There are quite a few reasons why you might have to remove your lawn mower’s wheel. Whether you’ve got a riding or push mower, wheel or tire repairs are needed at times. Usually, the process of removing a lawn mower’s wheel is pretty easy, but there are a couple of things that can make it difficult. One of these things are pesky retaining clips. If you’re having a bit of trouble with the retaining clip on your mower, don’t worry there are a couple of good ways to get them removed. Let’s talk about what retaining clips are and how to spot them first.
The Retaining Clip – What is It?
A lawn mower wheel retaining clip can actually come in a few different forms, but all of them are basically a piece of metal that fits into a groove on the axle to prevent the wheel from sliding off. When referring to a retaining clip, most of the time you’re probably going to be looking at a thin, circular, metal ring. This ring will sit around the axle in front of the wheel with a sort of star-shaped pattern cut out from the inner edge.
However, some mowers might use a c-clip or cotter pin as a retaining clip. These parts serve the same purpose but look a little different. A c-clip looks a lot like a typical retaining clip, and also wraps around the axle, but it has a gap at one point and looks like a “C”. A cotter pin, on the other hand, looks like a shortened bobby pin, and part of it goes through the axle rather than around the entire edge.
What You’ll Need to Remove the Retaining Clip – Equipment List
Although there are a few different styles of retaining clips, the tools you need to remove them are all pretty much the same. In fact, when it comes to how to remove a lawn mower wheel retaining clip, even the approach you take is similar. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Needle-nose pliers
- Flathead screwdriver
- Rag or paper towel
- Drill and socket wrench (in some cases)
The drill and socket wrench are listed above because they only apply in a couple of cases. As a backup option, you only need a drill if nothing you’re doing works and you need to destroy the retaining clip in order to get the wheel off. The socket wrench is only needed if your lawn mower’s wheels are attached to the axle with a bolt as well as a retaining clip.
How to Remove Lawn Mower Wheel Retaining Clip (Step By Step)
Now that you’ve gathered all the tools you need to get the job done, you can set your mower on a flat surface and get ready to go. Before going into all of the detailed steps, here is a quick list that describes how to remove lawn mower wheel retaining clips:
- Disconnect the ignition cable.
- Expose the retaining clip and axle.
- Determine what kind of retaining clip you have.
- Pry the clip off accordingly.
Although these are the basic steps to remove a retaining clip, there are a couple of intricacies involved. I’ll do my best to explain them in detail below.
1) Disconnect Ignition Cable
Detaching the spark plug hood and cable is something you should always do before starting any work on your mower. You really don’t want your mower’s engine to start unexpectedly when you’re elbow deep into something.
All you have to do is gently pull the spark plug hood off of the spark plug’s terminal. If you’re having a hard time with it you can twist a little bit as you pull or even use your pliers to get a better grip. Then, just make sure to secure the hood away from the spark plug.
2) Expose the Retaining Clip and Axle
To get at your wheel’s retaining clip, you’ll need to expose the axle that your wheel is mounted on. Usually, there is a plastic cover in the center of the wheel that you can just pop off. Using your flat head screwdriver to get some leverage can be really helpful.
Some lawn mowers also use a center bolt (like a lug nut on a car wheel) that screws into the axle. If your mower has one, you’ll have to remove it before pulling off the retaining clip. Most of the time a socket wrench is necessary to take off axle bolts.
Once the axle and retaining clip are exposed, go ahead and wipe them off as best as you can with your rag or paper towel. There will likely be some grease on the axle which can make the job a bit more messy and difficult than it needs to be.
3) Identify Retaining Clip Type
Once you’ve got access to the retaining clip, you should figure out what type you’ve got. As I said before, it will probably either be a circular clip that fits around the axle, or a cotter pin that goes through the axle.
The circular clips will look like a thin washer and will sit inside a grove that goes all the way around the axle. If it is a c-clip, the clip will be partially open on one side and usually will have two small eyelets at each end of the opening.
Cotter pins look just like a bobby pin. They have a flat end that goes through the axle and another end that bends around the outside and sits in a groove.
4) Pry Retaining Clip Loose
Whatever style of retaining clip your mower uses, it will need to get pried off to free the wheel. You should be able to do this with your pliers and flat head screwdriver alone.
To get a circular retaining clip off, you will have to pry around its inside edges and slowly work it off the axle. This can be sort of tricky but with a little patience, it will come loose. If nothing is working, you will have to resort to drilling the clip off. I’ve heard of people having to do this, but it usually isn’t the case. If you’re really stuck, use a small drill bit and carefully drill a couple of holes in the clip before snapping it off with pliers. Of course, if you use this approach you’ll need to buy a new clip.
To remove a c-clip, you need to get some leverage against the open end so that it can be pulled off the axle. There are special pliers you can buy for this purpose, but you don’t always need them. You can use your flathead screwdriver by inserting it into the gap, levering the c-clip open, and then pulling from the other end with the needle-nose pliers. It should pop right off.
To pull out a cotter pin, simply grab the bent end where the two sides of the pin meet, and work it back out through the axle. I like to use the very tip of the pliers to grab the pin very close to the axle and then use the pliers as a lever for extra force. Getting it to slide a bit initially is the hardest part. Once you get it pulled out a tiny bit, it should come fairly easily.
Problems Some People Run Into with the Retaining Clip
I’ve noticed that there are a handful of common issues that arise when people are trying to remove wheel retaining clips. Because wheel removal isn’t a super common part of lawn mower maintenance, some people haven’t had to deal with these issues before. The biggest problems I see people run into are:
- Rusting parts
- Excess grease
- Stuck clips
When it comes to retaining clips that are severely rusted or absolutely covered in grease, you really will want to clean them up as much as possible before trying to get them off. This means that you should either spray some penetrating oil or WD-40 onto the clip if there is rust, or do your best to clean off all grease you notice. Doing so will help you get a better grip and leverage on the clip.
For clips that are just extremely difficult to remove, you might have to resort to destroying it. As I mentioned, using a drill is a common way to do this. Just be sure that you find a new part to replace it before you ruin the current retaining clip.
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