Lateral wheel movement on axle after bearing replacement?

[leafmulcher]

Hello,

12 year old Craftsman YTS4000 (917.289283) with about 1100 hours on it. Replaced the front wheel bushings with a sealed bearing kit and apparently "shimmed" the wheels too tight with the large washers (maybe 1/16" to 1/8" lateral movement). After approximately 10 hours of use, the weld on one of the wheel hubs broke apparently due to excessive side loading? Ordered two new wheel/tire combos with sealed bearings already installed from a company called "Antego".

Before replacing the original bushings with the bearings, there was a lot of lateral "slop" on the front wheels (guessing 1/2" to 3/4").

So, my question is, how much lateral movement of the wheel on the axle should there be when I install the new wheel/bearing combo?

Thanks in advance,

Mike

 

[mechanic mark]

Official Craftsman 917289283 front-engine lawn tractor parts | Sears PartsDirect

Craftsman 917289283 front-engine lawn tractor parts - manufacturer-approved parts for a proper fit every time! We also have installation guides, diagrams and manuals to help you along the way!

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see steering section above, illustrated parts breakdown, spindle condition ? did you pack wheel hubs with wheel bearing grease? grease prevents moisture buildup in cavity of wheel hubs, helps prevent heat buildup,

 

[bertsmobile1]

You do not need much latteral movement about 1/16" is more than enough
Did you use flanged bearings
A common mistake is to use plain bearings and if you do then you have to make a spacer to go between the bearings
The wheels on most ride ons are pretty much junk from day 1 and require constant greasing to achieve a good service life.
The tractor style mowers tried a system called "Near Zero Turn" which allows the wheels to almost go at right angles to the frame and this is what kills the welds as it puts a massive tensile - compressive cyclic load on them that fatigues the welds which were not good to start with .
The wider you make your turns the less stress there will be on the wheels

 

[StarTech]

This mower does not have NZTR steering and it has over 1100 hrs on it. With this many hours things are going to fail no matter what is done. The spindles do need on smaller washer to prevent the rim from impacting the debris shield. I have shimmed the rims to minimum clearance using the bushings so there is no reason that the flange bearings be any different. Have excessive movement will just cause impact to the debris shield and possible knocking off the retaining clip.

With 1100 hrs plus it is very possible the weld was alright cracked and you didn't notice it. As when previous rim have nearly 3/4" play it acted like a slide hammer when you moved at any medium to high speed turns.

 

[leafmulcher]

Official Craftsman 917289283 front-engine lawn tractor parts | Sears PartsDirect

Craftsman 917289283 front-engine lawn tractor parts - manufacturer-approved parts for a proper fit every time! We also have installation guides, diagrams and manuals to help you along the way!

www.searspartsdirect.com

see steering section above, illustrated parts breakdown, spindle condition ? did you pack wheel hubs with wheel bearing grease? grease prevents moisture buildup in cavity of wheel hubs, helps prevent heat buildup,

Hi Mark,

Thanks for replying. Yes, prior to replacing the bushings with sealed bearings, the front wheels were greased at least twice a season. The reason for replacing the bushings this year was because the right front started making a "clicking noise" when rolling. Rather than replace the bushings and having to grease them periodically, I opted for the sealed bearings. The spindles look good to me & the new bearings fit over them smoothly.

Mike

 

[leafmulcher]

You do not need much latteral movement about 1/16" is more than enough
Did you use flanged bearings
A common mistake is to use plain bearings and if you do then you have to make a spacer to go between the bearings
The wheels on most ride ons are pretty much junk from day 1 and require constant greasing to achieve a good service life.
The tractor style mowers tried a system called "Near Zero Turn" which allows the wheels to almost go at right angles to the frame and this is what kills the welds as it puts a massive tensile - compressive cyclic load on them that fatigues the welds which were not good to start with .
The wider you make your turns the less stress there will be on the wheels

Hi Bert,

Thank you for the reply. Yes, the bearings are flanged. They are made by a company called "HD Switch" and sold through Amazon. Their reviews are positive, so I went with them.

As I mentioned to Mechanic Mark, the wheels were greased at least twice a season (here in Illinois, a season is about 6 mos, give or take).

Thanks for confirming that not much lateral movement is needed - I will shoot for 1/16 to 1/8" when the new wheels come. The only reason I thought I screwed up and had them "too tight" was the fact that the wheel hub weld broke about 10 hours after installing the bearings. The wheels were fine up til then and the mower has been going over the same 1 acre lot since new.

Mike

 

[leafmulcher]

This mower does not have NZTR steering and it has over 1100 hrs on it. With this many hours things are going to fail no matter what is done. The spindles do need on smaller washer to prevent the rim from impacting the debris shield. I have shimmed the rims to minimum clearance using the bushings so there is no reason that the flange bearings be any different. Have excessive movement will just cause impact to the debris shield and possible knocking off the retaining clip.

With 1100 hrs plus it is very possible the weld was alright cracked and you didn't notice it. As when previous rim have nearly 3/4" play it acted like a slide hammer when you moved at any medium to high speed turns.

Hi Star Tech,

Thank you for the reply. The spindle has the smaller washer on the dust guard side. I re-installed the original washers in the reverse sequence I removed them. When I had it back together, it still seemed sloppy, so that's when I used additional washers that came with the bearing kit.

The wheel hub weld could very well have been cracked - I never looked at it closely when installing the bearings. It's just that when you do something & then it breaks shortly thereafter, I pretty much assume it was something I screwed up....


Mike