LTX1046kw spindle????

[whitearrow]

ok fellas i've got a 2013 cub ltx1046kw that had a catastrophic blade spindle failure where the blade and innards fell approx 2" and ball bearings went everywhere causing the blade to flop around hitting the deck until i could stop the pto from spinning. the blades causing some scarring underneath the deck which i've sliked up with my angle grinder and painted. have y'all ever had such to happen? the mower only has 115 or so hrs on the clock. i went to tractor supply and bought a whole oem cub spindle assemby and after installing it i grabbed the "good one",or so i thought, and it has some play in it and is pretty noisy when i spin it by hand. just for clarification the "good spindle assembly" would be the original one that i have not yet replaced. what are y'all getting as far as hrs outta the spindle bearings and are the aftermarket spindle assembly with an actual grease fitting better and last longer than the oem sealed unit?
thanks,
Big Ed

 

[tomplum]

A new spindle should not have a noisy bearing. Are they for sure OEM at TS? Aftermarket spindles are generally less than in quality.The hours could be less of deal than the age and storage conditions. The quality of the bearings is what matters as far as supplies go. Bearing wise, MTD spindles do OK. Husqvarna spindles do OK. Deere spindles on their lighter machines that now have grease fittings can do alright, but have small bearings on both top and bottom. More of these fail than should. If you want to add a grease fitting, go ahead. It is simple enough to drill and tap. Just remove the upper seal in the lower bearing.

 

[RandyT]

Just keep in mind that a lot of the greaseable spindles that you find have sealed internal bearings, and for the most part the grease fitting makes the customer feel good.

 

[whitearrow]

A new spindle should not have a noisy bearing. Are they for sure OEM at TS? Aftermarket spindles are generally less than in quality.The hours could be less of deal than the age and storage conditions. The quality of the bearings is what matters as far as supplies go. Bearing wise, MTD spindles do OK. Husqvarna spindles do OK. Deere spindles on their lighter machines that now have grease fittings can do alright, but have small bearings on both top and bottom. More of these fail than should. If you want to add a grease fitting, go ahead. It is simple enough to drill and tap. Just remove the upper seal in the lower bearing.

sorry tom for the confusion. but, to clarify it was NOT the newly installed spindle assembly but the other one that i thought was good. i gave it a good shake and spin and compared it to the newly installed spindle assembly and it had some play and pretty noisy. so, while i had the deck off i went back to Tractor Supply and picked up another cub cadet oem sealed spindle assemby to replace now both of the spindle assembly's. surely these new spindle assembly's with sealed bearings come packed with grease???
thanks and again sorry for the confusion,
Big Ed

 

[tomplum]

Sealed bearings are assembled w/ grease. You would expect no other lube in the spindle housing. You could dis assemble and pop the seal and add more. So normally if you stay on top of bearings as they worsen, they can be replaced.Keep blades balanced, worn belts replaced etc. -will also add to the longevity.

 

[tracter]

For sealed bearings go to your parts store and buy yourself a grease needle , you insert it under the seal and pump the bearing full of grease , most sealed for life bearings do not have sufficient grease

 

[ChuckT]

I'm with Randyt, grease fitings per-se _do not_ mean you're able to grease the bearings by injecting more grease. Consider - for the grease to reach the bearings, assuming no inner seals, you may need to inject 6 or 8 oz of grease into the spindle cavity. A good idea badly done

 

[RandyT]

I have seen cases where the spindle had sealed bearings, but also had the grease zerk, but the bearings fit tight enough around the shaft and into the housing that the grease pressurized the inside of the spindle cavity resulting in damage to the bearings. Grease created the effect of the outer race trying to push outward, but the inner race held in place by the spindle shaft creating side loading.

 

[tomplum]

I'm with Randyt, grease fitings per-se _do not_ mean you're able to grease the bearings by injecting more grease. Consider - for the grease to reach the bearings, assuming no inner seals, you may need to inject 6 or 8 oz of grease into the spindle cavity. A good idea badly done

6-8 ounces? An ounce / 10 pumps is plenty. The majority of bearing failures are at the load end. You shouldn't ever try to pack a deck spindle full of grease to lube an upper bearing. There are few manufactures out there that put a sealed bearing in the load end. Murray was great for that. Cheap aftermarket replacements are suspect as well. The majority of the others are not fully sealed. Even if you put a glob of grease on top of a bearing seal, it won't hurt a thing. Some grease may actually migrate in through a poorly fitting seal at best. What goes for a seal on a 500 hour bearing isn't much. At worst, you wasted 10 pumps of grease...

 

[whitearrow]

ok fellas so i have an update to this thread. so i got the spindle assemblies installed and pulled the idler pulleys off to check to see if they needed replacing while i had the deck off. so,they seemed a lil stiff and noisy to spin. i really didn't feel like running to town so i popped the top bearing seal off and injected some grease while spinning the bearing. i get everything all bolted back up and the deck back on a pull the pto switch and it feels smooth with the exception of a slight rubbing sound that is only there at idle but goes away when i spin the engine up 1/2 throttle to full cutting rpm. my first thought was that something was rubbing possibly the idler wheels rubbing the lil belt brake deals. i just don't know what it is. how tight are the idler wheel bolts to be tightened? i wonder do i have em tightened too tight??
thanks for the help fellas,
Big Ed