scag tiger cub electric clutch.

My 2003 tiger cub clutch bearings are giving out after 850 hours. Don't know why they don't put grease fittings on them, knowing they will go bad. Is it difficult to replace this # 461661 electric clutch? I hear they tend to seize onto the motor shaft.

I have to say clutch bearings isn't something I have ever had problems with. With a price tag of almost 300 dollars for a new clutch I would try to just replace the bearing if it was mine, unless there is damage. I would say a grease fitting on a clutch would be a disaster waiting to happen with over greasing.

Exactly the opposite.
The bolts are hard to get at and generally overtightened.
Nothing much holds them on so they either fall right off and land in your face or you give then a yank and they fly off & smack you in the face.

reynoldston said:

I have to say clutch bearings isn't something I have ever had problems with. With a price tag of almost 300 dollars for a new clutch I would try to just replace the bearing if it was mine, unless there is damage. I would say a grease fitting on a clutch would be a disaster waiting to happen with over greasing.

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I agree, A little is good, a lot is better in peoples minds.:biggrin:

Electric clutch/brakes last just so long. Usually one of the bearings uses up its grease and overheats. One bearing turns all the time that the engine is running, the pulley bearing turns unless the clutch is on.
Replacing these bearings is not recommended due to their precise positioning and the high probability of damaging the clutch parts when both removing and installing the bearings.
These clutches when mounted on a vertical shaft engine are in a nasty environment being under the machine.
As reynoldston has mentioned, an over greasing situation would destroy the clutch.
Before installing a new clutch, cleaning up the crankshaft where the clutch mounts and applying a very slight amount of anti-seize compound to the crankshaft before installing the clutch is recommended, applying the correct torque to the clutch mounting bolt is highly recommended, do not apply anti-seize to this bolt, the torque spec is for a dry torque.
I remove the screen above the flywheel and hold the flywheel nut with a socket and a breaker bar as I torque the clutch bolt to the correct dry torque spec.
Generally easier to do with one side of the machine jacked up and a rear wheel removed.

While I would agree on the grease nipple side, there is no earthy reason why they could not be made rebuildable apart from the initial extra cost.
Some of the units fitted to the air con on a lot of vehicles are rebuildable and they have to handle a lot more power and speed variations than the mower units do.
I have a box fill of metal idler pulleys waiting for the off season to be drilled out & have the bearings replaced.
Most simply get bolted back together and I am yet to have one fail in service.

bertsmobile1 said:

While I would agree on the grease nipple side, there is no earthy reason why they could not be made rebuildable apart from the initial extra cost.
Some of the units fitted to the air con on a lot of vehicles are rebuildable and they have to handle a lot more power and speed variations than the mower units do.
I have a box fill of metal idler pulleys waiting for the off season to be drilled out & have the bearings replaced.
Most simply get bolted back together and I am yet to have one fail in service.

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Never had one in my shop that the bearing went bad in yet but always a first time. As I said I sure would give it a try to replace the bearing if it was mine with the different between a 20 dollar bearing or a 300 dollar clutch. I am not disagreeing or agreeing on the bearing replacement?? Without one of these clutches in my hands in my shop I don't know if they are rebuildable or not. Seeing the old clutch is no good nothing is lost by taking it apart to see if the bearing is replaceable.

Attached are some pics of a Scag P/N 461660 clutch which is found on most Scag Tiger Cub and Tiger Cat machines.
This is my new spare.
This clutch may be repairable, but keep in mind that the keyed sleeve is carefully pressed into both bearings with the electrical coil/brake components already assembled on the sleeve. This will all need to be done on a press using mandrels to support the correct items as they are pressed together, not a job for the average person.
There is a company that is manufacturing replacement clutches with replaceable bearings and they use turned pulleys rather than stamped sheet metal pulleys. As time passes, they are producing more different part numbers of clutches, however not the larger ones such as the Ogura 3.5 GT used on Scag Tiger Cub/Cat.
Notice in the pics that the bearings have different color seals as they are different sizes.

Is that center sleve stepped to hold the baring's in place?
Or is there shoulder in the clutch for the bearings?

As I said never rebuilt one but in my experience in rebuilding I would think the clutch housing would be stepped. As said a shop press would be handy, but I have installed many bearings with a brass punch and hammer when out of shop. Just be careful you don't pound on the bearing balls.