Removing collar at the top of the blade splindle??

[PeterJones]

Hi,
I have a Scag Cheetah which suffered a melted bottom bearing on one of the blade spindles. I've taken the easy way out (I thought) and bought three full spindle assemblies rather the replace the spindle bearings.

I've immediately hit a problem with the top collar around the spindle shaft (see photo). I removed the two bolts holding the collar in place and I assumed I could just pry it up but no luck. I've soaked it in WD40 - no change. Applied heat to the collar - no change. The collar isn't moving!!

Is there a special trick to removing the collar? It's part number 48926, Tapered Hub.

Cheers, Peter

 

[bertsmobile1]

According to the IPL it just comes directly off
So probably rusted solid
get some wedges and tap them under the pulley to put a preload on the hub
The strike the end of the spindle shaft
Something like an air hammer works best with the nut on loosely to prevent the shaft from mushrooming at the end.
Manual ( the Mexican gardner ) lists it as a "tapered hub" which means it locks into place on a taper the same as a flywheel on the crankshaft
Things on tapers need to be shocked off .
The other alternative is to get something like a flywheel / harmonic balancer / steering wheel puller that has slots for bolts
Get a pair of grade 9 1/4 x 20 long bolts & high tensile nuts & washers
slip the bolts & washers through the puller
Screw the nut up the bolts, then screw the bolt into the hub
screw the nut down hard onto the hub
Apply pressure with the big puller bolt then smack the end of the center bolt wit a biggest hammer you can find
Some times if you tension the puller bolt with an impact driver then the jerky motion will also shock the taper free
Attempting to simply pull it off will just strip the threads it needs a shock load .

 

[StarTech]

No need for a puller.

It is quite simple to remove provided you haven't already screw it up. It was design to simply to use the two retaining screws you remove. Just install them in them into the two threaded holes of the taper hub and tighten evenly. They will push the tapered hub and pulley apart. Best to use grade 8 screws as weaker ones can break off. If I remember correctly they are 1/4-20 x 1. Normally the pulley will just drop down leaving the taper hub. Then if the taper is still stuck gently open the split in the taper hub to slip it off.

 

[PeterJones]

Thanks guys, very informative.

Pushing with the two bolts seems the easiest solution - I'll give that a go first then, if the that fails, I will go through BM1's list of instructions.

Thanks for the very prompt responses - greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Peter

 

[PeterJones]

Sorry for the delay in providing feedback - got back this job this afternoon.

StarTech's advice worked as advertised, The original screws were good for cracking the seal but I couldn't move the collars up even after that. The longest 1/4 inch screws I could get were 2 inch and even then I had to use packing to remove the collar (see pic) on one spindle. However this was on the spindle with the damaged bearing so maybe the screws will do the job without padding on the other two spindles.

Thanks again for the advice. Sure wish there was a workshop manual floating around the internet.

Cheers, Peter