NormK, Beech and Bigted, much thanks for your replies - especially to Bigted for going to the trouble of uploading a diagram of his suggestion.

All great ideas, not really sure which way I'll approach it yet - my welding skills are pretty 'entry level' plus the only welder I have is a pretty old ARC welder - so less than user friendly for tricky/tight areas etc.

I'll have to go down to the shed and consider both approaches and see what I think is most within my abilities.

I think Bigted's might as he said be easier and also stronger - but if I do it and stuff up the angle etc it's going to be a bugger to fix. Tack welds with this old ARC welder are all but impossible....so it'll be a one time shot.

If I use NormK/Beech's approach and I stuffed it up I should be able to drill out the weld and do again or if it proves too hard I can then revert to Bigted's suggestion.

ANyway I'll knock off some of the morning jobs here and see what I can find might be the best approach. Much thanks again.

Originally Posted by NormK
Hi N1KK0,Sorry I can't see what the cause of the rear axle droop is but it must be obvious, the axle is a solid piece side to side so it is either a problem with that or the base or bush is worn
Thats ok - rest assured it pained me to have to post up and ask about it as I looked it over pretty closely and couldn't see why this was occurring. I suspect I might have to check some of the axle welds on the rear a little more closely.

All the areas are very hard to get pictures of as they're tight and at difficult angles....it's just odd to me that if it were a rear weld or bush etc - that removing the spring and putting a rigid piece of soft steel rod in place stopped this from occurring. As if it were the axle weld or bush etc, they were still unchanged. So I was and remain confused but now have this front axle issue to handle.

Is funny as I was only a few months ago googling this model mower and reading how others had said they'd had chassis issues, axles break etc and I thought,"Phew, I've never had that happen to me." and sure enough here I am, with what seems like issues with both of them. :-/