Tapered Roller Bearing Spindles Slop

[litlmikeyl]

I've having this happen on both of my decks: a 42" cast nose 3-spindle and a 38" cast end/nose 3-spindle.

Rebuilt 4 of the 6 spindles thus far with new bearings and races - the 42" got China-made sets and the 38" had new Timken's with it (not installed) when I became it's new owner. I stopped to ask for guidance before completing the other 2 spindles.

Once put together, the spindles are showing some slop and not running in a manner I'm used to with a non-driven front rotor, which shows no slop when properly replaced.

I'm getting between 0.015"-0.020" of vertical play with my indicator once everything is tightened down to torque spec and they seem to have a little wiggle back and forth when applying force in the direction the belt would. Took everything back apart and tried again only to end up with the same result.

Before I go machining stuff to work, I'm curious what others think. Thoughts?

[RLause]

I started this thread when I was working on some spindles awhile back.

http://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=38158

Maybe it will help.

[darkminion_17]

Originally Posted by litlmikeyl

I've having this happen on both of my decks: a 42" cast nose 3-spindle and a 38" cast end/nose 3-spindle.

Rebuilt 4 of the 6 spindles thus far with new bearings and races - the 42" got China-made sets and the 38" had new Timken's with it (not installed) when I became it's new owner. I stopped to ask for guidance before completing the other 2 spindles.

Once put together, the spindles are showing some slop and not running in a manner I'm used to with a non-driven front rotor, which shows no slop when properly replaced.

I'm getting between 0.015"-0.020" of vertical play with my indicator once everything is tightened down to torque spec and they seem to have a little wiggle back and forth when applying force in the direction the belt would. Took everything back apart and tried again only to end up with the same result.

Before I go machining stuff to work, I'm curious what others think. Thoughts?

Did you reuse the old spacers? They do wear.

[litlmikeyl]

Originally Posted by RLause

I started this thread when I was working on some spindles awhile back.

http://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=38158

Maybe it will help.

Thank you.

[litlmikeyl]

Originally Posted by darkminion_17

Did you reuse the old spacers? They do wear.

I did reuse the old spacers. But that has me intrigued. If they all shrunk as they wore, then the spacer between the bearing races would be suspect given my condition.

[litlmikeyl]

I pulled all three spindles apart and reassembled each with a different cone spacer just to see what I'd get. I wanted to flip the top seals over anyways to allow the old grease to escape like others had suggested.

The outer spindles ended up better with only one spacer needing a couple thousands removed to take out the slop. The spacer left for the center spindle was still too thick after I cut .020" off its height, though there was a vast improvement. A piece of glass, some fine sandpaper and a little sanding took off enough to take the remaining slop out.

Get to try it for the first time today. Excited to see how well it works. Thanks for the help guys.