HD52, 991083 loud deck when engaged!

[bertsmobile1]

The magnets did stick to the spindle housing...

Before I go back & correct some of the gross inaccuracies in the previous posts presented by people who have not read the entire thread before posting their pet fixes for everything, some of which are good , just not applicable to your dilemma .
Considering the cost of replacements it is worth while to take them to a real mower repair workshop or mechanical workshop where they have both the equipment & knowledge to dissasemble your 3 spindles as it is off season you have a bit of time up your sleeve .
Note I said real mower workshop, the type that has a small shop front with a lot of used mowers for sale not the big multifranchise glass fronts who only sell used mowers .
Be upfront, tell them you can not get the ends off and that is all you want them to do if you intend rebuilding them yourself.
If you get them to rebuild them check that they put some anti seize on that thread .
FWIW the housings that Swisher use and the ones on the Ariens Zoom are almost the same as yours and I had to resort to the 1" drive rattle gun and special tools made from cut down impact sockets to get that bottom housing off , although in both cases they were well beyond the "noisy" state.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when I looked up the model referenced (HD52, 991083), its showing WHAT APPEARS TO BE an aluminum spindle HOUSING of a standard configuration. THE DESCRIPTION MENTIONS USING SELF-TAPPING SCREWS, which is common with aluminum housings, less so with steel or cast iron parts. The housing may be thicker than many-I can't tell by looking, but the spindle and bearings would be hefty even without the housing.

If you're intending to order new spindle assemblies there are a couple more things you can try before giving up.

A steel bearing in such a housing is most likely rust bound, with the rust actually penetrating into the porous aluminum, and most standard penetrants would have a very tough time getting it loose. That;'s even if you pour in the penetrant from the top, and either block it from coming out the bottom or sit the part in a pan that keeps the penetrant in contact with the lower part of the casting-and let the part sit at least overnight or a weekend.

If you're intending to order new spindle assemblies there are a couple more things you can try before giving up.

One is heating the entire assembly and then, while its hot, using dry ice or one of the new freeze-off products on the lowest part of the spindle, protecting the housing from contact with the cold medium.

Another, if you haven't already tried it, is to completely support the spindle housing from below and SHARLPLY strike the top end of the shaft with something heavy that won't damage it-such as a dead blow hammer, or a heavy hammer with a piece of wood between the 2.

When I've used this method I first tried penetrants AND/OR HEAT (or used the product below).
i drill a hole through a piece of 2x8 or 2x10 that is just barely large enough for what's held in the lower part of the casting to pass through. If teh spindles are still on teh deck, you may meed another piece of 2x material under the first one to have the full weight of the deck holding the spindle housing in place.

Another is using a CHELATING product for steel/iron.

If you're not familiar with chelating its a process/procedure designed to work SELECTIVELY on specific metals, without harming other materials. Its most commonly used in medicine to remove toxic metals or high levels of otherwise non-toxic metals from people. Its also used inindustry.

I've been using one on rusted steel parts lately and the result have been remarkable-you might want to try it or another similar product. It ONLY WORKS ON FERROUS METALS (those containing iron)
It doesn't do any harm to aluminum, copper, brass,or other metals.

This one is safe enough to pour down a household drain, or on soil, or to immerse your hands in without harm. .Its reusable until its exhausted-just filter the iron residue out if you want.to pour it down a drain.

There is a gel formula and a liquid, I use the liquid. A quart o fteh liquid is about $14. at Walmart. I bought a gallon on Amazon for about twice that price. The gel is much more expensive.

Evapo-Rust ER012 Super Safe Rust Remover​

(HEAVILY edited)

As requested,
You are wrong.
The information is good but it is not the problem .
The problem is the round blade support on the bottom of the shaft which if you read all of the thread before penning our post you would have known

Same goes for the housing
Already shown that is is a fabricated steel housing .

 

[bertsmobile1]

Looks like who ever posted the tosh about iron rusting into aluminium has deleted it .
SO here is the TRUTH
Iron Fe and Aluminium Al both form similar oxides , Fe2O3( rust ) , Al2O3 .
In both cases the O causes the molecule ( crystal if you like ) to get bigger .
The more oxide, the bigger it gets till eventually you have the proverbial size 4 shaft in a size 3 hole or in engineering terms , a heavy interfearance fit .
On top of that both of the oxides adsorb water into their structure , the stable formula having 6 H20's in each case and they do bond very strongly to this water and can both bond to the same water molecule so do an atomic tug -o-war which is very hard to break
In both cases the amount of water can increase either further till you get the fluffy white aluminium oxide or the flakey red rust
Aluminium protects steel in the same manner as zinc does , it does not cause the steel to rust and when you finally get a steel bolt out of an aluminium hole you will see the bolt has no rust where it was in the aluminium.
Much of the old galvanized iron has been replaced with zincalume plating which protects much better and last for 3 to 5 times longer .
Aluminium metal will reduce iron oxide to iron metal
This is the basis of a thermite weld ( google it )
Aluminium is barely soluible in iron in either the liquid or solid phases and visa versa so there is no forces to drive the migration of Al into Fe or Fe into Al at room temperature
Al is commonly added to molten iron or steel in order to scavange oxygen from the melt .
SO no rust will not grow into aluminium nor will aluminium oxide grow into steel .

Sorry to go off track here but because stuff remains on the www forever it is important that factually incorrect stuff is corrected before it is repeated so many times that it becomes an urban myth

 

[SamB]

You mentioned Ford 8.8 rear ends.

For reference:

When I had one of those scored axles, I found out that there is a special replacement bearing "kit" that can be used as a work-around. It repositions the bearing LATERALLY so that it doesn't touch the axle in the same place as the original bearing.
HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?
The axle SEAL used with the bearing takes up much less WIDTH than the original one did, and both are sometimes in a single assembly.
Much less work and the bearing WAS not too pricey either.

Good to know. I have saved my old scored axle if this happens again. I replaced the bad bearing with the afore mentioned Timken bearing. However, a good axle from my local u-pull was only $12.00 When I was doing the repair and checking around, even a premium SKF brand bearing was China-made!

 

[goodO1boydws]

Looks like who ever posted the tosh about iron rusting into aluminium has deleted it .
SO here is the TRUTH
Iron Fe and Aluminium Al both form similar oxides , Fe2O3( rust ) , Al2O3 .
In both cases the O causes the molecule ( crystal if you like ) to get bigger .
The more oxide, the bigger it gets till eventually you have the proverbial size 4 shaft in a size 3 hole or in engineering terms , a heavy interfearance fit .
On top of that both of the oxides adsorb water into their structure , the stable formula having 6 H20's in each case and they do bond very strongly to this water and can both bond to the same water molecule so do an atomic tug -o-war which is very hard to break
In both cases the amount of water can increase either further till you get the fluffy white aluminium oxide or the flakey red rust
Aluminium protects steel in the same manner as zinc does , it does not cause the steel to rust and when you finally get a steel bolt out of an aluminium hole you will see the bolt has no rust where it was in the aluminium.
Much of the old galvanized iron has been replaced with zincalume plating which protects much better and last for 3 to 5 times longer .
Aluminium metal will reduce iron oxide to iron metal
This is the basis of a thermite weld ( google it )
Aluminium is barely soluible in iron in either the liquid or solid phases and visa versa so there is no forces to drive the migration of Al into Fe or Fe into Al at room temperature
Al is commonly added to molten iron or steel in order to scavange oxygen from the melt .
SO no rust will not grow into aluminium nor will aluminium oxide grow into steel .

Sorry to go off track here but because stuff remains on the www forever it is important that factually incorrect stuff is

As requested,
You are wrong.
The information is good but it is not the problem .
The problem is the round blade support on the bottom of the shaft which if you read all of the thread before penning our post you would have known

Same goes for the housing
Already shown that is is a fabricated steel housing .

Yes Bert, he'd already established that-for certain, by using the magnet.
I was wrong, but it never hurts to check these things-sometimes the parts in place are not the ones they are supposed to be. As in the case of counterfeit replacement hardware being installed on airliners during both routine and unscheduled maintenance-with sometimes disastrous results.

About the round blade support.
Is the blade support on this model NOT an integral part of the spindle shaft?
Is it LARGER than the ID of the lower end of the spindle housing?
If not, then by supporting the spindle HOUSING with wood drilled out so that the blade support section of the spindle can pass through it is a viable method.

I do have limited experience with mowers, but the ones I've seen and worked on all had a single piece, machined spindle, usually with the lower end being a round, good sized blade support/bearing protector above which is often some sort of seal and then the lower bearing, it being either pressed on or a close tolerance slip fit.
-------------------
Next, I have not intentionally removed my post-the one which contained information about rust penetrating the porous surface of an aluminum casting.

In a perfect world, where 2 metal mating surfaces, (be they aluminum or steel or one of each) can each be machined fine enough for each to achieve a perfect surface-one where every atom of metal on the surface of each PART is present and at the same level, then I agree that a perfect, uniformly oxidizing surface would not be likely to penetrate past that first opposing layer of atoms.

However, I don't live in a perfect world.
In my world such perfection in machining does not exist.

The reality is that even in the case of the finest possible machined surface (something that is not found on lawn and garden equipment) on even low magnification, that machined surface resembles a plowed field with scattered holes in it more than it does a sheet of glass.

Irrespective of the minutiae of inorganic chemistry involved, when 2 such well-machined surfaces are in direct contact with one another, there are an astronomical number of physical voids between them into which their respective oxidizing surfaces can "grow", physically locking them together on a molecular level-even without chemical bonding.
This is without factoring in any scratches or gouges made in either or both surfaces in handling prior to and during assembly. Such defects only serve to create deeper crevasses and taller peaks which increases further the interference fit by oxidative growth.

That's why I use antiseize-often.

 

[bertsmobile1]

bearing companies in China make bearings to order
Order 1,000 with SKF stamped into the side and that is what you will get.
Bearings are the most counterfited product on the planet which is why it is so important to get your bearings from a reputable supplier and not the cheapest on line source and definately never ever ebay, amazon or face book where there is a 90% chance they will be fake.
The usual give away is the packaging .
We did wheel bearings on a BSA B31 on the weekend and I noticed the bearing manufacturer has gone to the effort of putting a 20 digit serial number on the bearing with instructions on how to verify it was authentic in the box.

And remember that just because it is made in China, Mexico or even Japan that does not mean a bearing is good bad or otherwise .
What is important is the bearing is genuine and has undergone quality control which again is why you buy them from a specialist retailer with a reputation to protect and a public liability policy that can be sued rather than a totally annonomious nobody on a platform that hides the true identity of the retailers from the purchasers

 

[goodO1boydws]

Good to know. I have saved my old scored axle if this happens again. I replaced the bad bearing with the afore mentioned Timken bearing. However, a good axle from my local u-pull was only $12.00 When I was doing the repair and checking around, even a premium SKF brand bearing was China-made!

I was going to say something about how common the axles are at bone yards but many folks don't like replacing bad used parts with more used parts.
Oh, the axle I replaced the bearing on was still running quiet and not leaking 40,000 miles later when some kid front-ended my '87 Country Squire. I've saved that vehicle for parts. Its 3.55 rear end is limited slip and I may transplart the center section section into my rust-free '89 Crown Vic one of these days-its already got the wagon's rebuilt transmission.

 

[bertsmobile1]

On Monday, way back in post # 6 Bullet Bob posted a link to a Your Tube video of the actual job that Bassadict69 is actually trying to do
Go back & have a look at it .
This is where public forums get very frustrating and often quite confusing to those seeking help.
A lot of good points have been made that are 100 incorrect for the job at hand .

Now not trying to get abusive or nasty but you are conflating several different physical occurances.
Firstly because of the free shared electron nature of the metallic bond, any two perfectly clean metallic surfaces that come into intimate contact with each other will effectivly weld together because both of them will try to hold the same electrons.
This is regardless of the surface finish with the obvious caveat that the smoother the surface the more contact places there will be thus the stronger the bond.
This is the principle behind vacuum electron beam welding which was very difficult before they started to use laser cleaning prior to welding to get a perfectly clean surface ( harder to do than most would believe )
And AFAIK still the only method of making a perfect joint between dissimilar metals
However despite it being called "welding" it is really a gluing process , or rather a self gluing process.
We can thank the Russians for this as they were the ones to find out that in space, the oxide on the surface of mechanical points would evaporate and eventually the points would weld together . And this was why solid state switching was invented .

Down here on planet earth oxides with a similar valance or molecular structure can under the right conditions grow into each other .
Weather the metals become impossible to part is very much dependant upon the structural bond between the parent metal & the oxide.
Tough oxides like on stainless steel will cause the parts to stick together which we call gauling and are all familiar with while the exact same thing on copper or zinc alloys rips the oxide of one side which we call stiction .

The bit that most have difficulty in visualizing is that 99% of everything on the planet is in fact empty space between atoms and within atoms .
There is an energy force termed as "Partial Pressures" which basically says that every atom or molecule will exist in a particular concentration comparred to its concentration in what ever it is in contact with at a specific equlibrium concentration ratio.
This is the driving force behind some corrosion because the oxygen ( nitrogen, hydrogen etc etc ) concentration in the air is greater than their concentrations inside the metal part so they will try to penetrate and diffuse through the metal till the equlibrium level is attained ( never is ) and this changes according to the temperatures.

This causes the structures to get physically bigger and we see this most often as rust bubbles .
It has to be mentioned here that some of the bubbling is also due to the H in the H20 first dissolving into the metal matrix ( because H is very small ) then the individual H atoms bumping into each other to for a Hydrogen molecule (H2) and the volume difference is around 200 times .
While this sounds massive 200X almost nothing is still almost nothing , but enough to help the threads to expand and lock into each other.

Finally there is strait atmospheric pressure and we have all seen the X tons being lifted by a drop of water between 2 polished surfaces so long as the surfaces are not allowed to twist .
While this is an effect, it is not critical in the case of a thread so while you are quite correct that you do get a myriad of galvanic cells between the surface grooves in the machined surfaces that will fill up with the oxide of the metal with the lower energy of formation this only increases the static co-efficient of friction by the sear strength of the oxide .
We hear the sound energy generated when we shear the oxide as the crack when a bolt loosens .

What is fun is to hook up a transponder ( microphone to some ) to a bolt and listen to it as the bolt is tightened & loosened .
With a lot of filtering & amplification you can hear the atoms moving,the lattice bonds breaking & reforming the oxide shearing and such.
The practical application is you can tell exactly the instant plastic deformation starts, way earlier than the plastic yield point so you know when maximum safe clamping force has been achieved not that this has much use for fixing mower.

However while the oxides can grow into each other , the individual parent metal atoms can not unless they are in a vacuum & perfectly clean so no Al in the Fe and no Fe in the Al

FWIW my first thesis was on the rate of hydrogen atom migration at the root tip of a growing crack in a particular grade of martensitic steel used in defence industry .
It played a very tiny part in birth of a new field called Fracture Toughness which revolutionised maitenance in the avaition & heavy engineering industries.

 

[goodO1boydws]

I take your point about post #6.
I was FINALLY able to view the video-at 3:30am when our internet connection was able to pass on more than a few seconds of it at a time without stopping.

 

[bertsmobile1]

99% of people post with good intentions
and of course threads can & do run off topic
But it does get confusing to the original poster .
Now I know a lot of people get the forum as a daily digest or just emails but it would really help if before they post they read the entire thread & not just add to the last message ( and I have been guilty of doing this as well on more than one occasion ) .