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Help with changing bearings on a 3160 mower

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 10:38 pm
by spgeid
I am looking for some help with how to change the bearings on a 3160 mower. I have the mower head disassembled. I was able to drive the shaft down out of the spindle. This freed up the top bearing and seal. I then drove the races out of the spindle top and bottom. No problem so far. But I am looking for ideas on how to drive the bearing closest to the blades off the shaft. No room to get any kind of punch under it to drive it up and off. Has anyone found a good way to do this without damaging the shaft? I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks

Re: Help with changing bearings on a 3160 mower

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 5:23 am
by Phazer
Polish the shaft with a piece of emery cloth to get it nice and clean so the bearing will slip off easier. Might even want to go ahead and twist the cage off and get the rollers out of the way. Then heat it up some with a torch.

Once you get it off, look at the lower spacer that is/was below the bearing, it's what the lower seal rides on. If it's not rusted/pitted/grooved, leave it on there. Mine were bad and I made some using black pipe and turned them on a lathe.

Bearings & seals are available at most auto parts stores.

Re: Help with changing bearings on a 3160 mower

Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 11:17 pm
by spgeid
Thanks for the help phazer, ends up when i pulled the center spindle out, the shaft is seperated from the blade head, someone has welded it in the past. But the good news is I think i found a new spindle assembly on ebay for a decent price. The first spindle i took off i ended up taking it to a local machine shop to have him remove the bearing, He cut it off with a die grinder I guess. But all looked good so its back together, So i figured what the heck pull the center spindle next cause it was the noisest anyways. Thats the one that has the broken or seperated blade head. I am afraid to pull the third one.

Anyways the first one cost me 20 bucks to the machine shope and $35 at NAPA for the bearings and seals. Dang expensive rebuild.

If anyone needs the numbers, the napa seals i got were napa part number 12437 $9.99 each, and the bearings were napa part number PBR14 $7.82 each.

Re: Help with changing bearings on a 3160 mower

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2011 5:19 am
by Phazer
When I got my cub, the PO had hit something with the center blade and had also broken off the head/flange. It was a clean break and you could tell/feel exactly where it went back together. Welding shop fixed me up on that.

I mowed for an extended time with mine for the first time yesterday. I wouldn't really call it a finnish mower but it's good enough for the back 40. Had a hoot mowing.

Re: Help with changing bearings on a 3160 mower

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2011 8:49 pm
by spgeid
When I was a teenager, my first real full time summer job was mowing yards for a company that had a lot of property and we also mowed some of the stock holders yards. Much of my summers during college was spend riding a cub 154. It would take us all week to mow all the yard. I guess thats when I learned to enjoy the lo boy so much. It was a great mower then and I am hoping the 185 I picked up in march will be equally as great. About 4 years ago I picked up my 1962 international lo boy, I have been mowing with it since and it has been a great little tractor. But I always missed the live PTO on the numbered cubs.