# Mower deck issue with JD 185 Hydro



## Country Boy (Mar 18, 2010)

I have a JD 185 Hydro tractor with a 38" deck at work that I am rebuilding the mower pan on. It needs new bearings in both spindles and the double idler pulley on the deck has bad bearings as well. The problem I am having is that I can't seem to get the idler assembly removed from the idler arm. From the parts diagram, it looks like the bearing is mounted to a shaft that presses into the idler arm and the pulley is pressed onto the bearing. I tried pressing the pin out of the idler arm, and just succeeded in forcing the pulley further onto the bearing. Is there a specific way to press the bearing assembly out and separate the parts? Anyone have a service manual for this tractor that they could post the relevant pages? I really don't want to damage the pulley trying to get this thing apart.


----------



## Country Boy (Mar 18, 2010)

I've been doing some research on this and all I've found is that it needs to be pressed off with either a press or a puller, but no one has said *how* to press it off. I have a press and pullers at work, I just need to know the proper procedure to get it apart without breaking anything.


Here's a diagram of the unit in question. The bearing is #2, the pulley is #4 and the arm its attached to is #16.


----------



## wjjones (May 28, 2010)

I would help CB but I dont know squat about John Deere. I know what you mean though the wrong way will destroy the pulley.


----------



## Country Boy (Mar 18, 2010)

I think I am going to just drill out the shaft from the arm. That's about the only way I can think of taking it out without destroying anything. I hope its not super hard steel, being that its part of the bearing.


----------



## Country Boy (Mar 18, 2010)

Update. I tried drilling the shaft out, but it was way to hard and the cobalt bits I tried for hard metal didn't even scratch it. I ended up cutting up some washers to make a U shaped piece of metal to slip between the pulley and the arm so I could press out the shaft without the pulley pushing up against the arm and crushing. I slipped the washers into the gap between the arm and the pulley, then used a large socket to support the other end of the pulley on the press table, open side facing the pulley. I then used a hardened bolt between the press arm and the shaft to press against the shaft sticking through the arm. It pressed right out and I was able to separate the arm and the pulley. I then set up the pulley in the press and pressed the bearing the rest of the way out in the same direction I had been pushing before so the bearing pushed out the top of the pulley. That allowed me to use the marks left by the old bearing to press the new one in to the correct depth. The new one went in from the top down, again, so I wouldn't disturb the old marks. Got it all put back together and the deck is so quiet now, you can barely hear it over the engine.


----------

