Pulley bearing nightmares

[KennyV]

Most of the heavy duty applications use to be the tapered bearing type... and Yes that was the proper set up for the 'pre-load'...
I doubt there are many young mechanics today that have experienced packing Or pre-loading tapered bearings.
Most spindles today run sealed OR shielded ball bearings... Some with the ability to grease Some without. :smile:KennyV

 

[reynoldston]

This thread was about mower deck pulleys. In my years of repairs I just never ran across mower deck pulleys with tapered or grease able bearings. Not to say there isn't such a thing but something I have never seen. The ones I have seen you buy the pulley as a assembly with the bearing in the pulley. I have taken some of the pulleys apart and just replaced the bearing, but also some of the pulleys this can't be done because the bearing race is built into the pulley. I have also found that some pulleys are spot welded together which I have drilled out the welds and installed screws in place of the welds. Wheel bearing in a car or truck are a whole different story but I have also degreased or replaced my fair share of them also.

 

[motoman]

You are right. Sorry I guess I hi jacked the topic. Anyway thanks for the info.

 

[Carscw]

What I don't understand is why is spindle housings not made of steel or cast like a hub on a ca?
To keep cost down ?
Heat?

(( racing is the only sport that you need two balls ))

 

[KennyV]

... why is spindle housings not made of steel or cast like a hub on a ca?
To keep cost down ?
Heat?

(( racing is the only sport that you need two balls ))

The better commercial & industrial machines are Steel... But cheaper, easier to machine metals are very common... price definitely drives quality.
And in some applications it is really Not very important to make one part that is going to last, when the rest of the supporting pieces are going to fail in Less than 100 hours... :smile:KennyV

 

[motoman]

Kenny, what is going to fail in less than 100 hours?

 

[KennyV]

Kenny, what is going to fail in less than 100 hours?

...
And in some applications it is really Not very important to make one part that is going to last, when the rest of the supporting pieces are going to fail in Less than 100 hours... :smile:KennyV

Just look around, you will find a lot of low priced mowers, that 'look' like mowers. But have pieces on them that will be lucky to make it 3 or 4 years ...:smile:KennyV

 

[djdicetn]

The better commercial & industrial machines are Steel... But cheaper, easier to machine metals are very common... price definitely drives quality.
And in some applications it is really Not very important to make one part that is going to last, when the rest of the supporting pieces are going to fail in Less than 100 hours... :smile:KennyV

The spindle "housings" on my Gravely are cast iron, the shafts are 1" diameter steel and they have sealed bearings. I was told by several different brand dealers that the cast iron housings indicated "commercial/industrial grade" and that this is what you would find on the expensive, big farm tractors that have mowing decks. The ones on my Gravely also have a 3Year spindle-specific warranty so I figured that too was a good indication they would last. It took several dealers saying the same thing to convince me that "sealed bearings", versus ones with grease zerks, were a good long-term investment. I also got the "all spindles, even the ones with grease zerks have sealed bearings" story from all of them like was mentioned by user motoman earlier. So what is factual and what is urban legend regarding spindle durability????

 

[reynoldston]

How we are on spindle bearings which are a lot different then pulley bearings. I do find on the commercial mowers most spindle bearings you can grease.

 

[KennyV]

How we are on spindle bearings which are a lot different then pulley bearings. I do find on the commercial mowers most spindle bearings you can grease.

You are right we have been bouncing back to spindle bearings & spindle housing design while talking about a pulley bearings.
And I also have not seen many grease-able pulleys in the last 50 years. They are all mostly sealed bearings.
Spindles on the other hand are sealed on the cheaper (throw away housings)... the better spindles are easily rebuildable and have grease zerks with bearings that are typically open in the inside and sealed on the outside... but there are a lot of spindle designs, some better than others. :smile:KennyV