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Whether to rebuild the C3 mower ? Not looking good

Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2013 1:16 pm
by Flinttim
The C3 that came with this Cub is a bit dicey at best. One of the outer spindles is not turning, the center spindle has no nut but appears it uses a bolt instead. The other outer spindle seems to turn fine. The deck has numerous repairs and still has several cracks needing reinforcement and welding. The big "BUT" is this. I wanted to take the nut off the outer blades to remove them. (the center blade is missing and the threaded hole for the bolt appears to have very little thread showing). I barely leaned on my wrench and the nut snapped off ! It appears an old crack was going a quarter of the way thru the spindle. At this juncture it does seem prudent or even possible to salvage this thing. I'm watching Craigs List for another mower.

Re: Whether to rebuild the C3 mower ? Not looking good

Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 6:05 am
by bob in CT
Sounds like another deck is the way to go. Maybe you will find a deal on one without the mule drive, or you will have a spare drive to sell in the Spring. They usually bring pretty good money.

The pulleys are worth saving. If you are careful in taking them apart, the sheave parts on the outer spindles are discontinued and Factory only. If you are not sure how the come apart let me know and I'll help you find a post. You remove the three 1/4-20 cap screws and then use the different set of holes to push the outer pulley and inner hub apart when the screws bottom out and contact the other part. The screws are not that strong so sometime you need to bring the up tight and let the tension work on it over time. Lean on it too much and the screws snap and you have a project. The split inner hub is what you want to be very careful of. They are cast iron and will break easily. Even a broken one can be used to put it back together if it is 2 pieces. The manual has an entire setup procedure for setting the pulley heights on the straight shaft spindles if you choose to pull the spindles apart on the next one. If they feel OK I would grease them up good and leave them alone. Those sheaves can be a bear, others, easy as pie.