Missouri Lad
Bronze Member
Over the past few month....the very cold months here has been rough trying to rebuild/restore my 1999 JD 54" mower deck As of today the efforts have completed. Sand blasted the underside and upper side, primer and finally two coats of John Deere enamel paint. First, I set out to install all upper and lower ball bearing in the three belt spindles. The parts dept. at JD dealer said it couldn't be done....They sell the whole complete spindle unit at a wonderful fee of $92.89 ea. I removed the bearing from one spindle and went down to IBT to see what they have to sell. I got all six for sets $34.50. Also, removed the sealed bearings from the two idler pulleys by grinding the cover flange over one side of the bearing cup. That way I could just punch out the bearing and replace it. The two bearings cost me $6.74 for the two. The John Deere exact color ...Yellow came from Lowe's as they now carry the John Deere Yellow and green paint. Must be due to Lowe's selling the JD lawn tractors. I also made a change on the deck from roller as you can see in the photo. This is a 2-1/2" OD dia. rubber type. It has a nylon bushing and I cut a 5/8" rod and made it longer so I can have a roller on both sides of the adjustable brackets. The total cost here in the rebuild...$71.34.
Next project is to inspect the pulley bearings in the JD345 Lawn Tractor drive belt pulleys, and replace if needed.
Next project is to inspect the pulley bearings in the JD345 Lawn Tractor drive belt pulleys, and replace if needed.
