Belt for 48" deck

[ldabe]

SnowRidge,
Yes.
2 to 3 pumps with a manual grease gun.
To put the unit on, you have to remove the zerk fitting. Though I did not use a light to look into the hole of the fitting, it did not look like it had much grease if any in there.
That is why I put the 2 to 3 pumps with the manual gun.

 

[SnowRidge]

SnowRidge,
Yes.
2 to 3 pumps with a manual grease gun.
To put the unit on, you have to remove the zerk fitting. Though I did not use a light to look into the hole of the fitting, it did not look like it had much grease if any in there.
That is why I put the 2 to 3 pumps with the manual gun.

That wouldn't hurt it. I wondered if you might have pumped it full.

They come without any grease in them, AFAIK (sorry, JJ ). Obviously a bad bearing from the git go, or bad machining of the housing/spindle by the supplier.

 

[J_J]

Idabe.

Were those bearings sealed bearings to begin with, or just plain? As you were installing the bearings, did you spin them to see if they had grease in them. If they are full of grease, they don't spin very well, while a bearing with no grease will spin quite freely. Some bearings come with 2 grease seals and others with one. The open side goes to the inside of the spindle. If you have true sealed bearings, there is no reason to put grease in the spindle. except to keep the shaft and inside walls from rusting, and maybe keeping water out. Over greasing is also a big problem. A lot of people squirt grease in there ever so many hours. When that spindle is full and more grease is put in, the excess is pushed out the ends , top or bottom.

Sometimes what you think is bad bearings, is, the round spindle is not round anymore. The bearing and unbalanced blade will beat or wear it out of round. You can sometimes fix or use the spindle by drilling a hole and installing a set screw to keep the bearing from wobbling. My complete spindle cost around $85. I used to keep spare spindles in the truck, one short and one long, so I could change it out in the field. I would rebuild the other spindle later.

 

[Marks481]

My complete spindle cost around $85.

Did you buy it from PT or source it somewhere else?

$250 for the spindle assemblies seems a bit pricey to me.

 

[J_J]

Originally Posted by J_J
My complete spindle cost around $85.

I should state the spindle I am referring to is from my Dixie Chopper mower deck , and is very similar to the PT spindle assemble

 

[ldabe]

JJ, yes, they were sealed bearings, but I did not know that (though I suspected it from changing a bearing last year on the "old type" unit) until I took the spindle unit assembly apart. The bottom bearing still had one side with the seal in place.

When I received the assembly from PT, it was already assembled as one unit. All I had to do to bolt it to the mower deck was take off the zerk fitting, to be able to seat the unit into the mower deck hole.

Also, I only put 2-3 pumps from a manual grease gun.

Tim, yes, I bought it from PT. But, the $250 is for "two", the (1) center assembly and the (1) outside assembly unit. The center was approx. $150, and the outside was approx. $90 plus tax.

 

[SnowRidge]

Several owners have looked for another source. No luck so far, but if you catch them early, it's just a bearing change. Doing the "wobble test" works. I caught one as it was about to go out.

 

[J_J]

There is something that I am not seeing. That is the sleeve that goes over the spindle inbetween the bearings to keep them from being coompressed to much, and if not there, then I kow why the unit failed. If not there, and you tighten down the nets and bolt to much , you can expect failure.

 

[SnowRidge]

There is something that I am not seeing. That is the sleeve that goes over the spindle inbetween the bearings to keep them from being coompressed to much, and if not there, then I kow why the unit failed. If not there, and you tighten down the nets and bolt to much , you can expect failure.

No sleeve is needed. The design of the bearing housing and the spindle locates the bearings properly.

 

[coolconnection]

Now let me get this straight. We have sealed bearings in our mower decks yet they still have zerk fittings in them. They told me I need to grease my deck every 8 or 9 hours when I was in Tazewell. I greased my fittings before the season started, now I am getting worried I may have greased them to much. So really if they're sealed we should not have to grease them at all. This is goofy on Power-tracs part. So what should we do? When do you know when to grease'em? Hmmmm.