[tjake]

My son and I are planning to do a mild restoration of his 332 that is in reasonable condition. We are still using it for snow clearing so we thought we would get a head start on the mower deck.

1st question;
The spindles seem good and smooth, but they don't just spin freely. Is there a way to grease them? or better yet, can I drill a grease jerk in end? Our manual seems to indicate that some models had greaseable spindles and some didn't.

(Message edited by treed on March 07, 2014)

 

[mikeduwe]

They have sealed bearings, you would need to push the shaft out and replace them. Deere sells the bearings.

 

[knottyrope]

some have drilled out the spindle to allow grease to go in. they threaded a zerk on top and drilled sideways in middle to the bearings.

then you have to remove a seal from the bearing to allow grease to go in.

since 2004, I have changed my bearings twice as my deck is stored outside. I now park it under my shed 4 ft over hang and hope less water on it keep them lasting longer.

 

[tjake]

Well we decided we had nothing to lose by trying to save them so we submerged them in oil for a couple weeks. They are spinning free now.

Here is the deck nearly ready for paint. wish we had a sandblaster for that job!

 

[ron_white]

Sure is a bunch of work with an angle grinder but, it looks like you have done a good job on the underside.

You may already know this but if not, there are wire wheels and cup brushes available for those grinders that work very well on a job like this.

Keep the pix coming

 

[twocyl001]

Now all you need is a can of Por-15 and you won't have to worry about rust for a very long time.

 

[mikeduwe]

Harbor freight has pressure pot sandblasters for $100.
http://www.harborfreight.com/40-lb-pressurized-abrasive-blaster-68992.html

Even with your grinder you still have a lot of rust on that deck, You may still have problems with paint not lasting as its shown right now.

Wire wheel would help, or there are some 3M rust removing wheels, but they dont last real long.

http://www.amazon.com/3M-7772ES-Paint-Rust-Stripper/dp/B002E9IQ9M

 

[tjake]

Thanks guys. especially for the tip on the sandblaster Mike. I will take a serious look at that. We wire wheeled it down and got all the loose stuff off and then treated it with Rust Check - rust converter. I used it once before in a similar situation and i never had any bleeding through. i think it is pretty good stuff.
http://rustcheck.com/index.php?option=com_djcatalog2&view=item&id=32:rust-converter&cid=7:containers

 

[twocyl001]

I have one of those sand blasters. It's ok for small pieces, but mower and fender decks would take forever! I also have a soda blaster that takes powder coating off, but won't damage or remove rust from the surface. It works well for fiberglass hoods.

 

[KB]

I got my pressure pot from eastwood for $200 delivered on sale. Its higher quality the the hf ones. It's not a comercial sized, but you need way more cfm. I have a 7hp 80 gallon compressor that's rated at 18cfm, and its a 100% duty cycle to blast. It isnt too bad for a frame or fender pan. Ido recommend a dead man valve not a ball valve like the hf one. I tried both and wore out a ball valve. Not fun when it wears through and starts blasting you or when you drop it.

 

[tjake]

In spite of the snow we took the winter kit off of the machine today.

 

[tjake]

Mower nearly there. I discovered that if you have any problems with the mower squeaking when you are cutting, check out the tensioner on the front mounting unit. Mine was wore so much it was almost ready to go poing! I had to custom make some brass bushings and repair the worn rod and bracket. One question i have is that i have no indicator where there appears that there should be one. If anyone can tell me what i am missing that would be great.

 

[tjake]

 

[tjake]

Couple more pics. We have noticed quite a bit of slop in the rear end. My previous tractor was a 318 and I'm sure it didn't have that much. Any advice?

 

[tjake]

 

[mikeduwe]

What do you mean by slop? In the mounting bolts, the linkage, actually driving it?

 

[tjake]

Moving from forward to reverse for instance makes a clunk. Now that I have the wheels off the ground I find that I can rotate the rear wheels sort of 1/8 turn (may be slight exageration)and gears sound kind of sloppy.

 

[tjake]

Well we opened up the gearbox and nothing is visibly wrong. maybe a slight bit of wear on every gear but not something we'll worry about anymore. Perhaps its the difference between 1300hrs on this machine and 400hrs I had on my 318. We've just put it back together anyway.

Got some stress cracks in the frame axle flanges. We'll take care of that.

 

[tjake]

And an old tractor seat on casters makes a very comfortable creeper to get around on!

 

[tjake]

Frame painted. Going back together now.

Axles on, brakes working for first time in who knows how long.