Replacement push lawn mower wheels are generally not too difficult to find at home improvement stores, lawn and garden centers that stock lawn mower parts, retailers like Sears or online. If you bought one of the more well known brands of lawn mowers like Snapper, Toro, Murray or Craftsman finding new wheels locally or on the Web should be pretty easy. Most are made of hard rubber or plastic and usually require only minimal effort to remove and replace.
Putting new tires on riding mowers and replacing lawn tractor tires will be a good bit more involved, however, and similar to relacing a tire on a car. Sometimes with a riding mower or garden tractor, you run over something you should not have or you go out to the garage at the first sign of Spring and notice that one of your tires gave way due to dry rotting. Your existing tires may not be providing enough traction or might be causing damage to your lawn. In any case, at some point during your lawn mowing season, you may find yourself wanting or in need of new lawn mower tires.
Buying New Tires for Your Lawn Mower
In terms of buying new tires for lawn mowers, it is a good idea to start with the place you bought your tractor or mower. Many dealers deal in tractor supply or stock replacement parts including tires. You will need to know the size and style of tire you want. The size you can find either on the sidewall of the tire or in the manual. The style depends on your needs. Smoother turf tires for protecting your lawn, bigger lugs for more traction or you can just go for the same model that came standard on your mower.
How to Replace Lawnmower Tires
Once you get your new tires, the first thing you are going to want to do in preparing to change your garden tractor or riding lawn mower tires is to prevent the mower from moving. The mower should be on flat ground. Put it in gear and put the parking brake on so your mower will not be able to roll away from you. You are also going to need to raise the mower enough to be able to work on the tires. The best way to do this is with a jack. Make sure the jack is positioned underneath a frame rail or cross member to prevent damaging the underside of your mower.
Once the mower is secured and off of the ground, you can begin the process of removing the tire or tires for replacement. Front tires on riding mowers are often on spindles. If that is the case with yours, you will need to remove the spindle boot covering up the end of the spindle. Use a pair of pliers or vise grips, but be careful not to tear or rip it. Once the boot has been removed, you will see a metal clip, called a c clip, that holds the tires on. If your tires are not on spindles, then removing the c clip is all you need to do. You can force the clip off with a flat head screwdriver.
At this point, you are ready to remove your lawn mower tire. If there is any air left in the tire you are replacing, let it out as this will make removal so much easier. The tire beads now need to be broken. The tire bead is the edge of the tire that rests on the rim. Lift the bead up with a tire iron and pull it over the rim, working your way around the tire for both the inside and outside beads. If your tires have tubes, these will need to be removed at this point as well.
Before you put your new tire on, lubricating the beads on the new tire with tire lube or another lubricant will make getting the tire on less difficult. If you do not have tubeless tires, put the inner tube back in place then push the tire over the rim as much as possible. Use a tire iron to set the beads back into place. Once the tire is on, inflate it to the proper air pressure and you will be all set to go.