Mowing 1046 mower deck bearings squeeling

[sdk8103]

My mower deck is so loud this year and it sounds like the bearings in the spindles are bad. This mower only has 82 hours on it and it screams when I engage the blades. Has anyone else had this experience?

 

[dqdave1]

Are they greaseable?

 

[sdk8103]

There are grease fittings on the spindles and I have greased them. It doesn't make a difference.

 

[dqdave1]

Are both spindles sqeeling? I would disassemble one and while on bench, you should be able to feel if bearings are tight.

 

[dqdave1]

Are both spindles sqeeling? I would disassemble one and while on bench, you should be able to feel if bearings are tight. It may be the idler puley making the noise. Make sure belt is installed correctly also. You need to isolate the noise. A piece of hose held to the ear and spindle or a piece of steel held to spindle and ear or a mechanics stethiscope.

 

[sdk8103]

I don't think it's the pulley since I had the belt off and hand spun everything. The pulley turns and spins very freely, but the blades feel like there are bad spots in the bearings that you can feel while turning the blades by hand. I will try the stethoscope trick to see if I can narrow it down.

 

[dqdave1]

Sounds like no grease is getting to the bearings. Can you disassemble the spindles? Anyway to get some penetrating oil in bearing to free it up? This may get you a little more life out of it. Take the grease zerk fitting out; then force some penetrating oil into bearing. I am guessing here.

 

[sdk8103]

The noise is coming out of the spindles. I can't believe the bearings are shot after only about 70 hours. Anyone else experience this? I am not sure if all 6 bearings will need replacing, but at least 3 will since the noise is coming from all 3 spindles. At $15 a bearing plus the time to do it, this ticks me off on a 2 year old mower with so few hours.

 

[dqdave1]

Talk to your dealer; maybe CC will help you out. You can run it till they fail.

 

[JSharp]

If it's only 2 years old isn't it still on warranty? If so, make Cub fix it and save yourself the $

 

[Dave01]

I wouldn't run it until it fails, you need to figure out what is happening. One spindle going bad with only 82 hours might be a bad bearing or plugged zerk that isn't allowing grease to get in. For all three to fail something has to be very wrong. Just a guess here, but if the deck was originally assembled without grease, then you just put the couple of squirts in that normally is needed, those bearings might have been dry from the start and the cavity never filled with enough grease to do the job.

First, go to the dealer and see what they say, and if its under warranty. If it isn't, I'd put a grease gun on one spindle and pump until grease comes out of somewhere, then spin it by hand and add even more. See if that spindle smooths out and quiets down, you might get by for a while. If so, do the other 2. If not, you need a rebuild. I hope this helps, pretty frustrating to have a new deck go bad.

 

[1olddawg]

I agree with Dave...Don't keep running it until you know what's wrong. Don't take a chance of messing up the shaft. It is not included with the spindle assembly.. I have had spindle & idler pulley problems with my 2005 model 2544 from my first season on...Replaced 3 idler pulleys and 2 sets of spindle bearing so far...I have a hunch the deck setup on your 1000 series is the same design. Check the spindle bearing #s. They are probably Timken LM 11949. If so,these are common trailer wheel bearings and are easily replaced. The replacement is the 6203 2RS X 5/8. You can buy these from Motion Industries for about $5.60 ea. I order mine from lowcosttrailersupplies.com Code LM-11949 for $4.56 plus shipping. The metric size is 17 X 40 X 12. I also got a package of 10 on ebay for .88 cents ea. Total price with shipping was $15.55...These are sealed bearings but you can remove the shields if you want. I installed mine sealed and have not had any problems. I have two mowers with sealed bearings and no grease fittings on the spindles (Troybilt & Husqvarna) and have never had a bearing problem. Having said this, my problems have never caused a squeal, only running rough and noisy. Sound to me more like belt squeal because of a bad idler pulley under belt tension pressure..Good luck...
1 OD

 

[sdk8103]

Grease, grease, grease. I greased the spindles and it is much better. I am wondering if perhaps they weren't greased at the factory or dealer since the noise was so bad with so few hours on it.