Deere 25AFlail Mower Bearings

OFarrell · Jan 15, 2020

I've got an older 25A flail mower that needs roller bearings and is probably close to needing drum bearings. The dealer is telling me the only bearings available are the hex roller bearings for $150 each. Anyone know if aftermarket bearings are available? I have not seen anything in my brief searching.

JeffSWM · Jan 17, 2020

Look at the John Deere Parts website. Here is a link to the page showing the rotor and bearings. John Deere Parts Catalog

The rotor bearings are $27 each and the roller bearings are $13 each.

Tractor Seabee · Jan 18, 2020

How close to a fairly large city? There are bearing/industrial supply houses that can virtually match up any thing. Back in my industrial construction days we ran into match up problems on many old non-supported bearings and seals. Not a thing you can buy on the internet unless you have manufacturer and part #

Ron

OFarrell · Mar 10, 2020

I finally got around to buying bearings. My mower has the hex style roller. How do I get the end cap off without damaging it? Do I need to drop the roller out of the mower to do it?

shaeff · Mar 10, 2020

OFarrell said:
I finally got around to buying bearings. My mower has the hex style roller. How do I get the end cap off without damaging it? Do I need to drop the roller out of the mower to do it?

The end of the roller shaft tends to get damaged from catching rocks, stumps, etc... I had to touch up the end of mine with a grinder to smooth it out enough that the hex retainer would slide off. I might have heated it up, too. The bearings on mine were trash, too, so heating wasn't really an issue. It took a bit of grinding, some heat, and a bit of persuasion but they came off. I did not remove my entire roller.

I put the flail on my tractor, lifted it all the way up, put jack stands and wood cribbing under it so it couldn't move if the hydraulics failed. I blocked the tires on the tractor so it couldn't roll. Then I used more jack stands to support the roller as I worked on removing the bearings. If I recall, it probably took me about an hour and a half to replace them. Most of that was getting the end caps off without totally destroying them.

OFarrell · Mar 10, 2020

Mine don't look awful, just rusted on. I'm thinking about cutting them off and switching to a two piece hex collar like this. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjABegQIBRAJ&usg=AOvVaw1dWbBHjAXxf8KsmaRPh_yR

We will see how mangled it gets I don't think it's going to come off without the assistance of an air hammer, grinder or rosebud.

shaeff · Mar 10, 2020

OFarrell said:
Mine don't look awful, just rusted on. I'm thinking about cutting them off and switching to a two piece hex collar like this. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjABegQIBRAJ&usg=AOvVaw1dWbBHjAXxf8KsmaRPh_yR

We will see how mangled it gets I don't think it's going to come off without the assistance of an air hammer, grinder or rosebud.

This might be a dumb question, but you did remove the set screw, right? If I remember right, mine had a single set screw holding it on and once the shaft was squared up/ground clean it came off easily.