removing pulley from C3 spindles

how do i remove these pullies. i am trying to remove the spindles so i can sandblast and paint the deck. i already broke 1 pulley and i dont want to break the other 2. also are these still dealer available parts or do i have to find a used pulley? it's an outer pulley that i broke

If you have the taperd pulley this is how to do it. This is a pto pulley but it would be the same for many mower pullies.

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If you have a Woods mower look on line for a Woods dealer near you for a new pully.

thanks. i do not have a woods, its a IH/danco C3 60" mower. does case/ ih stil have these pullies do i have to find a good used one??

ad356":dglyuj05 said:

i do not have a woods, its a IH/danco C3 60" mower.

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I guess if I had paid attention to the subjet title I would have known that. I don't know if those are still available or not, but somebody will fill us in shortly.

Hard to find. Be careful. The split hubs get backed off by removing the 1/4-20 bolts and moving them to the next set of holes. When they bottom out, they lift the inner hub. In theory. The outer pulley (sheave) hubs are unique to the C-3 and they are obsolete. The center hub I was able to buy from McMaster Carr.
The outer sheaves (pulley) are available NOS but at $108!

Hamilton Bob, one of our sponsors, has the pulley. Ed

there is some weird cob job stuff going on with them. the one pulley, someone actually has the bolts going through the bottom of the pulley. why this is, i have no idea. i bought another pulley to replace the busted pulley, lol, i just looked and the ebay seller was Hamilton bob, what a coincidence, thanks for making it available and at a good price. do you make these new? are they aftermarket reproductions or is it just an original part that has been sandblasted? now i had a question, since these things arent even installed right, what is it going to take to remove them? without damaging the other two pullie? i dont really want to replace all 3. can i use a harmonic ballence puller or can i use really long 1/4-20 bolts that go all the way though the pulley and pushes directly on the spindle forcing them off?

You are mistaken if you assume they are installed incorrectly.

if you use a harmonic balancer puller you will break every part. It is a sheave and hub design. Tapered split hub pulls up into the sheave, also tapered, to lock it in place at the height you choose. The hub is piulled up into the sheave by 1/4-20 bolts. There are complementary holes in the sheave that the bolts get threaded into to put pressure on the hub and gently push it out of the sheave. Suggest you google it to find diagrams and instructions

This pdf will give you an idea of the basics on how to work with Browning style sheaves. http://www.continentalfan.com/docs/IFD General I&M.pdf

There is a parts breakdown in RC1 Rotary Cutters. The pdf is available in (new) manuals above and look for the C-3 section in bookmarks. There is also a C-3 operators manual in the Cub attachments section that has very specific instructions on setting up the pulleys. I suggest you read it before doing any more work.

i got the other outer pulley removed, i was able to get a large chisel in between the hub and the pulley, and i drove them apart. once i got the pulley off of the hub removing the center hub was fairly easy.. now im trying to remove the center pulley. the problem i am having is that i already broke 2 bolts bolts off in that 2nd set of holes. the problem with a 1/4 fastener is that it will only take so much abuse. they were brand new unused grade 8 bolts. i put them in the other holes, but i already snapped two of them. i tried heating with a hand held torch and that didnt do much either. i must say i'm not a big fan of this setup. brittle cast iron pulley and small 1/4 bolts to remove the pulley from the hub. they are not easy to take apart. i have owned a couple IH cub cadets and those pulleys come off easy.

ad356":11x0argo said:

i got the other outer pulley removed, i was able to get a large chisel in between the hub and the pulley, and i drove them apart. once i got the pulley off of the hub removing the center hub was fairly easy.. now im trying to remove the center pulley. the problem i am having is that i already broke 2 bolts bolts off in that 2nd set of holes. the problem with a 1/4 fastener is that it will only take so much abuse. they were brand new unused grade 8 bolts. i put them in the other holes, but i already snapped two of them. i tried heating with a hand held torch and that didnt do much either. i must say i'm not a big fan of this setup. brittle cast iron pulley and small 1/4 bolts to remove the pulley from the hub. they are not easy to take apart. i have owned a couple IH cub cadets and those pulleys come off easy.

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Remember, these pulleys probably haven't moved,in 50 years. If the pulley is soaked with penetrating oil, and heated, it probably will come off.. These things can take some time and frustration, to get apart. Ed

These can be horribly difficult to remove, as you have found.
You need some judicious use of hammer and drift to help you out too.
Grade 8's or even 9's are the first place to start, then you will need to grease/oil the landing point of the screw to reduce friction and lastly, load them up and whack them with either a spreader drift (like the chisel you used) or vertically catching the gap between the 2 parts. On the center pulley, you need to get down past the hub and get the whack delivered to the pulley - think pipe ground to fit between the two parts. Take your time and don't get too aggressive with the hammer. Unload them(loosen bolts) then reload and repeat the whacks. Those vibrations tend to help shake the sheave loose. It can take 100 whacks or more to get them to moving. I wailed on a PTO pulley, which is the same patent, with a 2 lb hand sledge and drift right at the center of the hub. I hit it so hard I was sure it would break, but my IH tech assured me that was what it would take and after about 15 minutes it almost fell off.

When you put it back together, don't just pull the bolts down and go. It takes about 10 rounds of torque and retorque back and forth on the bolts to get everything to seat and get tight. I did about 4 rounds, thought it had stopped moving, and in about 30 seconds of mowing, the pulley started walking off the shaft.

I've never tried heat on those before, but you may try the blue wrench on it.....the pulley is cast, so you shouldn't have an issue drawing any HT out of the part.

If your hub is like mine, it has a set screw that bites down on to the shaft. You use an allen wrench to loosen it.

I have never seen a tapered hub with a set screw in the side. I would never have thought to check for a set screw. I wonder if this is a unique owner modification or whether it is one done by a manufacturer.

Has anyone successfully used a bearing separator on a stubborn tapered hub?

That locks onto the woodruff key

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.

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

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

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.

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.