P/N for fiber washers at base of blade arbors

[mmischni]

Hi fellows, My '64 Landlord 314 has mostly disintegrating fiber washers (with a metal center) backed up by a large flat steel washer to protect the lower bearings. I have been looking at all the different 42" mower deck part manuals and the pics sure are hard to see what I need. Deck number 990407 seems closest to what I have on my tractor (no numbers left legible on the deck) and it lists what appears to be 3 different washers. Only one is large diameter, 108257. The other 2(?) seem to be pretty small, 108181 and 108472. Does anyone know what the fiber washers are for? Are they correct for this deck? It appears that it was assembled with the fiber washers nearest the bearing, followed by the big flat steel washer. My simplicity dealer isn't terribly up-to-date on the older tractors, so I am trying to make sure I have the right numbers before I call. Thanks... Matt

[PhanDad]

Don't have any tractors that old, but my '67 B-110 deck didn't have any fiber washers to protect the bearings. The arbor bearings are sealed; maybe someone installed unsealed bearings and added the fiber washers to act as a seal. Just my opinion. PS - I think #108472 are shim washers

[mmischni]

Oh boy, I just had a funny thought. One of the "washers" was pretty sparse on fibers, and it just occured to me that they could just be grass and stems all neatly packed between the large washer and the bearing and tightly wrapped around the shims. The bearings are still sealed bearings, and that may explain the whole silly thing. I will look at them as soon as I get home. I was so careful removing them. Didn't want to bust them up too bad...:P

[firefoxz1]

I think you quess it. Grass gets up on these and makes a pretty good looking "washer".

[Al]

Hi, Don't these arbors have a very thin washer that goes again the inner race of the bearing and and lays against the outer race. This is to prevent grass from getting wrapped around the shaft and the spacers under this "grass shield" and cutting the seals out of the bearing. These are very thin and usually have grass built up on the outside. Al Eden

[mmischni]

Here is a picture of two washers. Can you tell which one was made for Simplicity and which one was made by the tractor?

Turns out these "fiber washers" definitely are just packed yard refuse. As for the protective thin washer Al, that is the one on the left, but on all 3 of my spindles, that washer was on the bottom of the stack, on the grass side of the little spacer or shim that you can just see packed into the center of my grass washer. It seems like it must be some kind of shield, but grass still gets behind it apparently. Interestingly, one of my spindles is a more modern replacement and it has bearings with metal shields between the races, not the usual rubber seals evident on the other bearings. Sorry for the premature question about part numbers :) Matt

[Al]

Hi, Don't have the drawings here, but as I remember the shield washer is against the bearing and the smaller spacer washers between it and the arbor. I thought a number of units had two of the spacer washers on the bottom. Anyway, I believe if you clean up the spacer, it will be a washer about 3/4 id and about 1 1/8 to 1 1/4 od. I think the rest is just grass build up. Good luck, Al Eden