Spindle Brgs.

[masseydriver]

Kubota mower deck spindle brgs replaced this spring with NTN within 30 hrs had to replace them again .Yes I do remove the brg seals and do grease them everyday. Now the ones I replaced about a month ago have gotten noisy and need replacing again. The oem ones are triple the cost of the NTN so I guess I cheaped out. Looks like I may have to go buy Kubota ones (koyo) and pay more .I don't mind doing that if they will last like what the oem ones did. 8 yrs .What have others used for spindle brgs and have had good luck/service out of them. Maybe not brg fault . Found lower seal ripped and some wire wrapped between seal and brg. Stuff happens lol

 

[olcowhand]

I'm betting the spacer between the bearings got worn a tad short when the first set of bearings wore out. That will put enough pre-load to drastically shorten bearing life. I often have to add very thin shim washers to the spacer to prevent pre-load.

 

[bbuckler]

double check your spindle shafts to make sure are 100% straight

 

[masseydriver]

I'll measure the Koyo brg versus the NTN when I get them and see . The spacer is actually compressed between the 2 brgs with a nut holding down the pulley over top of the upper brg. . My mistake in the spring was that I thought leaving the seal in the upper outer part of the brg and the same with the lower brg would be a good thing. My mistake was that the grease channel on this mower is the grease fitting is on top of the shaft but the grease comes out above the top brg. under the upper seal . So when you grease your actually pushing grease in between the upper brg and seal so the grease has to be forced through the upper brg and downwards to the bottom brg. This is why the first set wore out fast.

 

[chieffan]

Any time I need bearings or seals that are not available at NAPA I go to Baum Hydraulics in Omaha NE. 90% of the time they have it in stock.

 

[masseydriver]

Went to Kubota this morning bought Kubota brgs . Price wasn't as bad as I figured. $14 cnd. Replaced all 5 brgs and ran the mower . What a nice sound not listening to the growling. Lets see how these last. BTW the Kubota packaged brg are NSK brgs .
Also spoke with there teck and he did say that the Kubota brgs are a bit different .{ i measured them but couldn't see any different measurements} he also did say that aftermarket ones don't stand up to long and they start growling after awhile. So time will tell as to what these do.