Jeff, do you care to say what you are using for material? Reason I ask is that I have often thought what spindles are made of. I mean Haban spindles are getting close to spindles on grooming mowers.
We have an really old Lilliston 7'6" 3pt mower with big beefy spindles. Quite a bit of welding for the blade mount. Just wondering if its a tool steel that has to be drawn back/annealed after welding and how much machining takes place after welding. You'll have to forgive my ramblings, been on a run of parts that had to be straightened at 30 tons after welding so we could finish machine them--Got them within .010" out of the press.