Finish mower spindle bearings

[tmajor]

I bought a used King Kutter, 6' finish mower. I knew the right spindle was worn and would need to be repaired or replaced. While "bearing and seal kits" are available, I went for the new spindle assembly. Thereafter, the center spindle shaft, blade mounting hole stripped out, so I went with another new spindle. In the meantime, I rebuilt one of the spindles.

The mower seemed to get a low pitch whine to it and the pulleys were hot. I ordered a Kevlar belt. When getting ready to install the new belt, I noticed that one of the new spindles had gotten sloppy (with about 10 hours on it). At that point, I installed the rebuilt spindle.

The top rubber bearing seal had popped off of the bearing in the new spindle, so I took a look inside ... I saw no grease and only some black residue. The bottom bearing had, what looked like Vaseline on it, but not much!

One confusing factor is: the shafts have grease fittings, but the bearings are sealed on both sides (ZZ). One person has told me, that "he's seen them with 1 seal or 2 seals". The seller claims, that the manufacturer says to fill the chamber with grease (grease gun), which will help keep it cool. It would seem to me, with a grease fitting available, the inside bearing seal should be removed. But on the other hand, my Woods ZTR has no grease fittings and the bearings have lasted for 15 years or so.

My guess, they are junk bearings, improperly lubricated. What's the best solution ... good bearings with one shield or good bearings with both seals in place?

I'll add: They are fairly hard to maintain with a grease gun, as you can't tell when they are full. Either there isn't enough grease or you blow the rubber seals out. I would lean toward metal seals, in this case. ??

 

[mddorange]

I went through a similar problem with the spindles on my mower deck. The spindles that came originally lasted for 7 years. When one spindle finally went out and I replaced with the same OEM spindle from the same manufacture. It lasted 6 months. Since it only had a 90 day warranty, I had to take the loss and replace it. When I took it apart, I am sure that the bottom bearing never had any grease in it. But with only a 90 day warranty, I was SOL.

 

[Agvg]

Would buy a FAG, SKF or simular quality bearing in 2RS version, no point to grease if you don't have proper sealings able to handle pressure from the grease gun.

 

[tmajor]

I think, that is good advice. I'm going to make a trip to "Bearings & Drives" tomorrow, to see what they come up with.

 

[DJ54]

On a sealed bearing, you can normally feel a little resistance on the grease gun handle, when it's full. You just have to go easy.

 

[Agvg]

What's the point? 2rs should be just fine with the grease that are in them, pop the sealing and they go dead quickly.

 

[Rocky J]

This is what I use to make sure it was greased with out removing the seal.
Amazon.com: Plews 5-37 Grease Injector Needle: Automotive

 

[IchabodCrayne]

Have had similar issues with spindles on newer riding mower. Usually end up replacing all three or more each year.
I have noticed they often have no grease in them when I get them.
I've started "rebuilding" them when I get them now.
Pull apart, remove inner seal from both bearings, drill small weep hole in spindle housing just above where lower bearing sits, reassemble and grease until it squirts from weep hole.
So far so good this year. ��

 

[tmajor]

Pull apart, remove inner seal from both bearings, drill small weep hole in spindle housing just above where lower bearing sits, reassemble and grease until it squirts from weep hole.
So far so good this year. ��

I think, this is a reasonable solution. Most things, which you grease, you can grease until you see the grease coming out, somewhere.

I bought a pair of Nachi, Quest bearings (Japan) with double seals. I'm going to try these, without further grease, upon my next spindle failure. Bearings and Drives seem to feel these were comparable to SKF.

The dealer, who I bought the spindles from was willing to replace the spindle, but I thought, it probably wouldn't be any better than the first.

 

[tmajor]

I don't seem to be having any luck at all with this King Kutter finish mower! I'm sure it worked fine, at some point.

After running the mower for about 1/2 hour tonight, the new Kevlar belt broke. Plus, the new spindles have a little bit of slop in them. I still think, the bearings in the new spindles are junk. When they show a bit more slop, I'll install the spindle with the Nachi bearings.

At one point, I checked the belt tension, which I read somewhere, that it should defect 1/4" with 7-10 pounds applied. Can anyone confirm the proper tension? Does anybody have any further suggestions, as to what the problem(s) might be?

 

[IchabodCrayne]

Might be a bad bearing shifting a pulley out of line.
Had that issue with a snow blower once.

 

[WranglerX]

Something interesting on mow deck of my JD Riding mower.... Originally had sealed bearings... JD replacement spindles at about $50 each, aftermarket about $26 each for "no names".... Original JD spindles had no grease zerks, after market has zerks... Opened a recently replaced spindle with zerk, hmmm, double sealed bearing... WHAT am I greasing?..... After looking at assembly I can buy new bearings for about $8 each (2 per spindle) save about $10 a spindle (over after market price) ..... Think I am going to either go with single seal bearings or pull or at least drill a few small holes on inside seal so I can ensure grease in bearings.....

And that's my story... Deck rebuild will be early fall project ....

Dale

 

[tmajor]

The whole spindle thing, seems to be a "toss up"!

My Woods ZTR has 600+ hours on the original belts and bearings. ... no grease fittings and they run cool.
So, I've got the Nachi bearings in place, everything spins free. I mowed about 20 minutes in 8" grass and the pulleys were fairly hot, when I finished. The only thing, that I notice, is the longest span of "free belt" does quiver a bit and the tension spring is continually flexing/contracting, I'm thinking, maybe another idler pulley in that longest stretch of belt. ... But, it never needed it before! ?? Baffling. ... Maybe, the tension spring has gotten weak. ??

 

[Agvg]

If bearings fail frequently it is probably something that are killing them, 2rs should be able to work in very dirty conditions without failing.

 

[tmajor]

I'm thinking, the belt needs more tension. I can't find any guidelines for adjusting the tension for this mower. I have found "general belt guidelines" of 1/2" deflection with 12 pounds applied. I'll be checking to see how close I am to that.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

ONE pump of grease every time you mow...

That's what makes them last...

SR

 

[Bigfoot62]

Earlier this year, I was at the local TSC store. They had a 6' County Line (I think it's the same as your King Kutter) finish mower marked down from $1799 to $999. It had obviously been used and returned. The store manager was new, and didn't know why the mower was brought back. I had been looking for one, and decided to take a chance on it. Manager said that if it didn't work, I could just return it. I loaded it up and took it home. While I had it up in the air, I checked it out. The belt was broken, and one spindle had locked up, breaking the shaft. (and ruining the belt) I took the broken parts back to the store and he gave me new ones. I was satisfied. I even bought an extra spindle, thinking that I would need it eventually. The second time I used the mower, I had another bearing go out, but it was in an idler pulley. Wound up changing two pulleys. Another one was about to come apart.

Evidently, the bearing failure rate on the idlers must be pretty high as well. GA Equipment sells them in a 4-pack with a new belt!

 

[Agvg]

Well, cheap low quality bearings is often used on a lot of low price equipment, even on expensive equipment you can see that they didn't think of specific proper quality and the Chinese has a habit of putting the cheapest junk they can find if you forget to specify what you want.

 

[PA hayseed]

The whole spindle thing, seems to be a "toss up"!

My Woods ZTR has 600+ hours on the original belts and bearings. ... no grease fittings and they run cool.
So, I've got the Nachi bearings in place, everything spins free. I mowed about 20 minutes in 8" grass and the pulleys were fairly hot, when I finished. The only thing, that I notice, is the longest span of "free belt" does quiver a bit and the tension spring is continually flexing/contracting, I'm thinking, maybe another idler pulley in that longest stretch of belt. ... But, it never needed it before! ?? Baffling. ... Maybe, the tension spring has gotten weak. ??

Interesting, my woods ztr FZ25D has grease fittings all over it, I think there are like maybe 10 on the mowing deck and I don't know how many on the ztr itself. When I say 10, I am including the ones on the wheels and wheel arms, as well as the three on the spindles. Page 16 of the service manual on this web page lists all the grease points. Product Details

 

[tmajor]

I don't know what to make of the bearing/spindle/grease situation. Greasing double sealed bearings makes no sense to me. Greasing single sealed bearings makes sense, but it's very easy to blow the seal out, especially, if it's rubber.

I managed to mow for about 2 hours the other day, without failure. That's after installing the Nachi bearings and tensioning the belt tighter. The pulleys got fairly hot. ?? Next time I mow, I'll try to get a reading with my laser thermometer.