OT rant.. MTD mower deck spindles

souNdguy

Well-known Member
Don't they harden them things.. any?

pulled the blade nutz off a 13mo old mtd to change out the factory blades ( 12m warranty mind ya.. ). Whatever metric ultra
fine thread they used to be, came right off in the nut using a 3/8" butterfly ( palm ) impact gun set to low. My ARM makes
more torque than that little butterfly...

I put a file on the face of the spindle shank and it dug in like mild steel... in fact... WAY WAY softer than a gr2 bolt..
Soft like a bolt that's been in a fire multiple times.. like recycled crud alloyed steel.

WTF! mtd ?

Ps.. pulled the spindles off and took apart.. no seal, no bearing, just 2 bushings, no grease fitting, housing is some cast
aluminum, or possibly zamak alloy. The spindles were VERY VERY, to cut new threads into ( IMHO.. TOO easy.. ). Blade hub
has a star profile to prevent blades from spinning, nut just clamps blade to the hub.

My guess is some cruddy barely hardenable alloy was used,a nd it was perhaps induction hardened on the surface, and some
gorilla at the factory tightened the nuts on past yeild, and just the galled metal was holding them on.

Oh yeah.. I tested the nuts.. THEY were hard... file skated right off. go figure.. hard nuts.. soft shaft... WTF!?

new spindles are 45-65$ apiece depending on exact dupe or a generic will fit. The exact dupe is 65$, and just like the
others.. no grease fitting, etc. The generics have grease fittings, but the deck mounting holes in the castings are not
drilled, they are blanks. I don't like the mounting screws MTD used anyway.. they are a tapered sheet metal screw!!

If I use the generics I'll just drill thru and tap for a real bolt thread, or drill thru for a nut maybee.. dunno. I'll
figgure that out when these old ones fail. I just re-threaded them and put new blades on.
 
My experience with MTD made stuff: never seen any worth carrying home! and this covers the last 40 years!
 
Not sure if the MTD uses the same spindles as the husqvarna decks but if they did you'd probably be better served to replace the bad spindle with one from husky.
They are of course more money but they do use a greasable shaft and have actual bearings.

Replaced a couple on the father in laws craftsman mower as it uses the same spindles as the husky. Cost was if I recall 75 bucks Cdn.
There are two different star patterns for the blades , take your blade in with you or count the points when looking to see if it's compatible.
 
As I mentioned, I can get a 'will fit' for 65$ that's greaseable.it just amazes me mtd would use a soft spindle vs a hardened one???
 
(quoted from post at 09:21:22 06/28/17) As I mentioned, I can get a 'will fit' for 65$ that's greaseable.it just amazes me mtd would use a soft spindle vs a hardened one???

I feel your pain. On the other hand, I actually ran into something good last week. I took my Dodge Van into a new tire shop in town to get four new tires put on it.

I could see them working from my chair in the waiting room and to my great surprise, they used an impact driver set very low to put the lug nuts on, then actually used a torque wrench on all four wheels to finish them off. It's the first time I've actually seen that in a tire shop.

Usually after a visit to a tire shop, I'd have to use a three foot cheater bar to break the lug nuts loose. I finally got an air impact driver but it wouldn't even budge some of them. I went and bought a plug in electric impact driver and it seems to be a lot more powerful that the air powered driver. If I change a tire myself I always use a torque wrench on the lug nuts.
 
I hear ya. I was picking up a marine battery the other day and saw walmartian tire people doing the same with a torque wrench.

The local tire shop uses those color coded 'yeild' torque sockets.

Seems like they'd wear them out too fast, but maybee what they make up on time is worth it?

WalMart likely does it for liability.
 
Yes I agree there.. seems like everything is disposable these days... just did the front end on a 2007 Silverado 4x4 we have and the upper ball joints come with the A-arm instead of just the upper ball joint for what should be 45 bucks lol.. 130000kms and the front end was shot , all ball joints both wheel bearings . Pretty sad actually.
 
I went through so many mowers that I've lost count, never had one to last but 4 years on average had the MTD's, Craftsmans, and Husqvarna, all were the heavy duty garden tractor mowers, all made by AYP. And all were kept out of the weather and serviced regularly, all wore out regardless of my meticulous care of them, decks were crap and the plastic bushings in the cast iron axles were continously being replaced. Worked on them more than I did the yard. Finally out of frustration I went and bought a commercial/industrial grade Gravely zero turn mower, cost of it was unreal but I've had it now 4 years and only chained oil and air filters, built like a tank, it will outlast me, this mower cut my mowing of 5 hours down to 1 and 1/2 hours, incredible, I wished I had bought one sooner
 
My last Murray lasted about 17 us.. Engine was ok, but deck had had it. One granny speed also out.

Hope this mtd makes it half as long
 
I think you will find that the shaft missed the hardening process. My Cub had a few issues after I first bought it that I solved. However, the blade spindles are on the ragged edge. My opinion is that the bearings are too small and don't have any load margin left.

I have been buying ebay bearings and changing them out when they get noisy. Bearings are about $1.00 apiece. I have an extra spindle that is ready to install. I reuse the jack shafts and they are hardened, although I'm, not crazy about the star shaped drive end.

Also the grease zerk is BS as the bearings are sealed and the grease never makes it into the bearing. Water does make it into the top brg. I added a jelly jar lid with a center hole under the pulley to add a drip edge at the top of the spindle.

Pull the shaft P/N, troll the web for price and you will always find a decent price. I would suggest you only use Kevlar wrapped drive belts as I've had short belt life on supposed "Equal" belts. All in all I'm reasonably happy with the Cub and it's given me decent service.


My opinion YMMV

If you have an electric clutch, make sure you have it's belt guard installed BEFORE you start the engine. Don't ask how I know this.

JLG
 

[b:f4010e3dd6]"My last Murray lasted about 17 us.. Engine was ok, but deck had had it. One granny speed also out."[/b:f4010e3dd6]

i've been really impressed with my murray-made craftsman. it's in its 26th year now. my deck's been going too, but pretty slowly. it has one spot that's been repaired, and a new spot that needs it. trans still acts like new. B&S 14 horse engine blew up after 18 years, one of the rod bearing bolts managed to back its way out.

this evening's project will be hopefully putting it back into service, assuming this *%@&(! Intek engine doesn't come up with yet another way to give me grief.
 
I do only use the Kevlar belts.
.and yup, I've found better than dealer prices on amazon.

Aggravating to correct manufacturers mistakes. I too think the shafts missed the hardening step.
 
My old Murray is a 12.5 b&s, and was great. Deck and spindles I repaired many times, till the deck was as thin as aluminum foil from Florida sand
 
Always amazed at the number of folks who buy something because it is cheap, and are disappointed because it doesn't behave like a higher priced item.

For the most part..........quality costs.
 
Price wasn't the main factor, size was. I can't use a str in my area, needed a 38" mower. I picked one with 6 tranny speeds and shuttle reverse, not price.

I've never owned a mower that didn't have hardened spindles.

What amazes me is the number of folks that make rude comments on a subject they know very little about, IE, why I bought the mower.

If there was an ignore feature on this board, you'd be on mine after your failed attempt to read my mind, then subsequent rude condescending comment.

What if I had been on more of a fixed income than I am on and on could afford a cheap mower vs a 2500$ one.

Very rude, assuming comment.
 

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