Tractors, Mowers, Chippers, Trailers, Chainsaws, Generators, Driveway Erosion Control, ETC.

i like and align with this thinking. probably because my pops was a marine too?

 

Welp the belts are on the little JD mower! That stay under the gas tank for the tranny what a PIA.
Lifted the JD front up with the B7100 and started losening the bolts and nuts for the pullies, then came that damn belt stay small turns little by little. It was just as hard to get it back in. The thought did cross my mind about taking the right rear wheel off too. But alas I achieved my goal.
Oh yea no pictures either but we all know how I am.
Drive belt should be good for a couple of years.
Next is the B7100 full service.

 

Suggestion time:

I rebuild these mower decks often. In most cases they need new idler pulleys. The bearings are pretty low quality as well as the bearings only have a thimble of grease in them.

I can take the riveted pulleys apart easy by drilling out the rivits. Install a new bearing and weld back together. It's kind of labor intensive, but saves me $20-30. The bearings are only $4 each when you buy in bulk.

I'm experimenting by grinding down the bearing retaining lip and popping out the old bearing. Takes about 4 minutes to do this.

My question:

Does anyone have a suggestion on how to rebuild the retaining lip.

This will save a lot of money and time.

I'm good with a MIG welder, so something that can be welded to the pulley then easily beat down onto the bearing race to clamp it secure is what I need.

I hope I've been able to describe what I'm looking for.

 

Can't you just tac it in? Yes that's the end of that pulley but should outlast whatever it attached to.

 

Tack weld the outer bearing race?

I can remove the plastic bearing shield, do several tacks around the perimeter of the pulley body to the outside of the outside race.

We gonna find out!

 

Find a pipe that is the same ID as the outer bearing race OD. Cut a real short piece into a ring that when placed around d the race, it sticks out a quarter inch or so and weld that on. Slot cut the ring standout maybe 5 or 6 times around and pound those tabs down onto the race

Or better yet, find a bigass flat washer the same size and tack that sumbich to the pulley without adding heat to the bearing itself

 

I'm liking this. Was something like this in the back of my mind.

 

I would think just three washers tack welded in place around the outside would do the trick. I don't know much about how these pulleys fit but I am guessing that they are not really in danger of moving too much. Washers are cheap, require no labor to produce and you can hit them with weldable primer to inhibit rust.

 

I found some big washers that allowed me to get the weld bead away from bearing. With constant applications if cold water, I was able to keep the grease from melting out of the bearing.

It looks good, is very solid and the pulleys all run true when mounted up and spun.

I wasn't able to carry a weld bead because of heat build up, so my welds were not to my satisfaction. Easy fix. The repair work is now facing down and can't be seen.

Now it's a waiting game to see if they hold up.

 

Saw this on the web

 

That's some West Virginia yee-yee stuff

 

Hey now..... I can SEE west Virginia from my hill top.

 

I got no room to talk, I live in PA's version of WV. Not to mention WV is only like 35 minutes from here

 

I lived and spent a lot of time in WV. Now I'm out in dust fuck NV and don't want to ever hear another WV joke again. You wouldn't believe the red-neckin shit I see out here.

 

I spent 8+ years in Mississippi. There's far more rednecks in my state than down there

 

When we get a heavy down pour, all the work I do on the driveway gets washed away. Not a thing I can do about living on a hill. I clean the ditch and it gets full of sticks and leaves and running water can't be stopped.

 

I live on a hill also and my driveway becomes a river for water with the least resistance. But, it's also edge to edge asphalt. Wonder how much it would cost to do asphalt?!?
That's a lot of damage to your work!

 

Our driveway is a 1/4 mile long, I figure it would be a lot to have it paved. It would be nice though!!!!

 

Geez, that driveway looks better than a lot of municipal roads in my area!