Clogging protection for YardForce Classic 500

The front wheels of the YardForce Classic 500 mower tend to clog with grass (at least for me), especially if the length of the cut grass is longer and wet. This leads to significantly reduced mowing time per battery charge and an increased likelihood of the mower getting stuck when turning. 

I have tried various things and came across this variant by chance. It's actually a simple tube over the axle that closes the gap between the wheel and axle and fits very tightly with the metal bracket, while generating as little friction as possible. This way, there is less chance for the grass getting caught.

I suspect that the improvement effect depends heavily on the individual environmental conditions and may not work so well for you - but it is very easy to try out.

Hints:

• I used PETG but probably any material will work
• The length of the tube must fit very precisely in order to create a tight seal while avoiding friction as far as possible. It may therefore be necessary to adjust each side individually with sandpaper
• I used to use a preliminary version, which I glued to the wheel with super glue so that it rotated with the wheel, which worked quite well; I recently switched to this version and am running a test: one wheel with the tube glued on and one without it glued on. The test has not been running long enough for me to make any conclusions.