# 42" lawn sweeper problem



## nshoreman (Jul 26, 2008)

First post for me! I have a John Deere 42" sweeper that has been lightly used however yesterday trying to use it the brushes would only turn intermittently. It seems like the wheels only "catch" to turn the brushes occasionally, no matter what position the brushes are in. It has not been out in the wet and is stored dry when not in use. I have never "lubricated" anything on it as the booklet says it doesn't need it. I wonder if anyone has a suggestion as to how to fix the problem.


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## HYDROGUARDIAN16 (Feb 14, 2007)

there is a possibility that the sweeper you have is plastic and the drive gears may have chipped, causing the brush to intermittently turn. I am not sure 100 percent that this is the deal, but if it is, call up deere, and suggest that they send you a part, or whoever supplies them, I am not too familiar with deere products, I am a past time john deere fan, I do not think the quality today is as good as it was yesterday. This doesnt mean that deere is bad, just stay away from the Home Depot and lowes. Take the sweeper to a john deere dealer and have them fix it. I hope I helped enough, there is a way of finding the issue, but I do not have the sweeper in front of me, so rotate the wheels forward and backwards off the ground about a full turn, and backwards a full turn, then start going back and forth, if there is unusual play and the brush doesnt turn, some gear tooth may have snapped off. good luck, welcome to TF


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## chrpmaster (May 5, 2004)

first of all nshoreman welcome to the tractor forum. 

Does the brush turn if you spin the wheel by hand? Check that out and it will tell you if there is damage or if it just needs to be used a little to make it work right. Sometimes if these sit for a while they will be hard to turn. I would be cautios lubricating it since the book says not to. 

Andy


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## nshoreman (Jul 26, 2008)

Well thanks for the welcome and the suggestions. Today I took off the wheels, gear guard, and checked them. There is a large plastic gear with (2) "spindles" that is driven by notches in the wheel hubs, and teeth on it that connects to a metal gear on the brush axle. All the teeth look good on both axle sides of the sweeper. There may have been more play than I would have thought on the metal gear on its shaft but other than that I could find nothing wrong (no rust not seized, etc). I did not lubricate the gears, put it back together and it seems to work OK now!!!! Will have to see its use. Will post a follow up when I use it.


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## HYDROGUARDIAN16 (Feb 14, 2007)

yay for me, gears FTW, I was hoping it had gears. Sometimes when you take things apart that dont work, and assemble without any special treatment, they work.

Ta da!

Ben


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## flbob2002 (Feb 26, 2015)

I have a JD 42" lawn sweeper and I am having the same trouble. I took mine to JD and they said it would cost me more for them to repair it so I ordered the plastic gears and metal gears and put them on myself. It still doesnt run any better. I thinking it may be in the height adjustment, so this is all the further I got so far.
I have never done anything with it since it was new and have stored it inside garage, and this year the right side wheels moves intermittent.


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## flbob2002 (Feb 26, 2015)

I have a JD 42" lawn sweeper and I am having the same trouble. I took mine to JD and they said it would cost me more for them to repair it so I ordered the plastic gears and metal gears and put them on myself. It still doesnt run any better. I thinking it may be in the height adjustment, so this is all the further I got so far.
I have never done anything with it since it was new and have stored it inside garage, and this year the right side wheels moves intermittent.


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## flbob2002 (Feb 26, 2015)

My gears didnt look worn at all, but I replaced them and now mine works like new now.

I ordered the metal and plastic gears from The sweeper company and also put on new brushes. The parts were only $50.00 This fixed my problem with intermittent wheel not working all the time. 

John Deere was going to charge me 2.5 hours to replace everything. I did it all in 1 hour myself.
Its not hard to do. 
The wheel comes right off, Then the big plastic gear has two clips to un- do then comes off and the 
metal gears are held on with a spring washer, you'll need spring pliers for those, bot mine at a flea market for 5 dollars.
Then just take a block of wood and tap out the bearings

To get the axial out this is what you do:

Cut the old brushes off with an electric sawzall or hacksaw. the axial can now move left and right, The axial comes right out. Take a rubber mallet and hammered remaining old brushes out of the holders and then hammer new ones in, then put everything back together.

I did find out if the brushes are too close to the metal housing they can stop the wheels from turning, so keep the an inch or more away to keep that from being a problem too.


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