Belt for 48" deck

[Clarke]

You can trouble shoot the circuit with your voltmeter. Hook the motor up and check the voltage at the two wires coming from the motor. With the motor load connected you most likely do not have 12 volts. Take the negative test lead and hook it to a GOOD ground like the Negative terminal on the battery. If you read 12 volts you have a grounding problem, if not leave that test lead on the - battery terminal using the + lead of your voltmeter start at the point in the fan circuit where the 12+ voltage starts and from there touch that lead to every connection up to the motor. The point where you do not read 12 volts is where the problem is. Bad connection or wire. Hope this helps.

sg

 

[ldabe]

Clarke,

I have not had time to trouble shoot the way you have suggested...but I plan to try within a few days, hopefully.

My wife's grandmother (more like her mother, she raised her from the time she was 13 to almost 20) died Thursday night. So things are pretty busy with that situation.

But I had to get some grass cut before it got way out of hand. (The high today was going to be 61 degrees, so I thought I would take a chance for 30 to 60 minutes even though the fan is not operating.)

Well about 20 min. into cutting I noticed the mower deck belt was wobbling strangely (I just changed the belt to a new one and left the covers off...good thing too.)

I pulled into the garage, and the right pulley was the culprit. I took off the pulley and there are "no bearings"!

Question? In order to fixed this, do you have to change out the whole "spindle pulley assembly"...

and

if so, what is the proceedure to take it apart?

I took off the blade, but that is it. I do not know how to get that shaft (spindle) out.

Question #2: Where can I get parts?

Do I need to go through Power Trac?

Thanks in advance for all the help (everybody)!

 

[SnowRidge]

Start taking things apart to find out how to work on the spindles. Best advice I can give.

I have not been able to find a source for spindles other than Power Trac. Check both the spindle and the spindle housing for wear. A good source for bearings is Skate Bearings out of FLorida. They have a web site and Google is your friend.

It is much cheaper to replace just the spindle rather than pay for the whole assembly if the housing is not bad.

You need a press to get the bearings on and off of the spindles/housings. I use a Harbor Freight 20 ton that I got on sale. It is way more than enough.

You can salvage a slightly worn spindle housing by installing the bearing using Locktite Bearing Mount. Might be a tad off on the name of the product.

Replace all of the bearings, but replace only those spindles that are actually bad. Do not over grease. Do not power grease. These are sealed bearings and too much grease can blow the seal. Grease does nothing but transfer heat away from bearings.

Check the bearings and spindles for wear after each mowing by grabbing each blade at both ends and trying to rock the blade. Rotate blade 90 degrees and check again.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

 

[J_J]

There is another way to break down the spindles. I have taken many spindles apart, mostly on cast iron spindles. Usually by the time you notice something is wrong, the bearing is on it's way out. This is what I do. Unscrew the nut on the spindle, remove the pulley. Use a large brass hammer or a hard piece of wood, and smack the top of the spindle real hard, and as many times as necessary. Most of the time, the bottom bearing will try and stay on the spindle. A shop press can remove them. The top bearing is removed by using a drift or large screw driver and hitting the rim of the bearing from the bottom of the spindle. As SnowRidge said, if the spindle is OK, clean everything, and replace the bearings. I used to have a complete spindle assembly built up for a quick exchange. My complete spindle assembly was around $75.00 . Sometimes you can seat the new bearings with a large socket, or tap the edge until it seats. Sometimes, you can pull the bearings in place by using the nut to tighten the spindle after you put things back together. If you are replacing sealed bearings, it's your choice whether you want to grease them. The bearings come in many different ways, open face, one side sealed, both sides sealed. Some spindles have no grease fittings. There are some people that grease sealed bearings by using a needle injector. This is taking economy to the extreme. Anyway, have fun.

 

[ldabe]

Just an update on this thread.

I have been working on a duplex I own, so I have not had time to do any work on the mower deck, until this evening.

I talked to keith at PT parts dept. and he said it would be $100 dollars for a new spindle assembly.

Seems my 2003 parts are not availible any more.

Also found out today that the middle spindle bearings are shot also.

Took apart the 3rd one, which is fine (must have been changed somewhere down the road).

The sleeve that goes around the spindle shaft and between the bearings has to be replaced on both of the bad ones, but the spindle and the housing seem to be ok.

I am going to shop around locally to see if I can find a couple sleeves (stainless steel, looks like) and some bearings.

If anyone has suggestions of places to look for these items, I am all ears.

Thanks guys.

 

[SnowRidge]

Just an update on this thread.

I have been working on a duplex I own, so I have not had time to do any work on the mower deck, until this evening.

I talked to keith at PT parts dept. and he said it would be $100 dollars for a new spindle assembly.

Seems my 2003 parts are not availible any more.

Also found out today that the middle spindle bearings are shot also.

Took apart the 3rd one, which is fine (must have been changed somewhere down the road).

The sleeve that goes around the spindle shaft and between the bearings has to be replaced on both of the bad ones, but the spindle and the housing seem to be ok.

I am going to shop around locally to see if I can find a couple sleeves (stainless steel, looks like) and some bearings.

If anyone has suggestions of places to look for these items, I am all ears.

Thanks guys.

The bearings should have numbers on them. Look in the Yellow Pages under bearings. A lot of auto parts stores have them, too. You can probably find them locally. If not, as I posted above, try Skate Bearings. That is where I got mine. They have a web site. They will also likely be cheaper.

I went through the same rigamarole about parts not being available and you have to buy the whole assembly with Terry, but I questioned it, and it turned out they did have the parts. They changed the design in 2003, and I got the newer model, which they do have the parts for. For some reason, they thought I had the older mower. I bought mine in July 2003, I think it was.

I was able to buy the spindles without the assembly, which are a lot cheaper.

 

[ldabe]

The bearings should have numbers on them. Look in the Yellow Pages under bearings. A lot of auto parts stores have them, too. You can probably find them locally. If not, as I posted above, try Skate Bearings. That is where I got mine. They have a web site. They will also likely be cheaper.

I went through the same rigamarole about parts not being available and you have to buy the whole assembly with Terry, but I questioned it, and it turned out they did have the parts. They changed the design in 2003, and I got the newer model, which they do have the parts for. For some reason, they thought I had the older mower. I bought mine in July 2003, I think it was.

I was able to buy the spindles without the assembly, which are a lot cheaper.

Yes, the bearings (at least the one that survived) has numbers on them, but it is a "patent number" not a part number (wonder who the dink was that made that dall).

Keith at PT, still says the two outer spindles (with the U-channel that holds the blade) would have to be completely replaced with the new assemblies (approx. $100 ea.).

I took them apart, and found locally the bearings ($9 ea.) and the spacers (2) for $2.58 ea., and a $5 charge to cut them to the proper size.

But now I have the middle spindle bearings to deal with, which is a whole different setup.

I removed the hydro motor, with the three point knucle that is attached to it.

I then had to back off a allen screw to remove the knucle on top of the pulley.

Then "two" allen screws had to be backed off on the Pulley to be able to tap the spindle down through the housing.

Once the spindle was out, I could see the bearings (I think they were bearings) were a mess! Really no bearings at all, just some twisted metal.

But on this spindle there is what I think is called a "keyway shaft"?

How does that come off the spindle shaft?

Do I drive it up out of the slot with a blunt chisle and hammer (to be able to get the twisted old bearing rings off and to put the new bearings on)?

Did this one have any kind of spacer? It didn't look like it did.

It was too late to call Keith and ask him after I finally remove the spindle.

Oh! Also I was trying to trouble shoot the fan again...and somehow touched one of those "disconnect wires" I talked about before, and there was a spark!
Well, now the PT will not start!

So, I am hoping I just blew a fuse somewhere, and hopefully did not fry anything.

Will try to find out tomorrow, too many "skeeters" to try and continue, especially with the frustration level rising more and more.

If anyone has comments, questions, or suggestions please "let r rip".

 

[woodlandfarms]

Just for my own interest, is it that the bearings never got lubed that they failed or somthing else...

 

[SnowRidge]

If anyone has comments, questions, or suggestions please "let r rip".

I feel for you. I was not happy when I opened my mower up and found sealed Chinese ball bearings in those spindle assemblies. PT says the old style spindle parts are not available, even to them, so you may have no choice but to bite the bullet and buy complete new assemblies.

 

[SnowRidge]

Just for my own interest, is it that the bearings never got lubed that they failed or somthing else...

The finish mowers, at least the 48" versions, give about 200 hours before the bearings give out. That is what I got, and I have seen a couple of other posts indicating that other owners got around the same number of hours out of theirs.

Although the spindle housings have grease fittings, they have sealed bearings. PT exhorts owners to grease their bearings, but doesn't explain how or why you grease a sealed bearing. The only explanation I have found that makes any sense is the grease helps to transfer heat away from the bearing. That particular explanation came from someone on http://www.lawnsite.com/, IIRC, and it was a generalization, not a PT specific opinion.

When the mowers come new from the factory, their is little if any grease in the spindle housings. This is evidenced by the fact that new owners seem to be able to pump grease into the housing "forever" without seeing any evidence of old grease coming out.

When the bearing fails, spindle damage follows immediately. If not caught in short order, the spindle housing will be damaged as well. Since I replaced one spindle and all the bearings, I now check the bearings after each mowing by grasping each blade and trying to rock it back and forth, then rotating it 90 degrees and checking again. I also grease only by hand and limit the number of grease gun pumps to three maximum. I stop if I feel any resistance, which would indicate the cavity is full. All to avoid blowing any bearing seals.

Edit: Lawnsite had another explanation for why spindle assemblies with sealed bearings have grease fittings. It was because professional lawn care people won't buy a mower that doesn't have grease fittings, even if it has sealed bearings. There was also some talk that the mower manufacturers had moved from the more expensive tapered roller bearings to sealed ball bearings, and were loathe to admit it, so they left the grease fittings in place and didn't say anything about the switch.

I understand Scag still uses tapered roller bearings. I wish Power Trac did.