removing pulley from C3 spindles

[ad356]

well it wasnt fun, but i got it apart and i have started sandblasting the deck. when i put it back together, i think i will use a liberal amount of never-seize, so if i have to in the future i can take it apart again. question, since i have this apart should i replace bearings in seals in the spindles. they seem nice and tight, just dont think i want to go through this again. how expensive or difficult are they to replace and are they common failure items?

i also managed to salvage ALL of the pulleys except for the first one that i broke. everything appears to be useable. this was not fun, when i put it back together what is the best way to ensure that future rebuilds will be much easier? i plan on keeping this tractor and this belly mower for a long time.

[bob in CT]

You are not supposed to use anti-seize or any other lubricant when assembling a sheave pulley assembly.

[ad356]

so there is nothing i can do to make future dis-assembly easier?? why cant you use never-seize? what's the reason?

[bob in CT]

So the pulley does not slip on the shaft. The assembly instructions that came with the hubs were quite emphatic on this. If the pulley slides on the shaft, the belt is misaligned.

If the bearings feel good, I would leave them alone. Just keep greasing them.

[ad356]

while i am not a huge fan of the way these pulleys are held onto the shafts, i would say that i am very impressed at the way the bearings have held up. i am so used to crappy spindles in average lawn and garden tractor spindles, these spindles have survived well against what i am sure of was a very abusive past life. i can tell that these were at the very least a high quality overbuilt mowing deck. the steel is more like plate then sheet metal, i dont know if it would ever rot out, but this mower is in fairly good shape; still solid metal after 50 years and i want to keep it that way.

think about it the average modern deck is lucky to last 10-15 years and this thing is probably over 50 years old. its simple rugged, construction and it has lasted. i think for the most part manufacturers either have forgotten or dont care to make things this solid anymore.

[bob in CT]

The spindles use standard trailer wheel bearings. very rugged. If you take them apart be careful of the star lock washer with an internal tooth for the woodruff key slot. You can buy them but they are something like 4 bucks and you have to have them to adjust the bearings.

The deck is 10 gauge steel. I had some cracks that ran parallel to the angle iron wheel/lifting brackets from flexing. Someone suggested 1 inch channel around the outside to strengthen this. I put it on the inside of the deck to keep a stock appearance after checking clearance. No more flexing. I was going to coat the bottom with teflon but it was too expensive, so I settled for POR 15 brush coat. I sprayed the top with catalyzed paint and it looks great.

[lombard]

PUMP GREASE IN TILL IT COMES OUT THE BOTTOM----

---TWO BEARING GREASED WITH ONE GREASE FITTING--------

[ntrenn]

When you pump grease, use a feeler gage to lift the seal lip off the shaft and let the grease vent. Otherwise you can push the seals out of the housing.

As far as 'feeling' good, bearings rotated by hand can still be failed and not show up by feel - you really needed to run them under belt load to see if they howl - howl=teardown.

[lombard]

TOP GREASE SEAL HOLDS GREASE IN AND DIRT OUT------
BOTTOM GREASE SEAL LETS GREASE OUT AND HOLDS DIRT OUT------

---BE CAREFUL HOW THE SEALS GO IN----
------- USE DIAL INDICATOR TO CHECK BEARING TIGHTNESS .005 TO .007 IS GOOD----
----NO VENTING-----
-----FILL SPINDLE FULL OF GREASE IN ASSEMBLING -------SAVE SOME PUMPING LATER----


GOOD LUCK
LOMBARD----SC-----