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Cman Riding Mower Idler bearing rebuild....

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Rhyno

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May 21, 2013
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327
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Salt on the left, Mormons on the right, Yup, "This
This failure is caused by water and "Management" decisions to not use a lot of grease. The bearings are probably, chinese, too.....

Anyways......

On my 42" twin blade mowing deck, there has been some "SCREAMING" going on. I knew it was a bearing starting to fail. I thought that it was the blade spindles and bearings.

Last year, I drilled a hole, in the body, and installed some grease Zerks, hoping to get me through the rest of the season. It took some of the noise away, but not all...

I pulled the deck out, (super Easy to do....) and started to inspect. Both of the idler pulley bearings were bad. Even though there were two Idler Pulleys, they were different. I even found some cross threaded nuts and bolts from the factory.

I headed into the shop for some disassembly.....
 
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Rhyno

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Salt on the left, Mormons on the right, Yup, "This
Here's the first one, top and bottom view....


IMAG3924.jpg


http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums...h Mower Deck bearing replacement/IMAG3924.jpg

IMAG3925.jpg


http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums...h Mower Deck bearing replacement/IMAG3925.jpg

Bang out the bushing/spacer....

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Rhyno

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Messages
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Location
Salt on the left, Mormons on the right, Yup, "This
This is what I purchased.... I haven't ever used the Axis Brand before...

IMAG3947.jpg


http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums...h Mower Deck bearing replacement/IMAG3947.jpg


The sales people at http://www.mcguirebearing.com/ said that it was "the Greatest. I haven't warrantied one, in seven years!" ..."The base material is 52-100." (I haven't heard of such a material) After I paid for them, I read on the box, "made in China." After reading that, I said, "I don't want them..... there isn't anything quality that comes out of that place!" All the while, with the Harbor Freight smell in my memory.

They continued,...."Our company owner goes to China every year to make sure that it is good quality...." I felt like telling them that they were fools.

...but, I hope that I am not the fool. They talked me into it....

Here's what I found.....Luckily I decided to take the seal off.....

IMAG3932.jpg


http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums...h Mower Deck bearing replacement/IMAG3932.jpg

THERE ISN'T ANY GREASE.... and it's rated for 12000 rpm!!??????

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Rhyno

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Messages
327
Location
Salt on the left, Mormons on the right, Yup, "This
I pulled the opposite side seal, and guess what?........next to nothing....It had two pin heads worth of Clear grease, that resembled "Di-electric Grease."

I got the "Moly" grease out and started packin'.....Then put the seal back in....I was too far into this, to stop and search out another bearing.

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Rhyno

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Messages
327
Location
Salt on the left, Mormons on the right, Yup, "This
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Rhyno

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Joined
May 21, 2013
Messages
327
Location
Salt on the left, Mormons on the right, Yup, "This
I used the Spring Center Punch, again, to push out the remainder of the Rivets. Then, the two halves were rejoined,... of course, this was after checking the grease content on the new bearing. It was DRY, too.....I packed in a ShLoad of moly, and could barely put the seal back in....

Once the halves were rejoined, I "Clocked" the pieces a few degrees. This created a little material to start the "welding the Hole", process.

IMAG3941.jpg


http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums...h Mower Deck bearing replacement/IMAG3941.jpg

I clamped it up and laid on the "ArtWork."....:lol:

IMAG3942.jpg


http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums...h Mower Deck bearing replacement/IMAG3942.jpg

I got busy welding, and filled in a "Drain" hole..... oops....

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Rhyno

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Salt on the left, Mormons on the right, Yup, "This
So, after all of this, plus the Zerks added to the Blade Spindle Towers, (which I tore down, and pulled the top seal out of the bottom bearing, and pulled the seals on the top bearing and packed full of moly, then put the seals back in....and packed the tower full of grease.....)

And I used this.....http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=202435..... to do the cleaning of the parts.....

I took it out for a quick Mow..... this was the first time, in a long time that I haven't had to use Ear Plugs!!!! In fact, I think that it is quieter now, than when it was brand new.

SWWWEE-EEETT!!!

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Rhyno

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Messages
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Salt on the left, Mormons on the right, Yup, "This
Here are the parts that, if I had bought would be ......

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000K1NRO0/?tag=atomicindus08-20

$28.00

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004CAREBM/?tag=atomicindus08-20

$26.00

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CTYQAU4/?tag=atomicindus08-20

$54.00

Plus I sharpened and rebalanced the blades, so......

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007JXZVMS/?tag=atomicindus08-20

$70.00

= $178.00 plus labor.....


My labor, plus stuff that I had in the shop, plus a trip to the bearing store, equals less than $20 to do the repair...... (not including the Diesel.....)

Hopefully it'll last longer than another 128.4 hours.....


IMAG3946.jpg


http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums...h Mower Deck bearing replacement/IMAG3946.jpg

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Bar Ditch

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Joined
Mar 10, 2012
Messages
100
Location
Tacoma
I picked up a set of those bearings when I was rebuilding my 79' Suzuki. No shop carried the factory ones. They have held up surprisingly well for the abuse they've taken. Time will tell, but so far I'm quite pleased with their performance. YMMV.
 
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Rhyno

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Joined
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Messages
327
Location
Salt on the left, Mormons on the right, Yup, "This
Bar Ditch said:
I picked up a set of those bearings when I was rebuilding my 79' Suzuki. No shop carried the factory ones. They have held up surprisingly well for the abuse they've taken. Time will tell, but so far I'm quite pleased with their performance. YMMV.
Click to expand...

Did your bearings have grease in them?... or did you "trust that they were right?"

You are right....."time will tell." :beer:

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bgarrett

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Feb 11, 2006
Messages
4,393
I went thru the exact same thing with axle bearings. I dropped one onto the axle and the plastic side shield popped off. I remember metal Made in USA side shields that had to be pried off with a hammer and a screwdriver. Went back to the bearing store and said, "No grease!" one of the owners said, "See the damp spot in there? Thats all the grease you need," The look on my face prompted him to add, packing the bearing is like wading thru deep water and will make the bearing overheat.

Yeah right. Why have we been packing front wheel bearings, trailer axle bearings for the last 50 years with no problems?
I searched until I found USA bearings
 
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lessersivad

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Aug 28, 2011
Messages
282
Location
Morenci, MI
bgarrett said:
I went thru the exact same thing with axle bearings. I dropped one onto the axle and the plastic side shield popped off. I remember metal Made in USA side shields that had to be pried off with a hammer and a screwdriver. Went back to the bearing store and said, "No grease!" one of the owners said, "See the damp spot in there? Thats all the grease you need," The look on my face prompted him to add, packing the bearing is like wading thru deep water and will make the bearing overheat.

Yeah right. Why have we been packing front wheel bearings, trailer axle bearings for the last 50 years with no problems?
I searched until I found USA bearings
Click to expand...

Yup. I remember the BCA bearing numbers as "203FF" for rubber seal on both sides and "203SS" for the steel shield on both sides.

I've been buying Timken wheel bearings for the past few years. It's NOT always a "Made in USA" bearing, but most of the time they are.

Rhyno, Good job on the rebuild.
 
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