h44 deck spindles

[thebuildist]

The answer is, "Yes, it'll take right around 16 and 1/2 tons of force." And, "yes it will."

The question is, "If you don't know what you're doing, and you try to press the bearing stack straight up from the bottom out of a mower deck spindle, can you just push the whole stack out of the housing without removing the c-clips? If you do, will it chowder up the groove that the clip rides in?"

Ugh.

Now I have to put a little weld bead in there and mount it in e lathe and clean that groove back up.

Bob

[thebuildist]

I'm going to go ahead and do the bearings while I'm in here, but it turns out the bearings aren't that bad.

The real problem, the reason for the loud growling sound, is that I had two different blade arbors where the weld had failed where the shaft meets the 1/4" plate, and the blade was flopping all over the place.

One of them was able to wobble around and turn on the shaft a 1/4 turn or so. That one I ground out the weld, beveled the hole in the 1/4" plate and welded it back on. Then turned it flat and true in the lathe and put it back together.

The second one was nearly ready to fall off altogether. It could spin freely and travel about 1/2" up and down the shaft. Once I ground the weld down and got it off, I found that the 1/4" plate was warped pretty bad as well. You can see grass in the corner I'm pointing to, which shows that it wasn't touching the blade at all in that corner.

Rather than try to flatten it I decided to simply replace it. I had some 1/4" plate handy, so I cut it to shape, drilled and tapped two 3/8-16 bolt holes (2 5/8" OC apart) and then drilled the 3/4" hole centered between them. Then I beveled the 3/4 center hole, put it on the shaft, and welded it on.

You tack one side and then use a square to work it until you have it as square on the shaft as you can get it. Then tack it in that location, and finally weld all the way around. I used 1/8" 7018 rod, pretty hot (125 amps) to get good deep penetration. I then turned the amps down to about 110 and welded around the perimeter, so that I could create a center register for the blade to center on.

Final step I chucked it in the lathe and turned it smooth and round, leaving the 1.230" center register as mentioned.

Final step is a coat of paint, just to pretend to slow down rust and corrosion. And using new bolts to attach the blade itself serves to reset the clock on those threads wearing out.

Bob

[Eugen]

The answer is, "Yes, it'll take right around 16 and 1/2 tons of force." And, "yes it will."

The question is, "If you don't know what you're doing, and you try to press the bearing stack straight up from the bottom out of a mower deck spindle, can you just push the whole stack out of the housing without removing the c-clips? If you do, will it chowder up the groove that the clip rides in?"

Ugh.

Now I have to put a little weld bead in there and mount it in e lathe and clean that groove back up.

Bob

You don't have to not know what you are doing, you can just be in a hurry and overlook "minor" details. It's happened to all of us!

[Eugen]

I was really busy with things and didn't get a chance to properly read your fix. You say the bearings were not that bad, but I'm thinking they must've had dry grease. While you had them out, I hope you took the opportunity to re-pack them with good quality grease!

[MattA]

Bearing part numbers from my thread on going through mowing deck bearings:

The Fafnir 204RR6 is the original factory installed bearing, the Z9504AB is dimensionally the same but a lower quality bearing. I stock the Z9504AB for a price point bearing but always recommend the 204RR6 if customers are not shopping price. We get $5.58 ea. for the 204RR6.

Bob

[DavidBarkey]

The answer is, "Yes, it'll take right around 16 and 1/2 tons of force." And, "yes it will."

The question is, "If you don't know what you're doing, and you try to press the bearing stack straight up from the bottom out of a mower deck spindle, can you just push the whole stack out of the housing without removing the c-clips? If you do, will it chowder up the groove that the clip rides in?"

Ugh.

Now I have to put a little weld bead in there and mount it in e lathe and clean that groove back up.

Bob

You don't have to not know what you are doing, you can just be in a hurry and overlook "minor" details. It's happened to all of us!

Amen

[propane1]

Hehe, I don’t have a lathe, or any other machinist tools. Sure would like too. But have no idea how to use them. I watch you tube videos on people that have those tools. They can fix or make any thing it seems. But I get along with what I’ve got. 12” ruler comes in handy to level things. Eye sight to give it the squint to eye stuff straight. Amazing what I think I did that was neat to do. And it worked. Lots of stuff I can’t do too. Any way, fun trying. If stuff turns out no good. Well move on to something else.


Noel

[thebuildist]

I was really busy with things and didn't get a chance to properly read your fix. You say the bearings were not that bad, but I'm thinking they must've had dry grease. While you had them out, I hope you took the opportunity to re-pack them with good quality grease!

I went ahead and replaced them. It was just time.

Bob

[thebuildist]

I got it all buttoned back up. I had to repair a broken weld on the big deck suspension bracket, I had to replace a couple worn or missing bolts and spacers. I fed it new kevlar deck and PTO belts. It was just time for a junior overhaul of the entire deck system. Naturally, I had to test it, which I did BY MOWING MY ENTIRE YARD! It sounds and mows very smoothly.

So now it's back with its rightful owner, all happy and well-adjusted. And now my yard no longer looks abandoned!

Bob