Questions about replacement blade spindles & the belt.

Catfisher

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  • / Questions about replacement blade spindles & the belt.
I am repairing my 1998 MTD Yard Machines 38" deck. One of the bearings went out in the blade spindle, so I decided to replace them both. The star at the bottom of the shaft that held the blade in place was worn off, so trying to remove the nut on the top of the pulley just loosened the blade nut and I couldn't remove the nut on top to remove the pulley. My budget is extremely limited, so I bought a new pair of spindles including new pulleys off of Amazon. The spindles are identical to my originals, except the new spindles have a grease zerk on them. Since the older spindles had no zerk, I asked on Amazon if they were pre-greased or if I needed to grease them before installing them. The answer was that they were not pre-greased and that I needed to grease them. I bought a grease gun, snapped it onto the zerk and gave each about 6 - 8 pumps until grease was backing out around the zerk. Now I have read in other posts on this forum that spindles are virtually always greased, usually sealed and that pumping in more grease than they need will actually damage the new bearing or spindle. Why would the new spindle have the zerk if it does not need greasing? There is a hole on the side (pictured) I can't identify. I initially thought excess grease would come out this hole, but nothing came out. Can anyone tell me what this hole is used for? Have I possibly or probably hurt them by pumping in grease? How do I know how much or how often to grease them if they do need to be greased?

Also, the pulleys on my 38" deck spindles were 5" pulleys. The new pulleys are 6" pulleys, which my reading seems to indicate would normally be on the 42" deck. The (almost) new belt I have will not be long enough for the larger pulleys. They seem to fit fine in the deck. Is it ok to use the 6" pulleys in place of the 5" I was using? Since the current belt is now too short, what is the best way to determine the correct length belt to use with the larger pulleys?

I appreciate your help as the grass is growing fast and I can barely walk for 2 days after pushing the walk behind mower with my arthritis.

Thanks for any and all replies.

Catfisher
 

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mowerman05

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  • / Questions about replacement blade spindles & the belt.
I can help with one of your questions, yes the hole is a relief for excess grease. When it started to backup at the zerk the coupler from the grease gun was not on straight. Good luck with your other questions, I'm sure someone will be able to help.
 

Pumper54

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  • / Questions about replacement blade spindles & the belt.
Any chance you can remove the pulleys off the old spindles and put them on the new ones? Since you are replacing the whole assembly you can't hurt anything if you clamp the old spindle shafts in a vice to break the top nut loose. That way you have the correct pulleys and can use the belt you have.
Tom
 

BlazNT

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  • / Questions about replacement blade spindles & the belt.
If you use the larger pulleys it will slow down your blade speed you will have a bad mowing job. Find a way to remove the old pulleys.
 
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