Zoom Spindle housing

[bertsmobile1]

Got another mowerfrom hell in the work shop.
It is an abused Aries Mini Zoom 1540 which is fitted with the 5151000 spindle housing used on all of the Zoom series, wide area walk behinds & some Great Dane & Ever Rides
Now it needs new spindle bearings and here in lies the problem
The parts breakdown only lists the complete assembly as being available, but the diagram shows the individual pieces
It shows a strait shaft with a pressed on blade boss.
But I can not get it off to replace the lower bearings.

When cleaned up there appears to be a thread ,
So does the boss screw onto the shaft ?
Or
Is is a press fit
or
Is it not removable.

It is peak season down here & I have already had the mower in for 2 weeks and just got the new bearings on Friday.
If possible I really don't want to have to slug the customer $ 125 each for the spindles complete and keep them waiting another 3 weeks till the new spindle arrive.

 

[tom3]

Something like this?

 

[ILENGINE]

Bert if the pictures I was just looking at are correct I worked on that exact spindle on a gravely a couple of months ago. the hub on the bottom does unscrew and needs to come off to remove the bottom bearing. I built a spanner with some flat steel, an old spindle nut and some rod to fit the holes in the blade adapter. Welded it all together and had to apply some heat to a couple spindles to get it to unscrew.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Thank you Tom and thank you Ilengine .
Just the information I was looking for
So now is the time to get brutal
I use dead chain saw bars for these types of tools
My spindals are different in so far as they are drilled & threaded for a blade bolt rather than a nut

 

[bertsmobile1]

Yes I do have quite a few of them for doing up collar nuts & bearing retainers on motorcycles but none heavy enough for this job
But as mentioned earlier I can make one out of a deceased chain bar and some bolts or a pair of loose rollers.
Tried using a pin punch but it dosn't not look like shifting , I doubt that they have been off since new .

 

[bertsmobile1]

It is more cheap than dumb
Ariens would not be making enough of these spindles to justify the cost of making forging dies to do an upset blade boss like most spindle housings except Murray.
As this housing is all machining and being that it is turned down from 1-1/2" round bar stock, probably a cheap grade of 04 plain carbon steel .
Simple job to program an auto capstain lathe to pump out at 200 / hr.
Blade boss probably turned from 2" or slightly smaller round bar stock, again cheap as chips to make .
The sort of thing you can be competative making in a high labour charge country like the USA or OZ ,
No real signs of rust and as 7/8 ths of the blade boss is inside the spindle housing, not so much a rust situuation as a self tightening situation.
IT should have been left hand threaded
Any way I will find out in a couple of days when I tackle it.
Right now That mongrel Parklander ( rebadged Swisher 2560 ) is back in after eating it's second set of deck hanger wires this season so some modifications are in order for it .

 

[Hammermechanicman]

Not that exact spindle but i had to get a similar assembly apart and no big pin wrench. I took an old socket that fit over the shaft and tack welded it to the piece with the holes and used a 1/2" impact to remove it. Just ground the weld off when done.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Because I like to see threads properly closed thank you all
After an hour finding a suitable donor chain bar , a couple of bolts and marking out I took it all to the welding table
Then of couse I asked myself why not try some brutal heat first having confirmed that they were screwed on
So it was load up the pipe vice into the welding vice


Slip the No 2 tip on the Henrob & apply some brutal heat



And 3 spindles now minus the blade boss


Don't even think of asking why I did not go the big heat route before marking out the now unneeded tool

Bonus was the bearings got hot enough to tap off with a pin hammer Saving some press work .

 

[tom3]

Sometimes the "bigger hammer" or "heat wrench" does work!