What are the best deck spindle bearings for Bad Boy mowers, my deck spindles are making noise after 20 hours on a 2022 Elite 54". Found the set screws missing on the bushings under all three spindle pulleys. Could this be the noise before I replace the bearings. Anyone else have this problem. The mower stays indoors when not in use and I don't use water to clean, just blow off with air. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Spindle bearings
- Thread starter Curt1940
- Start date
Non greaseable spindles on this mower. Thanks for the advice, Koyo seems to be the way to go for a non Chinese bearing. My older ZTR mowers all had greaseable spindles which lasted for many years. Also found the spring loaded idler pulley making some noise.
Pull the belt off the deck and see how they feel and sound when turning by hand , should be smooth with no noise , if you feel or hear grinding noise - there's your problem 20 hrs is not very much run time on bearings sealed or other. Check each spindle - I've replaced complete spindles and the aftermarket came with grease zerts - short of that you'd need to drill and tap the spindles and install your own, replacement bearings would need the inner seal removed in order to grease .
When turning by hand they feel smooth but if I spin each faster by hand I can definitely hear noise. Removed all bearings and found a couple had rust on them. I ordered new bearings even though mower is still in warranty - dealer is 60 miles away and I didn't want to bring in the mower and have to wait a couple of weeks for repair. Mower must have been left outside by the dealer as I keep mine in my shop and do not use water to clean - only compressed air. I had an extra idler pulley from my Ferris mower that is the same so I installed it on the deck. No noise from the idler now. Bearings are due on the 5th so I should have a quiet mower again. Thanks for the reply.
bertsmobile1
Lawn Royalty
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2014
- Threads
- 65
- Messages
- 24,995
Incorrectly using a wash out port can cause bearings to fail after the first use
Tiger Small Engine
Lawn Addict
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2022
- Threads
- 3
- Messages
- 1,604
My spindles on Scag have lasted 17 years so far. Amazing what grease will do.
Its Me
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2011
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 125
Tiger Small Engine, I changed out recently but am going to rebuild it, it had 1,700 hours on it, have a local mower shop that gives me several when they change out ones for customers, I have found out that if I put the spacer sleave in the Lathe and machine sixty thousands off the spacer the tapper bearing fits better in the race and don't have to tighten it again, that is why we pay more for Scags in the long run, parts, labor, hauling the cheap more to the shop and frustration is going when you have quality to take it place, Joe
I also own a 2017 Scag Tiger Cat ll 48" as well as a 2006 Ferris 1500Z 48" that both have greaseable spindles, have not had any bearing problems yet. The reason I purchased the Bad Boy Elite 54" was that the baffles on the Ferris deck was getting thin from wear and rust after 17 years and I also wanted to try the larger deck size on the Elite. I found the deck noise was so much greater on the Elite than on the other 2 mowers. Hopefully the new bearings will solve the noise problem.
Sorry I took so long to reply, I did replace the bearings in all 3 spindles and also replaced the idler pulley. Now the mower is fairly quiet but I am putting it up for sale with only 21 hours on the clock. I just do not like the 54". I'm still using my 17 year old Ferris 48" and 6 year old Scag 48" that are so much more easy to maneuver than the Elite 54", Curt