Mower deck vibration problem

[KREP 15]

Well, the belt is nice and firm, not loose as it revolves. Blades flat with no damage. The spindles all revolve with widely varying resistance. One easy, one with lots of resistance, one in between. So I’m guessing that’s it. A hundred bucks for a set of 3.  Nothing else is visible. Blades don’t wobble.  Belt not damaged, pulleys all clear. 

[KREP 15]

Well, the spindles fixed the problem. It works like new.  But it wasn’t without problems. The bolts holding the spindles to the deck were rusted so bad I had to cut them off with a cutting wheel.  So a trip to hardware store.  Most new spindles that I’ve worked on for many years come with new fasteners in the box. This bunch of cheap butts had opened the packages and removed everything including paper work. Then they retaped  them shut. Two of the 3 boxes came with just the plain hardware. The 3rd came in a sealed bag. I don’t even know they are what the box says or poor quality junkers. 
 

But there is more, the pulleys were too big. I didn’t notice till I installed them and they were so close to other pulleys and idlers that the belt would not go on the pulley, and the v-groove was so big the belt bottomed out. Luckily I was able to remove all the pulleys and swapped them.  Then I assembled everything and it worked fine. Oh, I forgot... I bought a nice new grease gun that didn’t work. The metal pipe with the nozzle was blocked so I switch with my old gun. I’ll fix it later. This turned out to be a 3 day project. 
 

Like they say, if it can go wrong, it will. I know I will never buy  from that company again, even if they are only an hour away in my state.

 

thank you for all the suggestions. 

[Bill D 1,596]

Sounds like typical Chinese junk.  Save the old spindles and rebuild them.  If you don't want them, sell them.  They still have some value.  I like to rebuild them if the housings aren't too rotted.   Bill

6 hours ago, KREP said:

Well, the spindles fixed the problem. It works like new.  But it wasn’t without problems. The bolts holding the spindles to the deck were rusted so bad I had to cut them off with a cutting wheel.  So a trip to hardware store.  Most new spindles that I’ve worked on for many years come with new fasteners in the box. This bunch of cheap butts had opened the packages and removed everything including paper work. Then they retaped  them shut. Two of the 3 boxes came with just the plain hardware. The 3rd came in a sealed bag. I don’t even know they are what the box says or poor quality junkers. 
 

But there is more, the pulleys were too big. I didn’t notice till I installed them and they were so close to other pulleys and idlers that the belt would not go on the pulley, and the v-groove was so big the belt bottomed out. Luckily I was able to remove all the pulleys and swapped them.  Then I assembled everything and it worked fine. Oh, I forgot... I bought a nice new grease gun that didn’t work. The metal pipe with the nozzle was blocked so I switch with my old gun. I’ll fix it later. This turned out to be a 3 day project. 
 

Like they say, if it can go wrong, it will. I know I will never buy  from that company again, even if they are only an hour away in my state.

 

thank you for all the suggestions. 

 

[KREP 15]

Bill, I’m saving them and will be getting new bearings. I have done so many I can do it in my sleep. I will have them ready to go if the new ones give up the ghost early.