Pulling deck pulleys.

[diamondred 63]

I have to replace deck bearings on a 15 42sc- 03 deck. What is the best way to get the pulley off the shaft without destroying the pulley? Thanks.

 

[daveoman1966 3,587]

PRAYER

[rjcap 13]

I use a three jaw wheel puller, lots of wd-40 or the like, time, patience and yes prayer. Bent the heck out of the first one I ever did and learned my lesson.

 

[daveoman1966 3,587]

1)Take the 3 blades off. 

2)Find 3 equal height 3lb coffee cans and rest each spindle down into that can so that the deck is setting level on the 3 cans. 

3)Remove the grease zerk

4) back off the top nut to where there is just 1/4" shaft thread exposed above the nut. 

5) find a 3/4" ID plumbing collar of 2" long or so and stack that atop the shaft/ nut.

6)find a 4nut that will fit inside the ID of that collar and lay it atop the shaft / nut, inside the collar (to protect the grease zerk threads).

7) find a 1/2" or 5/8" stub shaft (drift pin) of 3 to 4" long.

8)Stand the stub shaft upright in the 3/4 collar and hold it there (or an in-law if in fear).

9) Using BFH, VIOLENTLY WHACK the stub shaft, driving the spindle shaft down into the coffee can.

10) It won't go into the can, but will, at least, break loose and will drop out when you take the top nut off.

[Lane Ranger 10,474]

It does not work everytime but lots of PB Blaster and turn the deck over so the pulley's can slide off!   Yes it does work may take a day or two.

[squonk 38,848]

Get a bearing separator set from Harbor Freight. Put the separator behind the pulley and use the gear puller to pull on the separator. Spreads the load around the pulley. I pull brass pump impellers this way to avoid damaging a $2000 item! 

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/bearing-separator-and-puller-set-93980.html

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/large-bearing-separator-3979.html

Edited July 23, 2014 by squonk

[rjcap 13]

Get a bearing separator set from Harbor Freight. Put the separator behind the pulley and use the gear puller to pull on the separator. Spreads the load around the pulley. I pull brass pump impellers this way to avoid damaging a $2000 item! 

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/bearing-separator-and-puller-set-93980.html

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/large-bearing-separator-3979.html

Using the bearing separator would have saved me from bending the first pulley. Really good tip. Thank you. 

[diamondred 63]

Good ideas, I can't use the bearing separator because of the channel plate on deck. I couldn't get it around the pulley. I think I'm gonna have to set it up level on the garage floor and support the spindle cup with a pipe coupling so i don't blow the bottom out of the spindle housing and beat the shaft out of it. Will try to take pictures.... 

[daveoman1966 3,587]

I hate the word 'BEAT'.  That sounds like 'continue pounding until it is ruined'  which it will be.  You have to find the gonads to SMACK it ONCE with enough force the SCARE the shaft out of the pulley...down into the coffee can. DO NOT BE TIMID about it.   

[diamondred 63]

...perhaps

[diamondred 63]

Ok. So now we need a 114568 spindle housing and an 106067 cup spindle cup.

[diamondred 63]

Found both on ebay.

[diamondred 63]

With the spindle supported from the bottom side (with a bit more than a coffee can).  Found the gonads you was talking about, and with one swift blow from this right hand sent the shaft flying out the other side, along with the bottom of the spindle. Spindle snapped right at the snap ring groove....

 

 Note; The bottom was supported at the spindle cup, not the housing. Allowing the shaft to move.

[daveoman1966 3,587]

If you look at a schematic of the spindle, you'll see that the only thing holding the shaft in the spindle assy, aside from the stuck top pulley, is a tiny O-ring on the top end of it. (#23).  You weren't supposed to support the bottom of the spindle cup, but let it hang free in the coffee can so that the spindle shaft with cup will drop out of the spindle assy.  There is simply nothing inside the housing that would cause the shaft to snag on the lower end bearing to cause it to move at all as would be required to take out the snap ring with it, let alone break it off. 

 

I have done this no fewer than 50 times without fail and have never broken a spindle housing like you did. 

   

[diamondred 63]

Well let me put my two cents in in before you make an ass out of me. This is the original . The pulley is severely galled from the factory, therefore with the shaft and the pulley acting in this case as one piece, WTH do you think holds the pulley from moving when you're trying to push the shaft out of it? Thats right .... the snap ring. You can't get to the snap ring til the pulley is removed, or the bolts. I didn't have access to to an oxy/acetylene torch to heat the hub of the pulley red before the shaft got hot. You would have not been able to do it either. Although I appreciate your ideas on how to get  this apart, please in  the future don't try to make a fool out of me thinking that you're the only one that knows anything.   Put that in your coffee can.  

[diamondred 63]

BTW, I see you found the right schematic. Glad I didn't buy those $80 bearings

[daveoman1966 3,587]

You stated that  your is deck 15-42SC03 and the schematic I posted is exactly that.  In that schematic, and in the pic I posted, there is no snap ring on the top..only at the bottom and it only holds the low-end bearing in place.  It is not there to hold the shaft from moving up / down.  To the contrary, the up / down movement of the shaft is stopped by the pulley itself on top end, aside from the tinly little rubber O-ring.  That O-ring is there to keep the shaft from dropping down out of the spindle when the pulley is not in place. 

 

Were you able to find the picecs that 'broke' from the spindle housing?  If not, then MAYBE that lower end of the spindle had been worn down so badly that the snap-ring was just barely hanging on by a thread...or maybe it was aready completely gone before you started working on it.  Inasmuch as the snap ring and very end of the housing is hidden by the spindle cup, you wouldn't know if it was there or not.  Then, when you drove out the spindle shaft, you thought you broke the end of the housing when, in fact, it wasn't there to begin with.  Once again, I've seen this many times, too.

 

In any case, I was not attempting to be offensive, only instructive. 

[Don1977 604]

I broke a spindle housing the same way. If it's stuck in the bearing you need to support below the cup to keep from braking the housing. I had both pieces I know it broke.

[km3h 543]

Now I am confused. I was just trying to remove the spindles from my 50 in deck. Actually I got to the point that the next step is either removing the who spindle, housing and all or just the spindle.

Do I remove the housing first of drive the spindle out first? It does no look as though there is enough room to use a bearing puller while it is mounted in the deck.

Deck is 78360. I already downloaded the booklet for it and have the drawings.

[diamondred 63]

From the drawing I looked at for the 78360 , the spindles are same as mine. You have to remove he pulley before you can get to the bolts to remove the housing from the deck. If you can get the pulley off, the spindle shaft should slide out of the bottom without any problems. Next the bearing on top comes out of the top, and the bottom comes out the bottom after removing the snap-ring... really , the housing does not have to be removed from the deck if you want to work around the deck.

 

 Hope this helps.

[km3h 543]

Thank you. That's what I was afraid of. So I am going to have to smack that thing with a hammer. I can do the coffee can thing without too much trouble. I have a bunch of 3 lb cans out in the garage. Now to get my neighbor to help me lift it onto the cans. I want to strip the deck and replace all the bearings and paint the bottom of the deck with a nice coat of smooth enamel.

[km3h 543]

1)Take the 3 blades off. 

2)Find 3 equal height 3lb coffee cans and rest each spindle down into that can so that the deck is setting level on the 3 cans. 

3)Remove the grease zerk

4) back off the top nut to where there is just 1/4" shaft thread exposed above the nut. 

5) find a 3/4" ID plumbing collar of 2" long or so and stack that atop the shaft/ nut.

6)find a 4nut that will fit inside the ID of that collar and lay it atop the shaft / nut, inside the collar (to protect the grease zerk threads).

7) find a 1/2" or 5/8" stub shaft (drift pin) of 3 to 4" long.

8)Stand the stub shaft upright in the 3/4 collar and hold it there (or an in-law if in fear).

9) Using BFH, VIOLENTLY WHACK the stub shaft, driving the spindle shaft down into the coffee can.

10) It won't go into the can, but will, at least, break loose and will drop out when you take the top nut off.

Instead of adding all the little pieces like the plumbing collar, can I just use a brass bar on top of the shaft and smack that?

Edited July 26, 2014 by km3h

[diamondred 63]

 Be aware that the smacking you do with do with whatever you do it with, and if you choose to use the coffee can method, that the pressure from that goes to the snap ring groove that holds the bottom bearing in. I know. My new spindle housing came today. What I would do in the future is use a 1 1/8" socket setting on the floor, with the spindle shaft setting in the socket, and the rest of the deck shimmed up accordingly (so that the shaft is setting square with the socket)  ( I had an aluminum bar) and tap the shaft into the socket until the pulley is free. The socket will support the spindle cup, the bottom spacer, the inner race of the lower bearing, the spacer tube, and the inner race of the upper bearing.  Also the socket should be setting on something that won't move, like a concrete floor.

Edited July 26, 2014 by diamondred

[diamondred 63]

Another idea instead of the socket, you could use one of these  http://www.harborfreight.com/bearing-separator-and-puller-set-93980.html  , and pinch between the shaft and spindle cup and use it for support.

[km3h 543]

Another idea instead of the socket, you could use one of these  http://www.harborfreight.com/bearing-separator-and-puller-set-93980.html  , and pinch between the shaft and spindle cup and use it for support.

I already have that set so it would be an easy thing to try. I will go out tomorrow and look it over and decide which I think is the easiest and best way to do it. Both are great ideas.

Thanks