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Sunstar front axle


ambler

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Anyone upgraded a sunstar front axle to the late model? Did you have to drill the two long holes. I have two to repair where the deck hanger has to be replaced.
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Ambler, I would gladly help, but I don't know much about Sunstars. As Roy said, post a picture for us to look at. You know we will help if we can.
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I rebuilt the front end of my late series SunStar recently. I'm afraid I don't understand your question Ambler. Explain it a bit or post a picture or parts breakdown so I can try to answer you.
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Hi, Simplicity has or had a kit to update these units. As I remember it has the mew mower bracket and spacers and bolts for the pivot links etc are included. I haven't put one in for probably 7 or 8 years, but this makes them a lot stronger than the early models. I will try to find the part number of the kit if you are interested in it. I know it isn't cheap. Al Eden
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My back has gone out, so I'm laying in bed showing you the situation. Al if you can get the tech bulletin, it would be most helpful. OK on the early units there are only three bolts across. The two through the axle pivots on the ends. and a bolt through the base of the deck hanger. These deck hangers are not as beefy as the later ones and I have tractors where the PO had snapped off the mower mounts.


The later models have five bolts across with two long bolts stabilizing the deck hanger.


I think I have to drill the tractor frame to accept the long bolts.
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Yes, you are correct about drilling for the long bolts in positions "2" and "4" (numbering from one side to the other). These bolts tighten the front tractor frame over the U-channel of the deck hanger so it will not pivot front to back. The link is different also. The illustration leads one to believe that the bolts tighten on the front link also. This is not true. With the later style link you may also need to replace the cast iron spindle pivots, I don't remember at the moment. I got most of the miscellaneous parts I needed from Joe's Outdoor Equipment on eBay when he parted out Sunstars a while back. Wasn't terribly expensive except for the spindles and its hard to tell if they're good from eBay pix.
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If I remember correctly, the new style deck hanger back services all prior models and the cross link with the 5 holes also back services all models. The old style axle ends will work with the new deck hanger, but you have to use the old style conical seat pivots at the end of the link. The old style pivots have a conical seat that fit into a conical depression in the axle end. The new style got rid of the conical seat and simply used a pin through the axle end. The new style deck hanger has an improved center pin arrangement which is where the improvement really was. The purpose of the two bolts on either side of the center pin are to keep the cross link parallel to the deck hanger and keep it from falling off the pivot pins on the ends where it attaches to each axle end. You can mix and match between the two designs for the most part if I remember correctly. For example, you could use the old style axle ends with the conical seat pivots and the old style cross link with the new style deck hanger and not use those two bolts as the conical seat pivots have a larger washer to position the cross link and keep it in place. Of course, with the new style deck hanger, you'll have to use the pin and spacer designed for use with that deck hanger. The parts manual for 1691018 shows all three front axle design variants. I recommend looking at it to understand the basic differences. The biggest improvement IMO is to upgrade from the ball bearing wheel bearings with the C-clip spindle retainer to the tapered roller bearing spindles with the threaded bearing adjustment nut. These will work in either design axle end. The next improvement would be the improved deck hanger, but the design improvement was only to allow the deck hanger to pivot with the front axle better. The first design center bolt was prone to loosening and wouldn't necessarily follow the front axle movement due to the slop. Be advised, that removing the axle end pivot pins can be difficult due to rust and wear of the pins. You'll likely need to apply heat and have a larger hammer to pound out the pins without mushrooming the ends. The deck hanger hangs from the front PTO shaft housing and the fore/aft movement of the deck hanger is limited by the clearance between the deck hanger and the frame channel section.
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The spindles for tapered roller bearings require appropriately different front wheels also. Heat and a brass drift works well for removing pivot pins.
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The kit that Al was referring to is 1685388 around $215. Guess I will drill the plates for the long bolts. I did transfer the center pin.
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quote:
Originally posted by ambler
The kit that Al was referring to is 1685388 around $215. Guess I will drill the plates for the long bolts. I did transfer the center pin.
Here are the instructions for this kit. http://www.simplicitytechpubs.com/6767PRINT/PDF_files/TP_200_2747_00_AT_SMA.pdf I didn't know that this document existed until I went looking for it. It will help me out a lot. However, I'm still not sure that I understand the instructions to tighten nuts until all forward and aft free play is removed but hitch support is free to pivot. If you pass the bolts through the axle link, then the front frame plate, then the hitch support, then the rear frame plate and you tighten the nuts to compress the front and rear frame plates to remove all fore/aft play, you will bind up the axle link preventing it from moving left-right as the axle ends pivot. I always thought that these two bolts only acted to limit the angular pivot of the hitch support as the angular motion would be limited by the slots in the hitch support. The slots in the axle link allow the link to move relative to the two bolts as the axle ends pivot up and down. The only way you could draw the frame plates together and not bind the axle link is if the slots in the axle link are large enough to allow the heads of the bolts to pass through, however the graphic you displayed does not show this to be the case. If someone with a newer model Sunstar could take a picture of the front axle area it would help clear up my confusion.
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The lower illustration is misleading. The long bolts do not clamp the link to the frame/deck hanger. The bolt heads fit inside slots in the link and draw the the frame channel together over the deck hanger but do not clamp the frame to the deck hanger thus allowing relative movement between the frame and deck hanger. The slots allow the link to move independently limited by the geometry of swinging on the PTO housing. BTW, I added a zerk fitting in the sleeve for the pin that connects the link to the deck hanger. The parts book says lube it with anti-seize when assembling. I have seen a couple where the pin was seized in the sleeve so tightly that they had to be cut off and driven out.
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