Fan belt idler pulley
 

I was mowing with the 1772 this past weekend, every thing running fine. When I finished, I was letting it cool down a bit when I hear a slight squeak. I dug into it a bit and found that the idler pulley for the fan belt has a a dry bearing. It seems these are no longer available. Anyone find any replacements for these?

Frank

I think I recall Oak doing the bearings in one of his, check with him. :bigthink:

Ya, I have one that is going bad. I ordered a new bearing and was going to see if I could take a cut off wheel in a 4" grinder and split the pulley to replace the bearing but I haven'y done it yet. Let me get the bearing number for you if you want to try and replace it.

It's just a 3" V-belt idler pulley. Those aren't hard to find. Hardware store, farm store, parts store, McMaster Carr...... any of those places will have them. Might have to make a bushing to get the alignment right, but they are easy to find. Even if it's a little bigger or smaller it's just an idler. As long as the tension stays on the belt it's NBD.

Thanks Jonathan, I'll head down to my local Tractor Supply and see what they have to offer.

What about "regreasing the bearing? If there's no play in it, I had a friend who was able to simply lift the seal and inject some grease in the bearing. I know it's not as good as a new one, but......

Frank

Depending on how the pulley is built you may be able to replace the bearing.
Here is a thread on how I did a couple for the deck idler pulleys.
http://www.onlycubcadets.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=27935
If it is spot welded together your in luck, if it welded around the perimeter it's not worth the hassle. As Jon said you should be able to pick one up at a place like TSC.

IIRC they are welded around the complete inner part. The bearing is a 99502H. If you replace yours I would be interested in it to see if they can be rebuilt.

I think I found an original IH substitute for the fan belt idler pulley. I saw a pulley for sale on ePay and put a bid in for it. The original part number for thepulley was IH-61176-C92. If you search for the IH-61176-C92" number, you can find multiple pullies under that part number. I'll see how it works this coming weekend.

Frank, did the new pulley work okay for you?

Oak, sorry about the delay. Been so busy of the past weekend, I couldn't wait to go back to work on Monday to get some rest! the pulley is on the 1772 and running. No shims required and bolts right on. the pulley dimensions are a little different but I think it may work out in the long run. The diameter of the original pulley is about 3 1/8" and the new one I mentioned above is 3 1/16". (didn't have time to find my vernier calipers so I used a ruler). The depth of the sheave where the belt rides is about 7/16 on the original pulley and 1/2" on the new pulley. The width of the pulley at the opening of the "V" is 3/8" on the original pulley and it is 1/2" on the new pulley. The belt does not appear to be bottoming out in the grove as it is about a 16th deeper on the new pulley. the belt does ride down a little bit in the "V". Sound like this could be an acceptable substitute? :bigthink: