[sslick]

I recently bought my first Cub...a 3240 with a 54" deck and 46" (?) snowblower attachment. It seems like a really well-built machine and I can't wait to use it, but here's my dilemma....
The deck needed some work and the dealer that sold me the tractor agreed to replace all 3 spindles for me after I grabbed the blade and noticed some endplay in the bearings. So, the new spindles arrived along with my new blades and everything's all bolted up and ready to go, or so I thought. There is still a significant amount of endplay in all 3 new (genuine Cub (MTD)) spindles.
After calling around and asking whether or not new spindles should be loose, I got 2 different answers from 2 different Cub Cadet service techs. One says "yes, they should have some endplay", the other says "no, absolutely not...send them all back"!!!
I understand the concept of bearing preload and know that there needs to be a certain amount of space between the bearing and race to allow for grease and heat expansion. Can anyone tell me what the recommended preload (endplay) should be??? I have 54" deck #190-290-100 with spindles #759-3665. These are the tapered roller bearing style with a spacer each between the upper and lower bearing and another between the upper and lower races. These spacers are the cause of the endplay. BTW...I managed to rig up an old brake rotor runout guage between the blade and deck and measured the endplay.... it's .023 on one and the others are comperable. WAY too much in my opinion.
Can someone tell me for sure what the endplay should be??? Maybe I'm doing something wrong???? Thanks in advance-