OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Reel-Type Mowers Bearing Question

The bearing pictured above. Went to get one last week from local bearing supplies and they didnt have the same type as the original. So grabbed a standard bearing to try. Mowed the lawn today and the housing is quite hot. So would I be correct in assuming there is movement in the shaft from the clutch setup used etc and I will need to use the double roller bearing/self centering bearing type that was originally used?

My mower shop is next to the bearing shop and they dont carry bearings as they can get them next door apparantly.

Thanks

You need to use the same bearing type that was originally used. If the original was a self-aligning bearing and you have used a rigid, non-self-aligning bearing, getting hot is only the first thing it will do, after that it will all be downhill.

Unless the crankshaft is perfectly aligned with the output shaft's sprocket bearing (i.e. the one you have replaced) the sprocket bearing must be self-aligning, or large forces will be developed on the bearings at both the crankshaft and sprocket ends. The crankshaft bearings are able to deal with a fair amount of that kind of thing, but a single-row ballrace is not. Also, the shaft clutch's alignment sleeve must have some tiny amount of slack, and that creates an additional need for the sprocket bearing to be able to cope with some angular movement.

Gooday Jarrah,
I had a hard time locally trying to get correct bearings.
Ordered them from a "Bearing Service" place here in my village.
After two months ONE had arrived.
Cost $108 . Paid for it coz I ordered it.
Got on the internet that night and TWO self aligning bearings arrived via post from England in 8 days for $31.00 posted.
And "they" tell us to Buy Local !!!!!

Stationary

Stationary, I won't mention names but some suppliers of engineering items have quite extraordinary markups, partly because very nearly all of their customers get at least the basic trade discount of 25%, and all of their large customers get much bigger discounts than that. I once bought a tractor slasher cheaply because it had a trashed gearbox. I priced a set of bearings for it, negotiating what seemed like a massive discount, then went to the gearbox manufacturer to price new shafts and gears. The gearbox manufacturer quoted a price, then asked why I didn't just trade in the housing and bolt-set from the trashed gearbox and take a new, identical gearbox instead. His price was far less than my discounted price for the set of bearings alone. Shaking my head in disbelief, I made the deal and was very happy with it subsequently.

On-line sellers are in the process of causing some very large changes in Australia's retail industry.

Hi Jarrad, you can buy the correct original bearings for your machine....Click HERE
Hope this helps,

hi jarrod whats wrong with the double race bearing i note u have a late model rover 45 is it stuffed steve....

Hi Steve, Jarrad has replaced the original double race bearing with a non-aligning bearing and is now trying to source the correct one....this would indicate that the Rover's original bearing failed.

Hi Steve, the body is not a Rover, but rather a Scott Bonner painted up Rover Red to match the late model Catcher I have.

The old bearing is re-greased and back in for now. It is very noisy and quite harsh when you turn it on your finger.

Got a new bearing on order now

deejay i think u will find rover skimped on using a double race bearing on there units cheers steve.

As long as it was self-aligning, Steve, I think that would probably work quite well. The problem Jarrad has was that he put in an ordinary deep groove ball bearing. It was not perfectly aligned with the engine's output shaft - because that was not necessary with the original design. Consequently Jarrad's replacement bearing ran hot and was not going to last long. He put the original worn-out bearing back in so he could use the mower until he gets a new self-aligning bearing.