Spindle rebuild

[Wheel Horse Fan 3]

So my mower deck is pretty loud. I don't think the PO greased them much. I pumped them with a bunch of grease and after a tube (small grease gun) I didn't get any overflow.

Anyway, should I just replace the bearings? the spindles look good otherwise and it doesn't have many hours on it. Anything else I should replace while I have them apart?

Thanks!

[Duff 206]

If adding the grease didn't quiet things down a lot, probably better plan on new bearings. I'm not familiar with the spindles on your particular deck, but I'd open them up first and be sure the bearings didn't lock up and spin inside the spindle housing or tear up the spindles. If they did you may not be able to get new bearings to seat properly. One of the folks with more knowledge than I should probably chime in on this.....

Duff :thumbs2:

[chamjack 0]

You may want to check the idler pulley also. They are cheap to replace and can squeal quite a bit if the bearing in it is bad.

[Wheel Horse Fan 3]

Well I put the new bearings in and a new idler pully. WOW, deck is whisper quiet. I wasn't even sure if it was working until I saw the zerk fittings spinning and then grass started flying.

What a difference. Well worth the cost of the bearings and the grease under the finger nails.

[bitten 134]

Glad it worked out for you!! :thumbs2:

[WheelHorse_of_course 99]

I like the spindles that have a ball bearing at the top and needle bearings at the bottom. The reason is that you can rebuild them with low cost standard parts.

I have one that needs to be rebuilt so I have a spare. This one has a bad ball bearing but the needle bearing looks fine.

Since I have the ball bearings and don't have a spare needle bearing I am tempted to only do a partial rebuild.

I realize that ideally I should order some of the needle bearing and do the full job, but I wonder if anyone has done this. The last time I rebuilt one of these both bearing were shot so I had no options but to replace both.

cheers

:thumbs2:

[Wheel Horse Fan 3]

Sorry, can't help with your specific question, but I would definitely recommend doing both. You wont be happy if you don't and why tear it apart and only do half the job?