Rebuild Spindles
 

I bought my 1864 about 8 months ago from my grandma and over the winter i did a lot of maintenance on it. But one thing i did notice was the the spindles on the 48" GT deck would not take any grease. i tried heating them up, using a punch, etc and still did not have any luck. They seem a little noisy to me when i am mowing so I'm wondering if it's about time to take them off an rebuild them. I don't believe they have even been gone through and they have about 1100 hours on them.

Has anyone rebuilt theirs before? If so how difficult is it and any pointers would be great. Also about how much did it cost you and is there any other options?

:bigeyes:

That is not a good thing. It is either time to rebuild or replace the effected bearings.

You prolly have the tapered automotive bearings in them.
The parts are avail online, ebay, parts tree, cubcadet, rockauto, your favorite auto supplier etc.
LM11949 and LM11910 are the cup/cone numbers.
They come apart pretty straight fwd.
While you have it apart replace the belt and check the idler pivot and pulleys.

If they won't take grease, there is a possibility someone has put new grease seals in the bottom of the spindles. If they put the seals in with the lips facing toward the bearings, that'll air lock the grease cavity and not let grease in. If that's the problem and you put new seals in the right way, it may be too late for grease to quiet down the noise.

If you can change wheel bearings on the front wheels of an old RWD car you can change spindle bearings. Same procedure except for the seals. Take the blades off and pull the spindle straight up out of the bearings. Knock the races out with a punch.

I've found out that a more common source of noise on those decks is the idler pulley on the deck. Another source is the mule drive pulleys. Spin each one independent of the other and listen.

i like those spindles... in fact, when i can pull enough out of the old boneyard i put them in all my old cub decks....i am a timken fan..(USA)..not brazil, although probably ok also.....sks ok too (japan)....you'll find amazon to be very competitive price wise, to any local bearing place..do NOT use fastenal or mcmaster for tapered roller bearings....i just did all USA timken bearings in the front of my 1984 chevy k30 for less than 50 bucks bought off of amazon!!

JD8181, easy job. Here is what you need.

The bearings are standard wheel bearings.
Best = A good auto parts store will carry them. Just ask for Timken set 2 and you will get one complete bearing. You will need 2 bearings per spindle.

Amazon = http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BZ52DO/...l_738blrckpz_b

I've used these with good luck so far...cause I'm cheap.:biggrin2:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pack-of-10-T...1UP1Vd&vxp=mtr

The seals.

I've used these for years and have had no issues.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/6PK-CUB-CADE...item416d8b0f1e

Thanks OAK, if I were to buy the bearings and seal kit off of eBay do I just need to buy 1 set of each?

Each spindle has 2 complete bearings and 2 seals.

Thanks for the help. Should the bearing be packed before they are installed?

Absolutely. :beerchug:

I need to tear into this same set of spindles on a GT-48 317 deck. Thanks Oak for posting the link to the bearings and seals. I just ordered them.

Is there a way to set the preload on these tapered bearings? I can't make it out from the drawing.

PeterJ

Hello everyone, I recently purchased a HDS 3225 that is in need of some TLC. Up next with the tractor is the rebuild of the spindles and found this post showing the bearings and seals posted by Oak. I just wanted to ask that are these bearings and seals the ones I would need for the 48" HDS 3225? If so, I'm going to place my order ASAP. Also, I also would like to know how the pre-load is set on these? Thanks for the help in advance and I look forward to learning more about my recent Cub purchase. Bill N.

They should be the correct ones but what is the model number of your deck?

There is a spacer between the bearings that sets the pre load. After I assemble everything together I run my blades on with an electric impact wrench and don't get crazy with it then I spin the single blade to see how it feels.