"dpb" wrote in message ...
Thomas G. Marshall wrote:
I'm not sure I get what the heck is going on here.

The rear wheels of my walk-behind MTD mower turn on bolts with a 3/4"
cap. The (plastic rim) wheels have become loose, but I cannot tighten nor
losen that bolt. I can see it spinning in the plate as if the threads
were stripped. Neither clockwise nor counter-clockwise do anything.

Both rear wheel bolts behave this way. But the end of the bolt looks
like it was flared out a tiny amount so that it is perhaps some kind of
press-fit ??? My local repair place says that this is very unlikely, but
the mower is not worth bringing it to a repair shop.

What is "it" and what is "the plate"? Normally those wheels would be
mounted on a shoulder bolt. I suppose w/ something cheap they may have
made simply a peened end to hold them, don't know, don't have one to look
at...

The "it" is the bolt. The "plate" is the plate of metal that the bolt is
(what I thought) screwed into. It may be peened over at the end to hold it
in place, but the repair guy swears no. I cannot get a better look at it,
and there are no service manuals that explain how to pull that thing (bolt)
out.