My tractor is killing me

[ieezitin]

Hello lads..

I have been struggling with my mower for the past month, the electrics shorted and every time I pulled the deck switch to engage the blades it would blow the fuse, finillaly I just straight wired it which solved that particular problem but left me agitated.

So the other evening zipping around my yard cutting grass the deck started to shudder and smoke, through investigation the one bearing housing that holds the shaft for the blade was loose, so out came the spanners and hammers to have a look-see, its terminal…

On the bench, I removed the shaft from the housing, discovered one bearing exploded and balls must have pinged everywhere, had a challenging time to separate the inner race from the shaft as it had started to fuse itself to the spindle, so got all that done then off to the bearing store for new parts.

Started to install the new bearings and discovered this…..







I was livid, this thing landed on my exposed last nerve and was beating on it with a 2x4 with a nail in the end of it.













Ok. I plundered the steel rack looking for material to fix this thing, the thought of dealing with sears to purchase parts or trudge through Ebay just annoys me, so fixing it is then.








Should have done by tomorrow will keep you posted.

Anthony.

[EdK]

Well that sure sucks.

Good luck with the repair. I await the pending pictures of the project.

Ed

[DaveH]

Fingers crossed,
Nicely photographed

DaveH

[ieezitin]

My fruit of labor today.

So.. im off making the spindle housing.




Here is the vitals.. always do a sketch.





Making the top of the spindle housing, through thinking this out and since the two pipes fit nicely together I don't have to worry about the overall length, the shaft has two shoulders and when i slide them into each other it will find its own length and will weld when there seated.




But it all went wrong. while placing the two shafts together there was a lump or gyration while turning the shaft, that then lead me to identifying the spindle is bent.




Bollocks......

Ok .. ill fix it.... so i am now forced to screw with the spindle. run out of time tonight will continue tomorrow.

:(.

Anthony.

[PixMan]

You have more determination than I would be able to summon up. That you have welding capacity is good, as I would have just found parts out on the interweb and bought them.

Or, scrap the machine and get a new one. I'm tempted to do that with my snowblower, but already spent some money on new parts and just need to find the will to rip into it.

So what to do with the bent spindle? I assume it's got the splines on the other end, but otherwise should be something you could make on your lathe.

[Highpower]

I don't where or how that housing is mounted to your machine so I have to ask... what is the reason for the vents in the bottom of the casting?

In other words, why wouldn't they have used a solid casting instead? Just curious.

[ieezitin]

High power.

i would imagine to save money on material when they cast it, other than that i dont really know.

Pix

the spindle has a spline on one end and a tab stamping on the other, for me to make this spindle from scratch would take allot of time, i am chopping off both ends and will make a slug for the middle.

Im not sure this is going to work, i may weaken it but i am going to try, the spindle housings did not really take that long, I probably will make two more sets and replace them as they are better constructed than the originals.

weather this works or not i am going to order another complete spindle housing any way as i don't have time to keep investing in this project.

Will have more pics later..

Anthony.

[ieezitin]

I forgot... a couple more shots of the housings..








Now i have started on the spindle rebuild....


i need a 7/6-20 nut for the mandrel..





Parting off the shaft robbing the ends..




More later..

Anthony.

[ieezitin]

Well.... Ah hard rain fell, everywhere I turned on this project I hit problems, some of my own doing.

Here is the chopped off spindle, i needed to hold it in the chuck to work the bearing end so I stuck a 7/16-20 tap init and that's why I needed the nut.





Chopped off the other end, the bearing shoulder was bent so it was my intention to turn down and put a collar on there Locktite it then turn down to size again. if you notice I center drilled the end of the stub for a live center, the drill penetrated through to the hole drilled on the other side, that's the threaded hole to accept the locking bolt that holds the blade on, dam thing was drilled through in about 1-1/4'' i never realized it was so deep, this was my fault for not checking.





Ok.. all glued on while its setting i will make a start on the other end.




5/8 - 11 rod. its smimular in OD and fits nicely in the original shaft....... all looking ok.





Then the straw that broke the back.... i neded to drill and tap into the stub, there was not enough meat left for the drill to penertrate without ripping off the the thin wall i left. My fault really i never paid to much attention to dimensions, I know better.




Well nothing ventured nothing gained.... I will use the spindle tower I made, i am going to purchase a new complete factory made tower and i will buy a new spindle extra, so i halved repaired it.

Anthony.

[DaveH]

You're getting there.

DaveH