SEARS-ROPER DECK SPINDLE LOWER BRG. RACE REMOVAL

HI TO ALL
THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS QUESTION. JUST LOOKING FOR OPINIONS.IF ANY OF YOU HAVE EVER REBUILT ANY DECK SPINDLES HOW IS THE BEST WAY TO GET THE LOWER INSIDE RACE OUT. SOUNDS LIKE A VERY SIMPLE QUESTION, UNTIL YOU HAVE DONE SOME. THE BEST WAY I HAVE FOUND IS TO REMOVE ALL THE BRG. ROLLERS FROM BOTH TOP AND BOTTOM BEARINGS, TURN THE TOP INNER RACE UP SIDE DOWN PUSH IT DOWN TO THE BOTTOM ONE, WELD THE TWO TOGETHER. NOT JUST EVERONE CAN DO THIS WELDING. BRG RACES DON'T LIKE TO BE WELDED. THEN YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO GET A PULLER HOOKED ON TO FOR REMOVAL. ANOTHER PROBLEM IS THE LOWER RACE IS GROWN TO THE SHAFT, NEEDS TO BE HEATED FOR REMOVAL, ANY ONE KNOW OF A SPOT HEATER TO HEAT THE RACE TO LOOSEN IT UP.CAN'T USE A TORCH DOWN IN THE SHIELD OR YOU WILL RUIN THE METAL SEAL (SLINGER) & OUTSIDE BEARING SHIELD. SO FAR AS I KNOW NONE IS AVAILABLE FOR REPLACEMENT. I HAVE A BAD CASE OF THE RUST DESEASE, HAVE ABOUT NINE OR TEN DECKS TO DO. SOME ONE MENTIONED A BRG. BREAKER. IF NEW SLINGERS & SHIELDS WERE AVAILABLE I COULD TAKE A HAMMER AND CHISSEL TO KNOCK THEM OFF. RAMBLED ENOUGH. THANKS JIMMY

morning dbl S. ive run in to the same issues also with the tapered roller bearing set up. couple things i modified a bearing separator to be used only for this purpose allowing more of the puller to get under the bearing. the best way and least expensive is to cut them off with a dremel and a cut off wheel. i cut the cage and remove the bearings leaving the inner exposed.making two cuts 180 degrees apart. i make the cuts at an angle to be able to get as close to the bottom as possible.sometimes just a hit with a hammer does the trick but also had to place a chisel in the slot. be careful as you know the race is hard and with that its brittle and shatters easily. pieces will go flying when they release from the shaft. ive tried all kinds of things for the dust cover cups. the best ive used are screw on jar lids that are close to the same size. also when putting it back together i cut a single slot in the old outer race (cup)and use it to drive in the new one. the slot makes it easy to remove. i found my local NAPA store had these bearings in stock at a reasonable price. not timken by no means but a decent replacement for the money. hope this helps. TKW/tim

Double S , may have stumbled upon a simple solution to removing lower bearings on deck spindles. with the old bearing in place , drilled two 3/16 holes 180 degrees apart , parallel to the shaft. started by filing a flat on the weld , then center punched a mark at 3/32 from the shaft , held shaft square in drill press vice , used a 5/64 center drill (#2) and drilled pilot hole / then drilled with 3/16 down to the bearing , used an 1/8 punch and alternating each hole in 2 hits had moved the bearing then with a short piece of 1/8 rod drove it off the rest of the way, took all of two minutes give or take a minute or so. thinking about making a jig that would bolt into the blade mount holes for future bearing replacement one for the 7/8 shaft and one for the 3/4 shaft. reassembly the dust / debris cup will cover the holes.  hope this gives you an idea to try or improve on. i'm always thinking about stuff like this. hope you've had a happy summer solstice and if your a dad, a happy father's day . i certainly have here in central kentucky > tim

just to add , if the lower bearing has already been removed, before putting it back together using an extended length drill and a piece of thin wall 3/16 I.D. tubing clamped to the shaft for a guide, one wouldn't even have to do a measurment just drill the hole. > tim

HI TIM
THAT SOUNDS LIKE A RATHER NEET WAY TO GET THE LOWER BRG, RACE OUT, SOMEONE SAID HE USED A SHARP CHISEL AND WENT IN UNDER THE DUST SHEILD TO PUSH THE BRG. OFF, SAID HE BENT THE SHEILD BUT WAS ABLE TO STRAIGHTEN IT UP, I HAV HAD SUME STUCK SEVERLY, DON'T THINK THE PUNCH WOULD WORK, BUT I THINK ON MOST THE PUNCH WOULD WORK, I NOW HAVE AN OUTER SPINDLE W/ THE PULLY REMOVED, PUT IN MY TWENTY TON PRESS, BENT EVERTHING AND BRG. IS STILL STUCK, WILL USE TORCH LATER IF I NEED TO USE IT, A TID BIT OF MY SEARS TRACTOR HISTORY, IN PAST 5 YEARS HAVE RESTORED 17-18 SUBURBANS, THINK I HAVE DECKS READY FOR EACH OR MABY 14-15 DECKS, MOST OF MY TIME FROM JUNE 2013 TO JUNE 2014 WAS USED REBUILDING DECKS, LOTS OF BRGS. AND FEW BUCKETS OF GREASE, EVER PEICE ON TRACTOE AND DECKS HAVE BEEN THROUGH THE ELECTROLIS TANK, BLASTED, GROUND & PRIMED, STILL LOOKING FOR THE FUN IN THIS HOBBY. FOR YOU WHO ARE SEARIOUSLY USING YOUR SEARS TO MOW AND HAVE ROOTS IN THE YARD LIKE I DO THAT WILL ROLL THE FRONT OF THE DECK BACK UNDER, I FOUND TO TAKE A PEICE OF 3/4 GALVENIZED PIPE PUT A BEND IN THE MIDDLE OF A PEICE TO REACH FROM ONE SKID TO THE OTHER, LAY IT RIGHT DOWN IN THE CURVED LIP, DRILL 3-4 HOLES THROUGH PIPE AND DECK, BOLT UP TIGHT AND THEN YOU CAN HAMMER THE ROLLED UNDER DECK LIP OUT AND UP TO THE PIPE, THE PIPE WILL STOP THE DECK FROM HANGING ANY ROOTS. HAPPY FATHERS DAY.
JUST KILLIN TIME
JIMMY

Jimmy/Tim,

I have been pondering your thoughts. I like your suggestion Tim of using a punch from beneath it, but I am not a fan of drilling the holes. But it got me thinking if one could drill opposing holes in the sides of the bearing and then use something like a battery puller to move the race upwards.  Since I had two bearing fail this year in the center mandrel (and destroyed the shaft), I used my shop press to push the shaft out. Once out, I placed the shaft in my bench vice and clamped the race only.  A few medium taps on the end of the shaft and the bearing moved upwards. I'll try to include a photo.

I suspect you already are, but are you soaking the mandrels for a long time prior to trying to disassembling them? I read on another post about a fellow who was able to get new grease to flow into the bearing after using WD40 to break down and flush out the old stuff. I tried it and it actually worked.... (well, we'll see how long the mandrel lasts).... but it did let new grease get all the way through. So perhaps some soaking in penetrating fluid for a week or two will do wonders...

best,
Sean

Picture: Removing lower mandrel bearing in a vice

Deleted the post

Sean , have not seen any ill effects from drilling the two punch holes to date. my thought behind doing that was a quick easy way to remove the lower bearing with limited tool requirement , will add that when i put it back together did so with new freeze plugs / debris shields as suggested by GA.SS / jimmy , there are no holes in the new shields and will be reusable should bearings need replaced. would like to know your thoughts ,concerns why drilling holes might be a bad move.
Sorry to hear about the bearing failure , had that happen last year on my dad's 16/6 which never got greased ,came up with a better idea for that but want to wait until i can say for sure whether it has worked as good as i think it should will know more after tear down later this fall (don't want to throw any bad ideas around ) all the best for now > tim
Just a note, did find timken bearings at autozone , Freeze plugs found at O'Reilly's

I posted a query a couple weeks ago about removing the lower bearings on a sears mower deck, and TKW was nice enough to suggest searching the other posts. I found this thread. I copied Double S's instructions and took them to the machine shop I hired to do the bearing replacement. He was stumped how to remove the lower ones. Well, the idea worked like a charm. I am back in business with a mower deck that no longer sounds like a tornado roar.

I replaced the internal belt with a Kevlar one while I was at it, pumped the bearings full of grease, sharpened the blades, put it all back together, and happily mowed my acre of grass. Gonna check the grease in the spindles again today before my second mow. I also bought some 3/4" wide weather strip from Home Depot to seal the cover to the deck in hopes to keep down the grass and crud within the deck.

Thanks again Double S and TKW! You saved my bacon.


Chuck

HI CHUCK
GLAD TO HEAR YOU SAVED ANOTHER DECK, HOPE YOU USED VALVOLINE WHEEL BEARING GREASE FOR JAP & FORIEGN CARS, SAYS SO ON CONTAINER, BEST BY FAR, PROBABLY A MISTAKE TO TRY TO SEAL UP BELT COVER, WON'T WORK IT WILL PULL THE DEBRIS IN AROUND SPINDLES, BEST TO TAKE COVER OFF YEARLY AND CLEAN, I GOT TIRED OF REMOVING COVER AND CUT THE ENDS OFF THE COVER SO I CAN BLOW OUT THE TRASH FROM BOTH ENDS, DON'T MIND SEEING THE PULLYS SPIN, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO TELL WHEN YOU HAVE THE SPINDLES FULL OF GREASE, SOME TIMES WHEN PUMPING GREASE IN TO THE SPINDLES IT MAY OOSE OUT THE TOP AND NOT THE BOTTON, I BOUGHT A VERY LOW HOUR 1978 USED MOSTLY TO PUSH SNOW, DECK STILL HAD SOME OF THE PAINT ON BOTTOM SIDE, PO HAD A SEARS SER. CONTRACT SO THEY SHOT GREASE ON EVER SERVICE WHERE USED OR NOT, PULLED BELT COVER TO FIND A BUCHET OF GREASE AND DEBRIS NO RUST FOR SURE, OVER THE YEARS I HAVE USED THE SAME PISTOL GRIP GREASE GUN AND FOUND THAT ABOUT 60 PUMPS USUALLY FILLS TO SQUIRTING OUT, DON'T LOOK ANY MORE JUST 60 PUMPS ABOUT EVER 20 HR. OF MOWING.
HAVE A GOOD ONE
JIMMY