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In the job of rebuilding the mower deck on my Cub's mower deck. I have found that all the idler pulley bearings are noisy and feel gritty. It just looks like they had used poor quality 6203 bearing in these pulleys. The pulleys them self's still look in good shape but are spot welded together. What I did was drill out the spot welds and then installed new top quality 6203 bearing in the old pulleys, then bolted the pulley hafts together. They are just as good or better then new now.

Never thought of doing this. I will give it a try.
When mine go out I go to a dealer and match them up with a heavy duty pulley. From a good commercial mower.

Carscw said:

Never thought of doing this. I will give it a try.
When mine go out I go to a dealer and match them up with a heavy duty pulley. From a good commercial mower.

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I hate spending money on my own equipment and find I can rebuild a idler pulley with a top quality bearing for about haft price.

I have done similar for customers when the extortionist masquerading as parts suppliers want $ 110 for an idler pulley.
However it is a matter of how you value your time.
Drilling out the spot welds, fitting grade 8 bolts, then staking them so they don't undo ad finally balabcing the pulley can take a lot of time.

bertsmobile1 said:

I have done similar for customers when the extortionist masquerading as parts suppliers want $ 110 for an idler pulley.
However it is a matter of how you value your time.
Drilling out the spot welds, fitting grade 8 bolts, then staking them so they don't undo ad finally balabcing the pulley can take a lot of time.

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More like 1/4-20 standard US machine screws (grade 2) with lock washers and no balabcing (balancing) Not done for customers only myself. A good sharp drill bit in a drill press makes short work with the spot welds. Idler pulleys run around 25 to 30 dollars over here and a good grade 6203 bearing around 10 dollars.

Now you see why I buy so much direct from Jacks Small Engines if I can not get a suitable replacement from my aftermarket suppliers.

bertsmobile1 said:

Now you see why I buy so much direct from Jacks Small Engines if I can not get a suitable replacement from my aftermarket suppliers.

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I will make a guess its the shipping to Australia that is a big cost from over here.

Nice fix on the idler pulleys.

I've found that the bearings that have a part number but no manufacturer's name are always made in China. These bearings are are good for a lazy susan or a wheel barrow but not much else. I've rebuilt many electric motors that had worn, noisy no-name bearings with quality, SFK, Toyo, Nachi, Timken, and FAG bearings and they have lasted so long that I've forgotten about them for years. Yes, China has copied many things but they just haven't figured out how to produce a quality bearing.