John Deere 50 inch Mower Deck Spindles

The other day I was replacing the bearings in a hub assembly on a John Deere 50 Deck (off a John Deere 318). I have done this many times before with no problems, but this time while pressing the spindle out of the hub; the bearing was apparently seized on the spindle and since there is no clearance to get the snap ring out ahead of time the bearing that was stuck on the spindle when forced out, broke the hub where the snap rings fits, thus rendering the hub no longer usable. Any suggestions on how to prevent this from happening? Oh by the way I figure these were the original bearings, so they are probably over 30 years old. Thanks for any help! Jack
 
Hi, The round piece that the blade bolts to unscrews from the spindle shaft. You made need heat if the parts are rusted and seized but once that piece is unscrewed you can access the snap ring.
 
Hello tirekicker, Thank you for the response, that is very good information to have. Any tips on how to hold the shaft while trying to remove the round piece after applying the heat? Jack
 
When I used to do them I would generally attempt to remove the round piece prior to attempting to remove the pulley nut. I would clamp the spindle nut in a bench vise so that the spindle was upside down and then attempt to unscrew the round piece. If you have heat then heat it up. If you are lucky the round piece unscrews and then it is easy to use an impact wrench to unscrew the nut and sometimes that round piece is not screwed on super tight. If the nut loosens first then remove the pulley but leave the key in place and then you can still use the vise to hold the shaft and the key will stop it from turning. You may need to replace the key after doing this but keys are cheap. The threads are right hand on both the nut and the round piece.
 

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