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arbor bearings


MikeH

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I finally tore apart the arbors on my 42" mower (mfg# 407) and found sealed bearings. The reason that this was a surprise is that the arbors have grease zerts and an internal sleeve (spacer) to force the grease to the bearings. What type of bearing should be installed for this type of arbor? Thanks for your help. Mike
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Mike, You probably have replacement bearings on the spindles. The last time I bought bearings the sealed bearings were in stock and the shielded one side which is what came with the deck were special order. With freight, the old style were more expensive, and I think the sealed bearings hold up as well as the greasable ones. Ron
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The internal spacer is not there to direct grease. It is an important part of the arbor assembly. When the arbor nut is tightened the arbor, spacer, inter bearing races, and pulley are all locked together as a unit. If the spacers weren't there the tightening of the arbor nut would pull in on the bearings causing them to wear.
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In 1984 I installed new bearings in my deck. My brother owns a farm implement dealer/repair business. He told me to remove the seal facing the inside of the arbor. I did this and now the grease goes into the bearing. The bearings are still in and in very good shape, still runs quiet.
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The grease zerks are to put grease in the arbor housing to keep moisture out and for cooling. The new ones have the grease zerks but use sealed bearings. A Simplicity tech man told me this. Steve
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Thanks for the info guys! So, in your opinion, what type of bearing will be better for the job, the sealed or shielded one side? Thanks again, Mike
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Hi, The early mowers had greaseable arbors. They were built with bearings that were shielded on one side. There were so many problems with people trying to be kind to their tractors that they over greased the bearings. This pushed the seals out and the grease all went out the bottom and then the bearings went out. This system worked fine and the bearings lasted forever, IF the owner only gave the arbors about 1 or 2 shots from a grease gun about once a year. Since so many people "KILLED" their bearings with kindness that a more overall reliable fix was to use sealed bearings, and the grease fittings disappeared. The last few years the fittings came back on the arbor housings, and when the arbors are assembled a quantity of grease is inserted. These fittings only need about one or two shots of grease about once a year. Over greasing them wll force the arbor housing flanges apart and the grease out between them. Also it will force the inner seals in against the ball cage in the bearings. The real benefit of the grease in the new mowers is that it keeps the water that gets in the housings from getting in the bearings, I know it makes the bearings last longer, but none of that grease gets in the bearings themselves. Good Luck, Al
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