54" deck mandrel issues

[Rocketcaver]

I'm getting ready to work on the deck of my 917288580 lawn tractor, it's the 54" deck. This mower is 3 or 4 years old.
The left mandrel assembly has been making noise lately, and I figure it's time to look at the bearings.
There is a grease zerk on the end of the spindles, and I do give them a couple shots per the manual, but does that really do anything? I mean, looking at the parts online, it looks like both bearings are sealed, so where does that grease go? Am I missing something here?
I took the deck off yesterday to check things out in prep for removing the mandrel, and for the life of me, none of them feels any rougher than the others. The middle one spins the most freely; with blade and belt removed it will coast for several seconds when given a spin. The other two don't coast as long, but I don't feel any roughness or any end or side play in the bearings. I have not yet removed any of the mandrel assemblies from the deck.
Symptoms: When mowing everything will be fine, then suddenly it will make a... well, not a squealing noise but more like a loud buzzing noise... and vibrate for a few seconds, then that will stop and everything is normal again until a couple minutes later when it happens again. I checked the other pulleys, those feel smooth and spin freely also.

 

[radioman]

Thats the problem with the box store type lawn mowers. they tend to use cheaper designs that wears out more easily and needs replacing. I would just replace the bearings. Some mandrels you can keep your jackshaft and replace the bearings. Some you must buy the whole thing. good luck

 

[Rocketcaver]

Yes, they are cheaply made, I will agree with that.
I do plan to take the assembly apart and replace the bearings if possible, I was just curious about the greasing, as it looks like there is not a way for it to be doing any good. I'll find out when I get it all apart I guess.

 

[eddie48]

I'm getting ready to work on the deck of my 917288580 lawn tractor, it's the 54" deck. This mower is 3 or 4 years old.
The left mandrel assembly has been making noise lately, and I figure it's time to look at the bearings.
There is a grease zerk on the end of the spindles, and I do give them a couple shots per the manual, but does that really do anything? I mean, looking at the parts online, it looks like both bearings are sealed, so where does that grease go? Am I missing something here?
I took the deck off yesterday to check things out in prep for removing the mandrel, and for the life of me, none of them feels any rougher than the others. The middle one spins the most freely; with blade and belt removed it will coast for several seconds when given a spin. The other two don't coast as long, but I don't feel any roughness or any end or side play in the bearings. I have not yet removed any of the mandrel assemblies from the deck.
Symptoms: When mowing everything will be fine, then suddenly it will make a... well, not a squealing noise but more like a loud buzzing noise... and vibrate for a few seconds, then that will stop and everything is normal again until a couple minutes later when it happens again. I checked the other pulleys, those feel smooth and spin freely also.

I'm thinking that the noise might not be from the mandrels. If they are smooth turning and don't have any end play, the bearings are probably ok. Have you checked the idler pulleys? Those are more likely to have bearings go.

 

[Rocketcaver]

I didn't notice any thing amiss with the idlers either. I will double-check everything when I look at it again tonight.

 

[Rocketcaver]

Even though I still couldn't feel anything wrong with the old bearings once I got the old mandrel off the deck, I went ahead and installed the new one; noise and vibration solved.
Now I'll see if I can get the old assembly apart with an eye towards rebuilding it for next time.
Thanks for your help.

 

[cooterdude]

i had a simmialr problem on my cub cadet i took all 3 spindles apart and took the inner oil seal out of the bearings with a screwdriver now the grease is actualy getting to the bearings dont worry you cant blow the outer seals out of the bearings their is a releif hole in the side of the mandrell

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

Even though I still couldn't feel anything wrong with the old bearings once I got the old mandrel off the deck, I went ahead and installed the new one; noise and vibration solved.
Now I'll see if I can get the old assembly apart with an eye towards rebuilding it for next time.
Thanks for your help.

I have a similar problem on with my 54" deck on a YS5400. I was thinking the spindle but like you, I spun them and didn't feel anything. I guess I will just have to replace the one I think is bad and see what happens.