Idler Pulley Repair

[BravoXray]

Neighbor guy had a problem with the idler pulley on his Craftsman 48" mower deck, the bearing fell apart. Was having problems getting one, so I looked at it and told him I could fix it cheaper than buying a new one, as I've done this before.
took the pulley off, took it to my shop and drilled out the rivets. Took the halves apart and removed the outside race of the bearing, which, naturally had no numbers on it. But from experience I figured it was a 6203 of some flavor, called NAPA and they had them in stock. Drove over, picked a couple of them up (I always keep spares). Put it back together with 10-24 SS bolts and nuts and gave it back to him. Total cost $11.76. Saved him $40.00. Forgot to take a pic after it was put back together.

 

[Richard001]

That's great. Reuse, recycle, repair.

Richard

 

[SPYDERLK]

Neighbor guy had a problem with the idler pulley on his Craftsman 48" mower deck, the bearing fell apart. Was having problems getting one, so I looked at it and told him I could fix it cheaper than buying a new one, as I've done this before.
took the pulley off, took it to my shop and drilled out the rivets. Took the halves apart and removed the outside race of the bearing, which, naturally had no numbers on it. But from experience I figured it was a 6203 of some flavor, called NAPA and they had them in stock. Drove over, picked a couple of them up (I always keep spares). Put it back together with 10-24 SS bolts and nuts and gave it back to him. Total cost $11.76. Saved him $40.00. Forgot to take a pic after it was put back together.

Iv done that before too on my Kubota 54" deck. I use a few tiny dots of green #638 Loctite on the flange on each side where each bolt head and nut will seat to prevent loosening. I dont do the threads because it could interfere with disassembly on the next rebuild.

 

[BravoXray]

That's great. Reuse, recycle, repair.

Richard

I've done that same thing with the fan belt idler pulleys on my F150. A $10 bearing instead of a $40 new unit. Probably a better bearing than the OEM one used, too.

 

[psvfd]

I've done that same thing. Replace bearing with a higher quality one.

 

[grsthegreat]

I just replaced both idler pulleys on my husqvarna riding mower. But found them on amazon for about $10. Each. Im sure there aftermarket knockoffs, but were metal and looked well built. Funny thing is one of the original was plastic pulley. The aftermarket are steel. May be better than OEM.