The older ones had a steel insert in the drive wheel hubs themselves. I have seen that the replacements do not. when that plastic hub shrooms' on the inside, throws the wheel off (toe out?) then bam, steel strips plastic. sounds like this little nylon bushing thats in there doesn't like any pressure. Be glad it's under warranty, I paid 20.00 apiece for 2 new lifter wheel assemblies & I believe about 14.00 a drive wheel x2.

We've been telling anyone who asked not to buy a FWD mower. Its not like a car, where its a good idea. On a mower, it stinks.

ABSOLUTELY!

I'm beginning to see the problem.
What are the recommended solutions?
Are there any good front drive self-propel mowers?
If not, what are the recommended alternatives?

Look close at how the front wheels sit. A bend in the adjuster arm area means that the gears don't mesh well and the softer plastic gets chewed up. It takes one drop on that corner to do it and it could have happened in the crate.

Thanks, I'll have to take a look at that particular adjuster arm to see if it's bent. One thing I noticed with this problem: the Left wheel (the wheel closet to the drive mechanism)is far more chewed up than the Right wheel. Although the Right wheel is showing noticable damage too -- after 4-6 weeks.

So the Left wheel damage could be caused by a bent arm or it's closer proximity to the drive, as well as bad design.

I'll bring the Craftsman mower back. But what are some good alternatives for self propelled walk behind mowers under $300??

also the transmission gear case has a plastic plug that needs lube once and awhile.

I'll bring the Craftsman mower back. But what are some good alternatives for self propelled walk behind mowers under $300??

You can do a a Toro pretty close to 300.00 at a Home Depot or Lowes. Even if their a little over they are worth the money. Many times both stores offer interest free charging for a year on their charge cards if you spend over 299.00 that may warrant buying even more expensive than you intended.

I would not buy ANY FWD mower, not even a Toro. What you want is a Toro or Lawn-Boy with 'Variable Speed', 'Personal Pace' or 'Sens A Speed' RWD. Most of these will be over $300, but you should be able to find some kind of a buy on one.

Here is a link that might be useful: LB 10684

Go for the Toro #20066 with the Briggs engine.

I bought my Craftsman mower back in 2000. It has the Honda160 GCV engine. It now has a little over 470 hours on it. I use it year 'round, cleaning up leaves and other yard debris during the winter. I, too, have replaced my front wheels, but not because the gear teeth messed up. They still looked just fine when I replaced the wheels at about 300 hours because they had worn smooth. The rears were replaced at about the same time because they had split apart.

The gearbox, that's another story. I had to replace it at about the same time as the wheels because it had developed some kind of a leak and was almost filled with grass. The gears were worn off almost smooth. This cost me $75. The last 3 years the mower has been perfect, requiring only yearly oil changes (usually 60 to 65 hours, according tro the hour meter I have installed on it), a spark plug, and occasional blade sharpening.

I have never had a mower with a rear wheel drive; I like to just raise the front of the mower up. True, it does require a little push when the bag begins to get loaded up, but I compare that effort to power steering in a car. A little effort is required, but not much. I am going to keep this mower going until I find out just how long this Honda motor will last.

If it does wear out at some future date (it still does not burn any oil between yearly oil changes), I am tempted to try a rear wheel drive mower in light of all the recommendations I see on this board. As I am now 71 years old, it may not wear out in time for me to get much use out of any future mower.

I have a sears craftsman II 917.374520 self propelled lawn mower I purchased new around 1991 or earlier. It came with an eager 1 engine. I can say but for one of the most sorry excuses for a drive system this mower could have rivaled a Honda lawn mower.I still have this lawn mower and the engine still starts on the first or second pull after all these years albeit I have not used it after the first three years because the front wheel drive system has been locked up for all these years and because I purchased a Honda Lawn mower in 1992 which I still use to this day.The Honda has only been in the shop twice, once for a tune up and just recently in November 2010 to replace a worn throttle cable.I find that the quality of every thing else of the Crafstman lawn mower is great though.The padded handle bars and levers design can't be rivaled by any of the lawn mowers sold by Sears, Toro, Lawn boy, John Deere and many of the Honda models sold Today.These companies have been cutting corners, quality and the good material workmanship in there products for the most part.I strictly believe in keeping lawn equipment in a closed garage and not even in a car port. This is very important for longevity.My final complaint about craftsman lawn mowers and their other out door equipment is after about five years or so they stop making parts for there products.This is not the case for Honda and probably john deere or lawn boy. My strong suggestion is to go with the rear wheel drive. Belt is okay but direct drive is the best.

I bought a Craftsman Self-Propelled 3 years ago and I'm having the same exact problems with my wheels . Every year I have to replace the wheels. There should be a recall on this type of design.

I have both front wheel and rear wheel drive craftsman mowers (we have 2 houses). My wife uses the front-wheel mower and the cheap plastic wheels break very easily. Hit a rock - bump a tree - touch the fence - buy a wheel. And they are very proud of their wheels. So in addition to the 300 price tag I have to figure at least $60 a year on wheels.

The rear wheel drive is better, the rear wheels do not break as easily. They just fall apart. While the plastic with the gear is still good, the tire surrounding both wheels has disentigrated, like driving for a few miles on a flat tire. I am shopping for 2 new wheels now and the grass is getting mighty high where I can't get the rider into. I will never buying a Craftsman push mower again due to the tire issues.

It's a terrible design. My FWD w/ Honda motor has been excellent except for this major design flaw. I think they should just make a wheel with a metal gear insert. I'd pay a lot more for wheels if I knew I didn't have to worry about it for 5 years.

I purchased a power propelled (rear wheel) Craftsman 21" multi cut Model 917370760 in 2008. Engine is a 675 series Briggs & Strattion. It has worked without flaw until this year 2017. The only thing I have replaced was the drive belt. The issue I have now is the left side drive wheel, P/N 407756x427. I noticed that the wheel was very loose when I took it out to ready for spring mowing. I thought all I had to do was tighten up the wheel nut. What I had found was that the wheel bushing was gone out of the center of the wheel. This model and year does not have the plastic teeth on the outer edge of the inner wheel. It has a metal plate with teeth bolted in three spots in the center of the wheel. This from what I've read seems to be the best way to drive the mower along (this setup is on both rear wheels).

No worry I'll just spring for a new drive wheel (SearsDirect.com) Found the wheel I needed with metal drive plate using the part number. The wheel came in today so I thought I would drive it on over the splined shaft install the wheel bolt and be done.

Until I noticed that the metal bushing in the wheel looked a little small. I understand it should be under sized a little so that it makes for a tight fit. I measured the O.D. of the splined shaft which was 5/8", then measured the I.D. of the bushing fixed in the wheel which was 1/2" there was no way that I was going to force that bushing on to the splined shaft without damaging both the spline ( a soft metal of some kind) and hub bushing.

I got back online with Searsdirect and had a chat explaining my problem. They double checked my order and came up with the same part number as I. I told them that was all good but the wheel was not going to go on without wrecking the spline. They said that they would make it good if I still wanted to have them send another wheel. at a cost of another $36 and would refund the other wheel when I sent it back. I told them I didn't how they were going to get another wheel to fit using the same part number. So I said just send me a RMA and I'll return the wheel. I've now spent over and hour and a half looking at 407756x427 wheels and when an I.D. was mentioned it was 1/2". I went back out checked the fit again and still can't see this wheel being forced onto the spline without damage to wheel bushing and spline. I can't even get the wheel started on the spline. Is there something I'm not seeing? I can't find anywhere with tips of driving the wheel on to this type of setup. Maybe after 9 years its time to get another mower. This one still drives itself on one wheel but for how long.

Your problem is that the splined is the old bushing that was in the old wheel you need to remove it from the axle than just slide the new wheel on. it could be rusted on and very hard to remove. I use vice-grips and work it back and forth until it comes off.

Aj, I think I know what you are saying, I'll give it a closer look when I get home. So you are saying that what I'm calling a spline is a bushing/sleeve over the axle and if I can get it off I'll end up with just the axle and what little threads there is on the end? It sounds like you have been there. I didn't my eyes were that bad not to notice it was a bushing. If you are right I'm going to take photos of each step so others may see. Thanks

Had my new mower drive wheel on in 15 minutes. Thanks with help from AJ Allen. It was just as he said it was. The bushing can be a little tough to get off. I started out with a vise grip but switch to a small pipe wrench with good teeth to get it moving then switch back to vise grips and a little WD40. I'm including photos to help others if they are replacing OEM wheel with a replacement. It helps to know that what you see is not part of the wheel axle.

Same here!