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My old Sovereign failed me!


DanD

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I was chopping up some leaves yesterday, when all of a sudden the blades stopped turning. Thought I had a problem with the clutch or belt, but found this. This is the center arbor.


Bound to happen with basically one mowing left in the season! Last year it needed a new starter belt and now this a year later. Will probably go look at a new Murray pretty soon!&:) Seriously though, I think I could weld it, but will probably just buy the new housing. According to the parts book, it looks like the new ones come with bearings installed. I would like to know what kind of nuts and bolts Simplicity used. That thing was last put together in the Simplicity factory in 1974 or 75 and I knew those bolts would just twist off. I put a shot of WD-40 on the nuts which are on the under side in the wet grass and dirt, and they turned right off. Will reuse them for sure. I do have a quick question about one of the bolts. Does one of them have a thin head for clearance? I had one that was tough to get off because the head was worn off and I couldn't get a wrench to hold. In the parts book, it shows one bolt that holds the arbor to the deck different from the others and is only described as bolt, special. I may need to get that one. Luckily i was able to finish my mowing because I had the deck from my 2000 Sovereign in the shed and just put it on. The new Sovereign has no engine until I save up enough money to buy the Command kit from Al Eden!
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That special bolt is more than like the stud that holds the idler bracket spring and also fastens the arbor down as well.
[img]/club2/attach/RayS/DSCF1429.jpg[/img]
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Ray, Thanks for the reply. I thought at first that was the case concerning the special bolt as well. However, I have included a link to the parts list at Jack's. As you can see, it shows the stud to attach the spring #33 and says 1 is required. Then it shows #34 bolt which it says 16 are required. That leaves one of the arbor bolts left, which is #41 and is shown over the center arbor. It says that 1 is required. It is the same part number as shown in the parts list of my old owner's manual and the same as the parts lists from Simplicity website, where it is simply called Capscrew, Hex, Special as opposed to the others that it calls Capscrew, Hex, then gives the length and thread type. I'm probably making a mountain out of a molehill, but I just can't figure out what is different about that one stinking bolt. It's only like $1.60. I may order it just to find out! [url][/url]http://www.jackssmallengines.com/help.cfm#/Simplicity/1690021_-_48%22_Rotary_Mower/48%22_Housing_%26_Arbor_Group/9142/16289
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Let me know when you find out. I have the stud and 17 bolts 3/8-16 X 3/4" that I bought from the hardware. Not sure of the reason for the difference in the special bolt but it hasn`t effected the performance of the 42" deck I rebuilt this summer. May be shorter to clear the idler bracket or belt clearnce issues?
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Interestingly enough, the 42" mower calls for 17 regular bolts and 1 stud! No special bolt to be found anywhere. I'll order that bolt when I get the other parts, but it may not be till closer to spring now! I shouldn't read parts lists or shop manuals or owner's manuals! They just complicate things!! &:) I'll bet however that the head of this bolt is short for clearance reasons. Probably will be obvious when going back together. Here's a link to the 42" parts list at Jack's if anyone is interested. [url][/url]http://www.jackssmallengines.com/help.cfm#/Simplicity/1690022_-_42%22_Rotary_Mower/Arbor_Group/9143/18067
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  • 3 weeks later...
Well, I got the special bolt and you can see from the picture that the head is very flat. The idler mechanism for the belt on top of the deck operates over the top of this bolt and it's made this way I assume for clearance.


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