44C Deck Overhaul

[SGragg]

Time to do some serious work on my 44C deck. Bearings are starting to complain how old they are; deck has been welded on several times. Picked up a couple decks from a friend which were in better overall shape, then another deck at the RPRU in Sedalia. That one seemed to have pretty good bearings.





RPRU deck:


First was to remove the better spindles from the poorer deck. The deck had a couple of small holes rusted through; patchable, but one of the other decks was in better shape.


Inside RPRU deck:


Top cover was in real good shape. Looks like someone had repainted it:


Always find interesting assembly practices from POs. Isn't pretty, but it works:


Here's the deck candidate:


Got the spindles removed with an impact wrench. Was pleased to see that the spindles are the separate bearing variety. For some reason, I was under the impression that the 44C had the packaged assembly-type bearings (non-replaceable). I don't have the pic, but have completely disassembled the unit and will order new bearings and races (Timken LM11949) today. Decided while I have it completely apart, I might as well replace the bearings. The top bearing was in good shape, but the lower bearing had rust/corrosion on the bearing and race.


More to come...

[timbo2]

looks like one of those has the smaller center pulley. Keep track of that, hard to find.

goodluck-

[SGragg]

Seals have been ordered.

Has anyone had any experience with the China made bearings sold on ePay?

Like these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HOT-DEAL-8-S...:X:RTQ:US:1123

[Oak]

Looking good. I've done a few decks and I first used all Timken bearings that were about $10 each.

Then I used these from O'Reilly's http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...keyword=pt+a-2

The last deck I did I used these. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pack-of-10-T...item4188e2c262

These are the seals I used. http://www.ebay.com/itm/281010704158...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
The seals are cheaper at TEW buy when you add shipping they aren't.

I don't have a lot of hours on these parts yet but for the price I figured it was worth a try. Good luck and keep us posted on how it goes.

[SGragg]

Thanks, Oak. Those are the same seals I ordered.

[SGragg]

Been a while; trying to sort out some family issues. I noticed the date of the last post was when my brother passed away. Since July 2nd, my mother's care now fully fell on me and I've had to shelve the mower deck project.

Was finally able to get some things done. Stripped the cover:


Then started dismantling parts on my old shell (not using this deck):




Discovered I had two aluminum spindle housings (replaceable bearings) and one steel (non-replaceable bearings):


Fortunately, I had enough parts decks to find a third aluminum spindle housing. Got all the spindle housings disassembled, ready for bearing and seal replacement:

[SGragg]

A couple of the other decks came with deflector shields. Mine didn't have one, but thought I would use it anyway. May end up removing it if it prevents the clippings from broadcasting far enough. But what the hey!

The best one of the two had a cracked/broken piece where the bolt hole was located.





I welded it back on, ground it down, then added two sections of sheet metal around both bolt holes for support.



Deck and other parts were stripped down and primed:



Next was shooting some Valspar IH Red on the deflector (couldn't resist):



And Ace Rust-Stop Almond Gloss for the deck (the support plate is painted with Ace Rust-Stop Aluminum Gloss, didn't think I had enough of the Almond on hand, so plate and underside of top cover is aluminum color):





Next will be ordering a new tension spring and putting this deck back into service.

[Darrell]

Very nice !!!

[jeepchicken5000]

its looking great , if it was me put some kind of oil in between the reinforce plate and deck shell as they always rot in there, your deck having those cast aluminum pulleys housings means they have been replaced at some point in its life as ive had many with 1 or 2 with aluminum and a cast or steel one left in there. pretty sure all CCC made decks had aluminum housings, anyway the deck looks great if the bearings work out great ive got a 38 inch deck in need of bearings really bad or maybe use it for bush hogging lol

[SGragg]

Just to draw this thread to a close.

Spent Sunday afternoon putting the final touches on my 44C deck. Got the spindles loosened up enough that I thought I would give it a try. Tried a few test strips in the back yard. Worked fine. Sounds a lot smoother without a rattly bearing in there.

Went ahead and mowed the whole yard; 1-1/2 hours. No issues or problems. Now I have a working mower and a working garden tractor/mower.