Archive through June 02, 2015

[mgonitzke]

Mike C.-

It's been awhile since I have worked on that style of spindles, but is the OD of those spacers a bearing surface that the seal rides on? If so, you need to clean up that surface or replace the spacers, as that pitted surface will tear up your new seals in a hurry. Unfortunately I have no advice on your other issue.

 

[digger]

Mike C.
Obviously we don't have anyone that knows anything about your situation, so give me a few days and I'll rip one of those suckers apart and see what the scoop is.

You would think that with close to 8500 members, someone would help you out.
At least Matt tried!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Mike C., I have three 42" mower decks and one 48" mower deck and I have never had to mess with the bearings in any of them so I have no idea what's up with yours. I do want to know because I figure eventually I'll have to rip one apart.

 

[jbaker]

I have never done it and did not want to give out BS tech, Keep us posted Charlie and don't forget pics

 

[mconway]

thanx for the replies jeff, matt, charlie, kraig. i'm going to order 6 spacers and maybe a couple extras to grind down if need be for the clearance issue. right now as assembled, the bearings are good and the spacer is between the bearings on all three spindles, the Outer Bearing Spacer PN/ IH-473429 R1, is installed where it should be and as you can see in the pic, the seal is up about 1/16".

also you can see that the spacer sits below the cup surface/seal and that's what the smaller spacers do, let it ride above so it doesn't rub. ideally, the spacer would be above the seal. a few things could be the culprit, the bearing were replaced sometime and the width is narrower than the factory units,(unlikely tho as the spindle had a factory seal) the spacer between the bearings is to narrow,(again not likely) like i said, things are kinda funky and just want to get some experienced people to chime in on wth is going on with this thing.

 

[rrschmitt]

Mike C,

It's been decades since I've had one of those spindles apart like on your 42" mower deck rebuild project but if memory serves me correctly, the spindle shaft should not be flush with the top of the pulley hub and what you show in the pictures looks correct. There should be a fairly thick and large outside diameter flat washer that covers spindle shaft and seats on the pulley hub surface. The threaded zerk-bolt goes through the washer and screws into the spindle center and is tighted to hold the spindle assembly and pulley together. I think there should be a lock washer between the flat washer and the zerk-bolt head.

 

[rrschmitt]

Mike C,

Go to the Manuals section here on the forum. Select the "Tractor Service" link to get to the service manuals. Then select the one of the manuals for the 71, 102, 122, 123 or 72, 104, 105, 124, 125 to download. Scroll down towards the end of the manual and you will find a section on mower deck and attachment service information. There's a clear cross-section illustration of the deck spindle hub bearing assembly and detailed instructions for reassembly.

I believe the spindle bearings in your spindle assemblies are cone style bearings and you need the spindle shaft to be below the pulley hub so the zerk-bolt can apply preload to the assembly to snug the bearings into their races and hold them in place. If the top of the shaft was flush, you wouldn't be able to snug/seat the bearings into their races and the whole assembly would be lose. Hope that helps.

 

[abriar]

To add to what Ron said, make sure there is a spacer between the 2 bearings. It should be roughly 1/4" thick with a slot cut thru the side to allow grease to get to the bearings. Without it there, when you tighten the center bolt on top of the pully, it will preload the bearings and cause them to overheat and lock up. My 42" cast end deck was missing one of the bearing spacers and I found out why the center bolt was left loose.

 

[mconway]

now i'm really confused...and if this is the cause of my problems, i'm gonna be more than a little perturbed. anyway, the first pic is one of my spindles with what the pl says should be Outer Bearing Spacer PN/ IH-473429 R1, #28, (28 IH-473429-R2 SPACER-BEARING). the problem is that on the drawing, pic 2, there is no outer bearing spacer and i'm wondering if this ring is what the drawing has labeled as the split spacer installed inside the spindle housing. i realize there are two different spindle designs and the one with the longer housing uses the outer retainer. just throwing this out there for thoughts as to whether this makes sense to anybody else. when i took it all apart, the seals are all thats being replaced as the bearings are ok. if this is the issue i just have to get the bearings out without destroying them , put it together right and then should be good. keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[mconway]

my idea seems right to me as i did a test. i tapped one bearing into the housing a little more and they seemed to lock up, like the cone spacer is tight against both inner cones on the bearings, i'm thinking that it should be a little bit free in there. as the other ring mics out at .2812(9/32), a bit more than 1/4 inch if that's what the cone spacer is, then it makes sense that the inner cones would bind on the spacer. hope i'm not grasping at straws here but between the drawing and what i'm seeing, sounds right to me. thoughts on some judicious use of heat on the casting to get the bearings out?

 

[jpatchett]

Mike,

There may have been a PO working on these before. The PO replaced the bearings or not, but did not re-assemble correctly.

That looks like the split washer that belongs in the housing between the bearings.

If the split washer is truly missing, than you should be able to press them both out in one direction. The use of an inside bearing/bushing puller would be ideal. Some parts store rent such pullers, pilot bearing puller.

12 years ago I was making a decent 42" deck out of two so so decks. I decided not to rebuild the spindles like you have be working on, but installed the one piece bearing that were decent shape for 30+ years of use. This is my back up mower so it was good enough.

Jim

 

[rcahoy]

Guys,
I just acquired a Cub Cadet 982. The Steering Sector at the bottom is badly broken. Will need a whole new Steering Column. Would like to convert this to Power Steering if possible. What all do I need and what other models Steering Sectors and Power Steering units could I use on this 982?

 

[jamarks]

Does anyone know where i can purchase the aftermarket tricycle axel for the early cub cadets

 

[sblunier]

Randy,

1572, 1872, 2072 are all full bolt on power steering systems. Many have done this conversion.

 

[mconway]

another day...still a clusterf%$#...anyway, after speaking with charlie at ccs last nite, he agreed with my analysis of the problem. somewhere along the line these were reassembled bass-ackwards. so today i have all the spacers pulled out now time for some light heat and press time and hopefully get them back together so i don't have to use my gd push mower on my 1/2 acre....too old for that..... wanna thank charlie for his help last night and i will be taking a lot more pics of this fiasco so in the future if anybody has questions, this may be able to help. gotta get one more seal from ccs as i trashed one pulling apart the one spindle that was assembled before i said to myself..."dig into this and figure it out!!!" thanx for all the comments/replies and the work continues....have a great day....

 

[hydroharry]

Mike C - I like your attitude and think your deck is gonna be better than new when your done. I wondering if you'd be willing to go thru a couple similar decks and make them as good as yours?

 

[jchamberlin]

Mike C: While we're on the topic of spindle assembly, note that the oil seals install "backwards" from what I'm used to seeing in most applications; the wiping edge installs to the outside --not the metal portion. The instructions which came with my ST745 clearly state that the grease is intended to sort of 'flush out' the bearing and not be trapped inside possibly building up pressure and creating air/water pockets. I failed to grasp this with the first one I assembled, but I got it right on the second one. Look closely at the first cross-section you posted and you can see how the lip of the top seal faces up and the lip of the bottom seal faces down.

 

[mconway]

Jeremiah, i thought that was what i was seeing in the cross section drawing and was waiting for somebody to chime in. for whatever reason, the seals that i pulled out were installed in the "normal" fashion. not sure i like the idea of inverted seals, seems as tho grease would end up on the pulley, belt and in general just make a hell of a mess. yes, it should seal but still doesn't quite sit right with me. but after all the comments and help from ccs i've gotten on this project, i might as well just do it like the factory and it should last another 50 years with a little pm.....by the way, my 109 that this is going on is also a '73 vintage as your 149...still a beast

 

[jchamberlin]

Mike C: Well, the cross-section is clearer than the instructions! From the instructions I thought one installed them both facing down so that the top was metal side up and the bottom was lip side down. I try to grease the spindles each time I mow, and I listen for the "squirt" at about the third pump.

I'll dig around tomorrow morning and see if I can find the hard copy of the instruction sheet which ships with the bearing. I thought I had made an electronic version, but I couldn't find it last night.

 

[jpatchett]

Spindle bearing seals.

I would install them both in the same fashion, seal out or seals in.

If you have the each of the seals installed say both facing down (top seal normally installed i.e. not like the cross section drawing shows and bottom seal a$$ backwards, like the drawing) the grease will not migrate evenly. Grease that is pumped in will tend to go toward the bottom seal and not go to the upper bearing.

I would install as the drawing shows, backward from a typical installation. The grease needs to be able to flow out and take dirt & moisture with it.

I like to see grease slinging out from under the spindle pulley, I know the top bearing is getting grease.

Jim