48" deck locked up!

[kcgriz]

Took the 2185 out of the garage this afternoon to cut the lawn. It's been 2-1/2 weeks since the last cutting because the weather has been HOT and the grass just wasn't growing. Now it needs cut. Fired up the Kohler 18hp twin, dropped the deck to cutting height and tugged on the PTO... SCREEEEEECH!!! then silence. "what the?!?" Tried again... same result. Stepped off and checked under the deck, no obstructions. Reached under to tug on a blade... won't budge. Uh, ohhhh....

Well, I dropped the deck and found it was seized up worse than an old lady after a cheese binge. It took a 1/2" breaker bar to get 2 of the blade spindles to budge and finally free up but they were stiff as could be. I've kept them greased regularly and use air to clean out the grass clippings as much as possible though it really gets packed in there and it hard to get out completely. It worked fine the last time I mowed so I'm not sure what caused the seized up spindles other than it must be moisture and lack of grease.

Got the spindles greased up again and tried to work in the new grease with the breaker bar turning them. Still stiff. Got the belts put back on and got the deck mounted back up and fired it up. No go... Tried again, the deck spindle belt jumped a pulley. Well crap... so... off the deck comes again and is loaded up on the truck. Going to take in into the local Cub dealer tomorrow morning to get it fixed. Wonder how much that's going to tear my wallet up?? Can't complain much though, she's been a good mower so far and has a whopping 275hrs on it so far.

Any ideas on why the spindles decided to give up the ghost? Is this a common occurance?

 

[Fordlords]

Your guess is probably right- moisture and lack of grease. I just find it odd that 2 spindles froze at once. My best guess is that you mow a lot of moist grass, and thus you will need to grease the spindles much more frequently- maybe every other mowing session. Some types of grass are more acidic than others, and when wet that acid can get up into the spindle housing and rust the bearings- very quickly. Ask the shop mechanic who fixes the deck why the bearings failed- this can give you a better idea of any precautions you can take with the new spindles. A typical grease-type spindle should last 500 hours or more, so at 275 the failure was a bit premature.

-Fordlords-

 

[TractorLarry]

When you grease these spindles, where does the old grease push out. The bottom?

I ask because I never see grease come out when I grease mine.

I have the 317 48" deck, which may be the same one he has. It's the GT with the outriggers and big rubber wheels.

-Larry

 

[kcgriz]

My deck is the 301 model. I picked up the new spindle this morning at the local cub dealer. The guy at the counter took a deep breath and said something to the effect of it being a "heart-attack" part. Not sure what he meant at the moment, I quickly found out when he rang it up. Geez-louise!! How can they justify charging that much for a spindle??? Well, all he had was one in stock and I took it with much grumbling and pains in my chest...

Changing the spindle out wasn't too bad of an operation. Had the new one on in about 1/2 hr. The other 2 were in decent shape and the one that was stiff the night before was spinning freely after a thourough greasing. (Thank you, Lord!) So, replacing the one was all that was needed which, by the way, was just about locked up again over night even after getting it broke free yesterday.

Put the deck back under the mower, and fired her up. Ah, the sweet sound of 3 spinning blades under the deck! I will be more diligent about keeping the spindles greased up from now on. I don't need no more stinkin' heart attacks!

 

[esbwn]

I have a LT 1050 and have had 2 spindles lock up *not at the same time thankfully!* Of course neither have been covered under warranty. I only have about 83 hrs on my mower and grease it ever 20-25 hrs. I wonder if its a problem with the spendles themselves. They are really easy to change. My dealer was going to charge me $90 to put it on... 20 mins I had the first one on and the deck back on the mower, not to mention the pride of doing it myself!

 

[7254t]

Why dont you guys just buy the parts you need (bearings -shaft etc.)? Its alot cheaper!

 

[Fordlords]

Just a matter of what they sell as parts. Some of the spindles they sell the internals for, others you buy the whole assembly. It depends on the deck model how it's done.

-Fordlords-

 

[5030]

Just a matter of what they sell as parts. Some of the spindles they sell the internals for, others you buy the whole assembly. It depends on the deck model how it's done.

-Fordlords-

There isn't a spindle you can't take apart and replace the bearings in. From a commercial brush hog spindle to a TSC/MTD special, they all come apart and they all have one thing in common, stock bearings.

All you do is take it apart and get the outer diameter, width and inner diameter or use the catalog number stamped on the bearing and call or visit any bearing distributor.

In all the spindles I've rebuilt over the years, I've never bought any bearings from a dealer or OEM. The markup is way too high.

 

[Fordlords]

This is true if the bearings are the only components causing the spindle's service issues.

-Fordlords-

 

[TractorLarry]

I was wondering that too.

-Larry

Why dont you guys just buy the parts you need (bearings -shaft etc.)? Its alot cheaper!

 

[TractorLarry]

What about seals ?

-Larry

There isn't a spindle you can't take apart and replace the bearings in. From a commercial brush hog spindle to a TSC/MTD special, they all come apart and they all have one thing in common, stock bearings.

All you do is take it apart and get the outer diameter, width and inner diameter or use the catalog number stamped on the bearing and call or visit any bearing distributor.

In all the spindles I've rebuilt over the years, I've never bought any bearings from a dealer or OEM. The markup is way too high.

 

[7254t]

I for one carry them in stock! when I replace bearings I also change seals!

 

[Fordlords]

One thing to watch out for especially with MTD is they sometimes change the spindle designs for individual mowers without notification. For instance with my 44C deck the spindles were changed through the years to use aluminum housings mounted from underneath of the deck instead of the original steel housed ones that bolted above the deck frame. My original plan was to rebuild the spindles, but when I looked and saw there were 19 individual parts that composed the 44C spindles and the design was different, (plus the shafts I had looked a little worn at the bearing contact points) I had no idea what parts from the new design would interchange into the housings I had that were 25 years old. I wanted my deck to have 100% of the performance of a new one without compromise and I chose the new spindle route in the case of the old 44C deck.

-Fordlords-

 

[oliver28472]

I was headed down the rebuild road on my Woods until we broke a spindle housing. Used heat, hydraulic press, bfh, etc.

 

[RobJ]

$120 for each spindle on my Woods rm360. Not that many parts if you want to keep the housing.

 

[oliver28472]

That's in line with what mine would have been. Found a whole good used deck for $225+tax. RM-48

 

[TractorLarry]

Heavens to Mergatroid! Thats utter highway robbery.

-Larry

$120 for each spindle on my Woods rm360. Not that many parts if you want to keep the housing.

 

[RobJ]

Heavens to Mergatroid! Thats utter highway robbery.

-Larry

What can I say, the actual price was 118 if I recall from an dealer on ebay. Local dealer was a lot more.

 

[MrWiggles2]

Timken spindles are usually pretty good, but anything can seize. When I grease I get a good amount of squeeze out below the spindle above the blades. I had a problem with my grease gun however. I appeared to be pumping in grease, but in actuality, no grease was going in. I knew this because I wasn't seeing any squeeze out. I had to make some adjustments to the compressor and gun and got it flowing again.

Glad we have this topic, I'm overdue by about 20 hours.