Leaderboard

I concur with @ri702bill on all points and once dialed in, these decks do cut nicely. They are not “silent” like a perfectly tuned belt-driven deck but they are not loud either. I’ve not encountered anyone who welded the bearing holder (aka, the backbone) and got it perfectly aligned and dimensioned. At least two guys I’ve spoken with eventually got parts decks with unbroken ones to swap in. They can be had. With the right tool, the spindle bearings press in easily (as do the grease seals) but they will distort with even minor misalignment. That spindle looks good (it is hardened where it forms the inner race of the roller bearing). I ended up using shims on the cross-shaft (behind one face gear) to reduce gear lash while leaving about .02” of play for thermal expansion (yes, those gears and the cross shaft do get warm in operation). It took three assemble/disassemble/reassemble tries. Lavishly grease the gears (I now use 3x what I initially thought they should need)--yes, some will seep out around the gear covers--normal (didn't @squonk mention rags ) You are well ahead of the game in that you don’t have rust-through at the top front center of the shell. Typically, users: a) don’t clean the wet grass that accumulates underneath at that point, and b) adjust the lift too high so that the deck frame bangs against that part of the shell, denting it. You’ve been warned. From my notes: 1508 spindle bearing (4) ==> Koyo B-1212 needle bearings 1303 oil seal (2) ==> Timken 312518 seals Staked cross shaft 1515 bearing changes to the 101480 bearing which is a 1630 2RS Glad you are looking to put this back in action.