[Professor_SS]

I hope it is ok to place this here. Just on the off chance, is their anyone here that is in the lawn equipment business, or that has a old junk tractor (preferably a Troy Bilt) that has a salvageable mower deck.

Troy Bilt went under and has been bought out by an outfit that is practically worthless as far as customer service. I have a 13 hp tractor 32" mower deck of theirs that has been a good little machine with the exception of the deck which has not held up well. I rebuilt it once, some welding, some reinforcing around the pony wheels and I had a blade vertical shaft/bearing assembly split in half. I ordered a replacement (80 bucks plus shipping) after hours of hassle with this new outfit to ID the part number. When it came it was not as good a quality as the original (made in china). In fact it was not a direct replacement in that the star raised surface that locks the blade in place was a little larger than the original resulting in me having to take a file to the blade to open up the star a little to get the blade seated properly on the shaft.

Well yesterday I'm mowing the back lot, which is semi rough terrain I admit, when the deck starts making an awful racket. This is the only the third or fourth time I've used it since replacing this shaft assembly. What has happened is that star pattern raised area that fits into a corresponding shape on the blade at the base of the shaft has been ground or sheared off. As a result the nut that runs up against the blade starts to loosen and the blade wobbles. The steel must be so soft that it just sheared off somehow. It didn't even tear up the star surface on the blade itself. I'm thinking that if that steel is that soft I don't want to trust that thing to not throw a blade.

If anyone has an old deck around or can point me in the right direction to a "lawn tractor grave yard" if such a thing exists. I am wondering if a deck off any other mower would fit under this thing. Or if any of you have any ideas on how to fix this and make it safe. I'd love to keep it in service for a couple more years as the $$ to replace it would have to come out of the toys and projects fund. :angry:

 

[Dan72]

Did you save the original one (I save all kinds of junk), maybe you can do a "graft". My Dad's 30 year old Deere has had a lot of brazing on it, since the deck rots out from the acidic grass clippings.

 

[Professor_SS]

Did you save the original one (I save all kinds of junk), maybe you can do a "graft". My Dad's 30 year old Deere has had a lot of brazing on it, since the deck rots out from the acidic grass clippings.

No i didn't :clonk: wish I had.

 

[JWA]

Might try Ebay. Search for your tractor model. I have seen decks for my John deere 140 (1970ish) and they have been priced well under what JD wants for a bare deck even with a big shipping charge.

 

[BillsCamino]

Just to add...
It's a shame about Troy-Bilt, too! :sad:
I've had one of their mulching mowers for 10-12 years now. The best damn mower I've ever owned! My lawn is bermuda grass which is thick and rough on a mower's engine. I've actually got the front wheels worn off the thing.

 

[Dan72]

Yeah, I always like Troy-Bilt.


Dad has a Troy-Bilt tiller, Kohler motor, lotta cast iron. Built to last for sure. I've had some small tillers and they were all junk. Always looking for a used Troy-Bilt tiller but they are out of my budget.

Back to your problem.

If I understand right the blade is "indexed" to the shaft via the star.

There is really no reason to have to do that, other than to ensure the blade in centered. Now when you got the shaft and it didn't fit, you filed the blade to make it fit. Did you maybe make it too loose? Did you file it so that it ran off-centre? Or did it maybe not fit because there was some burrs on the star or something which are no longer there? What I'm getting at is maybe you had some slop in the assembly, which allowed the blade and shaft to work back and forth until it sheared...would a tighter initial fit help?

Without the star, there is probably no way to centre the blade up.

It's a pretty new part, can you take it back for another?

What about getting another replacement and giving it to a local heat-treating facility, there are places locally that I have dealt with in the past that could harden something like that for you, I'm sure you have a local equiv.

Without the star, is it somethat could be fabricated on a lathe by someone, maybe with a shoulder in place of the star. Then you could a) used a regular round-holed blade, b) bore out your blade to BE round, or c) make the shoulder the inscribed circle diameter of the star to centre the blade.

Either of these help you?

http://cgi.ebay.com/LAWN-MOWER-DECK-SPINDLE-MTD-600-800-YARDMAN-TROY-BUILT_W0QQitemZ7722595262QQcategoryZ71271QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Troy-Bilt-Bolens-Mower-Deck-Garden-Way-Inc_W0QQitemZ7722323378QQcategoryZ42230QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I think larger decks are more universal but your is pretty small, might be special and hard to substitute another make/model. It does look like you can widen your self to include Bolens parts.

 

[Professor_SS]

thanks for the suggestions guys. Looks like I will have to go into fabrication mode or replace the thing. I had a great 25 hp john deere years back that I let go when I sold the house the ex and I owned. I should have kept the deere.

 

[Professor_SS]

IT must be a bad week for Troy Bilt at my house. This afternoon my troy bilt chipper spit a rod out the side of the block. The piston came up the cylinder so hard it blew the spark plug out of the head?

I looked up the engine that is on it. A Tecumseh (sp?) 10 hp, 400 bucks. I think that is more than I paid for the chipper. :sad:

 

[OrrieG]

Just to add...
It's a shame about Troy-Bilt, too! :sad:
I've had one of their mulching mowers for 10-12 years now. The best damn mower I've ever owned! My lawn is bermuda grass which is thick and rough on a mower's engine. I've actually got the front wheels worn off the thing.

Bummer, I've got a 25 year old Horse Tiller, works great but I figured sometime I might need to take advantage of their rebuild warranty. Send yours to them, they completely rebuild it with new engine, replace any other bad parts, for half the price of a new one. I didn't know they sold out. Might be worth stockpiling old Troy stuff and selling it on ebay 10 years from now!

 

[Dan72]

Sorry about the bad run of luck, Rick.

I still like 'em, but how can you?

Post your final solution and how it works out.

 

[Professor_SS]

Re: troy bilt, no big deal anymore

Well, I was able to fab something up for the tractor with an old shaft that I was able to get from a neighbor's junk pile, the chipper is toast. I'll strip it for usable parts and junk the rest of it. Those two issues went for center stage to no big deal in a hurry.

Been a bad week all around. Wife lost out on a major bonus (I think her boss fudged the numbers so she didn't make budget) so we loose 10 grand on her year end bonus, I received a bill for 30 bucks from the county because I own a septic system that somehow might pollute the Chesapeake bay, 200 miles away from here, GOD I love Maryland, and I also received a bill for a ambulance ride a family member ended up taking a couple of months ago, 500. bucks and they had the balls to include a request for a donation for the local fire company.

I don't know what I did in that former life to pi$4 God off, but boy I'm paying for it this time around.

 

[Rod]

Re: troy bilt, no big deal anymore

Well I guess you could be here in the west shoveling snow with us Canucks.

 

[Dan72]

That was fast!!!



Hmmm, I wanted to buy a wrecked chipper to put a chipper on the pto of my Deere, so I don't need an engine....


...if you can't find a place to store those parts, that is.