1 strap on each swing arm, a front tyre strap to the ramp and a strap over the seat. Front tyre strap was added as I saw it in the manual, but should probably have been on the rear tyre.

The bar ends knocked going, and I had to put pipe insulation under the bar straps. Also the 07 wouldn't stand up and leant to the left, the 09 leaning a tad too.

Coming back, I compressed the 07 suspension a bit more when fitting the seat strap and the bar sat under the 09. The bikes hardly leant and looked way more stable.

Consider using some of the sticky matting on the seat in future to increase the friction.

The loading ramp system is still pretty hopeless and the rear will not touch the ground/reach the upper notch on the tow ball without it lifting the car up ie forcing the car suspension up through the tow bar. Need a further loading ramp to fill the last 10cm.
Currently have a mix of 8" tyres. Spare is original 2008 and in fair condition. 2nd spare is poor from 2008. 1 new rim+ Kingstire tyre kt-701 4.00-8 range C from ~2012 rated 6 ply 71M 345kg/130k 3.4/50psi, but the rim is only good for 265kg (this is apparently normal for 8" rims??) plus another ETG 4.80-8 62N 3.1/45psi tyre from Norauto September 2017 (?dated 11/16) which is 4 ply 265kg/130k on the original motolug rim fitted LHS. Old tyre badly split and worn. Motolug email states this is most likely a factory defect on the trailer suspension, but contrary to UK law, they refused to replace it or offer a cost price spare.
4" pcd. Shafts are 1" Spares are uk only
August 2017 replaced outer LHS bearing with no-name whilst waiting for better replacement. Very noisy with visible damage. Had to fit a 2nd washer to get castellated nut in the right place to reduce float. Oct 2017 replaced inner LHS with challenge bearing and pumped it all full of grease. Say 2mm float. Previous one was noisy and had thrown grease over rim.
RHS was tightened 1 notch, but still had a bit of float - say 2mm with the tyre under load.
Both tyres are now half worn after 1400km. ETG tyre has noticeable (1mm) edge between radial tread on inner side.

Harry sold

Harry sold.
Bit more space in the garage now..

West hedge

The hedge on the west side cut from the bamboo to the deck ~30m, ~2.5h including clearing up. Top cut to ~2.5m. We'd let it grow to block the view of the new house next door, but it's over 4m in places.
I'll need to go back once the blackberries have fruited and finish the last 10m, plus the far side of the top of the hedge.

8/10 4 hours spent cutting the rear portion of the hedge to ~2.5m. 4 trailer loads.

Loading ramps

To get a ride-on on a trailer, you could lift it (only ~260kg) or get some ramps.
For a few years I've used 2m long, 40mm thick low grade timber, for a lighter mower (170kg)
With the new mower, plus me driving it on (ever tried pushing 260kg up a 20% grade?) you're talking ~340kg. A bag full of grass on the back adds another 50kg or so. The planks worked ok, but did deflect around 40mm. Pretty heavy too at 10kg each

I saw these folding ramps for €52, made by Arebos (China). They are good for 300kg each. 1.8m long/~95cm folded (even came with a CE certificate ;-). Build quality is firmly average, with an hour spent removing sharp edges, plus, more annoyingly, little metal spikes on the grip pattern. The tread/grip is great, and is manufactured by punching upwards with a W shape. Unfortunately if the tool is off a bit, you end up with pointed 2mm spikes at the ends of each tread piece. With good tyre tread, I doubt it would puncture the tyres, but with ride-on tyres costing almost as much as car tyres, I'd prefer them to not have tiny knife cuts. That, and I might use these to load the motorbikes. 
These deflect around 10mm with the ride-on rear axle and me at the hinge (~120kg), and the sides bulge a little. 8kg each. They don't appear to be galvanised (not mentioned in advert when I bought them, but others state this) Time will tell.

Erde 102 Trailer maintenance

Nothing for nothing in this life.  You buy a trailer in 2004 and suddenly it needs new bearings. I'd noticed play on the LHS a while back, so decided it might be time to check the sealed bearings. It's a quick job once the nut covers are off (Erde part 2325 0003) one of mine is a new interesting shape, like Kryton's head. It took a massive amount of pummeling, then 24" stiltson (not sure that helped) and more pummeling to get it off. The other one will wait until the new bearings arrive.
Both are metal shielded. I'd have thought rubber sealed more appropriate for road use.
Inner VB C3 6202Z approx 14.85 x 35
Outer HJB 6004ZC3 approx 20x43

The LHS nut was at about 40 lb torque, RHS about 35. This site recommends 21 lb. 
https://www.westerntowing.co.uk/acatalog/How-to-Replace-Erde-Trailer-Bearings.html. Loosening and re-tightening to the same point showed about 30lb.

The LHS outer race is about as smooth as tarmac. Inner seems fine. RHS outer was a bit lumpy too.

It's back on for now and will need to be on light duty. The trailer has been <coughs> used at its limit a few times, so it's not surprising.

Update 27/8/17 
New bearings fitted. LHS is tight and spins slowly. RHS is fine. Tried swapping them left to right, but it was the same once they were torqued up, so left LHS just nipped
Getting the bearings out is challenging. I started hammering them out, but then realised that the hubs are alloy, so will crack quite easily. I then got some threaded bar and pressed them out. I didnt have a big enough socket, so a bit of square tube did the job.
















Erde fitted no name chinese C3 bearings 6202 Z / 6004 Z. The shaft machining seems to be medium tolerancing, needing c3 ie big wiggle fit. Oddly, c3 bearings are more expensive than normal fit. I've replacing with MTK normal bearings,  which are 1/2 the price. Ie €9 vs €23 for both sides. So that's why the wheel is not spinning well!

RHS

LHS


Old bearings. Top is RHS. Nice rust patches on both

Neptun Trailer maintenance

From new (2015), the left side wheel of the trailer when hitched, sitting in the car, had a bit of play. A friend had a hub fail when towing last November, which pushed me into a rush inspection today.

A castellated nut and 3.6 x 36mm cotter pin fit on a taper bearing.  The cover tapped off quite easily and snapped back with a tap. The nut was loose, so for completeness I removed the taper bearing and hub. No marks. Plenty of clean grease. Nut went back on with the original pin at 12 o/c. No play, and the nut wasn't loose enough to turn with fingers before being pinned.
Leaving the wheel on the hub was probably a mistake as it made the assembly heavy when re-assembling. Best to do the job on the ground.

Taper bearing and washer removed and put back in axle

Rear shot of seal on taper bearing. It was tightly in.




Taper bearing and nut removed