It is a track rod end. About 25yrs old US origin but actually parts may be available with some hassle. The ball housing looks to be two parts pressed into a circular chamber that has the threaded stem that adjusts into the rod itself (I hope that makes sense) I see no way of getting a good enough grip with any sort of puller.. the flanges of the pressed in sections are tight against the central section.

I've finally managed to get it off the track rod itself.. (which also needs straightening) And I think I've figured how to hold it for an attempt at drilling tomorrow. I found two bits of squared scrap with 8mm slots. Set vertically each side of the tapered section I get 4 contact points that trap the taper without needing to hold onto the housing.

While in reality I'll probably eyeball the alignment of the drill it would be possible to cut/file progressive tapers on those slots and keep test fitting until they both sat snug with the same angle.

If I have to try finding a replacement then I suppose a temporary rod with straight washers and bolts through the plates with the female tapers would get the mower useable for the time being. Steering is by a ram to one wheel with the track rod pairing both.

This mower is really only of scrap value and more a playtime project.. though if I can get it cutting well enough it'd save me a load of time compared to my present ride-on for the amount of 3+ acres of lawn i have.

I appreciate the cautious advice and warnings but it's not going to be near any roads or verges. Trees will be a bigger hazard and access around my ponds means crawling speed.

I;ve spent more on filters and lubricants than the machine cost and it has a lot of other issues I may need help with to slowly tidy it up.

I just nipped out to the shed pre-brekkie and ran a file over the broken thread end. It takes a file fine so hopefully will be drillable. I'm still new enough at this that i didn't think to test that yesterday

I own a small hobby farm in very rural Wales.. so finding stuff can be challenging. The gardens are extensive (let alone the actual meadows and woodlands)

This rod end issue became more curious. I set it up in the mill to skim the broken thread flat before drilling.. had a happy accident when i set the rough cut endmill a tad low and caught the side of one remaining thread.. when the stud spun out! I had just one same thread bolt in my 'old bolt' box.. so made a temorary repair to find that the track rod end doesn't sit right in the taper anyway and is different to the rod end on the other end – so a previous gash repair.

I wasn't too suprised to find my fix failed just at the end of cutting the lawns.

I've tried to remove the opposite rod end but it won't tap out. Access to it is through a mess of hydraulic hoses and it'd be challenging to strip all that out of the way. the lazy answer is scrounge up a proper rod end from a dealer for this mower if parts can be sourced – although I may go for a second fix redrilling the old threads out to a larger size. This side is (I guess) a 5/16 thead compared to the other side at 7/16. And the gash bolt I used wasn't high tensile. I;ve got some high tensile M10's about for a second temp fix…

Since the taper on the rod end that failed looks wrong.. to me that implies a range of tapers available. Finding a way of measuring it to order a cheapo replacement might be difficult. And of course it needs to have the correct thread to fit the tie bar. It's not a simple case of ordering by car make or model. So i may have to go via a dealer in this brand mower which will be expensive (all the parts i can find listed are).

My scrappy mate is popping by tomorrow. he often suprises me with strange skills. Well see what two heads can come up with.

(it cost me a few beers in the pub at lunchtime and some of the afternoon was sleeping them off…)

Purists will doubtless be appalled by the current fix, Scarppy turned up with a rod end that did happen to have the same thread at the tie bar and a larger diameter thread under the taper. However the taper was too fat. Under his pursuasion I hand ground and filed the taper – eyeballed to match the opposite side.. no fancy measurments and one go with assessing it with a felt marker. Then a happy accident when we couldn't find a nut to fit. I dug out the wrong die to recut the thread… I'd meant to grab an m10 coarse but used the m10 x1.25 which ran down the thread one- fingered. Benefit of hindsight this was a 20 turn american thread or may have been a metric fine. Retapping an M10 nut to 1.25 pitch then worked with a few washers to really pull the taper down and it does feel solid in the female. Time will tell but this thing is hardly a racing car.

It really is salvaged scrap and the cutter blades are worn beyond further adjustment. It does still cut but will clog easily.

Next bit of madness we intend to attempt is to grind out the welds holding the blades in the cutter spools and replace them. New cutter units at £250 + vat would be silly, Scrappy is on the scent of suitable steel and something to make a couple of robust benders with to put the twists in the new steel.